Data recovery from a failed iMac Fusion drive :(

[Adam Pymble]

Hello all

You know when Sam tells you to do something and you don't get round to it..... never put and SSD in our iMac and the Fusion failed doing a .1 macOS update this week.

Alas, my local TimeMachine backup is a bit dated.

All I want off it is the photos.

Local independent company here in London (who seem perfectly friendly, reliable, honest etc) charge £250 for the data and £200 for 1TB internal SSD. 

They assure me there's no simple software they could recommend for me to retrieve the data, stating that Fusion drives can be a bit tricky.

I just wanted to check there's no simple / cheaper (free!?!?) alternative I could try to save the data before they put an SSD in it?!

Thanks everyone and Happy Christmas.

Adam

[Sam - MacAmbulance]

Oh dear, yes Fusion Drives are not great for data recoverability. If the two drives get out of sync, especially due to a hardware failure, there’s no way of recovering the data.

I use SetllarDataRecovery most of the time, but for Fusion Drives it’s dependent on macOS being able to reconstruct the two drives and show a Fusion Drive volume. £250’s not bad for the data recovery. You can get a 1TB Crucial MX500 for 80-90 these days, did their price include labour and the adhesive strip set to stick it all back together?

_

Regards Sam Mullen +44 (0)7747778022 in...@macambulance.com www.macambulance.com MacAmbulance Ltd. Providing Affordable Mac/PC Support and Web Development

MacAmbulance Ltd. is a registered company in England & Wales, registration number 8466597 This email is intended solely for the addressed recipients and may contain privileged or confidential information. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.

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[Adam Pymble]

Thanks, Sam. Still kicking myself for not putting SSD in sooner! It's been a tough time as a family and it went down the list. Ah, hindsight...

The price is £250 data recovery and additional £200 for 1TB SSD installed incl. labour etc. (didn't mention extras, just said that's full price returned to me ready to go with Ventura).

Can't decide whether or not to go for it or go refurb M series MacBook instead - albeit they felt the iMac running Ventura (27" 5k, 2017) has a good few years in it so worth keeping going.

Any thoughts?!

[Sam - MacAmbulance]

£200 for the 1TB SSD all-in is about right. You could always install OCLP then upgrade to Sequoia now you’re on an all-SSD Fusion Drive.

Refurb M-series is a better bet if budget’s there, you’d need it with adequate storage as can’t be upgraded. Hoxton Macs are great for 2nd hand Macs

_

Regards Sam Mullen +44 (0)7747778022 in...@macambulance.com www.macambulance.com MacAmbulance Ltd. Providing Affordable Mac/PC Support and Web Development

MacAmbulance Ltd. is a registered company in England & Wales, registration number 8466597 This email is intended solely for the addressed recipients and may contain privileged or confidential information. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.

To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/smug/9681d9e8-6416-4856-82b9-dfe7cfb05094n%40googlegroups.com.

[Adam Pymble]

Thanks. All really helpful.

And I'm a bit behind on M series... would an M1 Air 2020 see us for a while (our needs are basic, just want basic OS use, safari, photos and online website access longevity.)

I realise it's all budget based, but £555 for an M1 seems a good start...

[Sam - MacAmbulance]

Anything Apple-Silicon based will be fine, they’re extremely fast

_

Regards Sam Mullen +44 (0)7747778022 in...@macambulance.com www.macambulance.com MacAmbulance Ltd. Providing Affordable Mac/PC Support and Web Development

MacAmbulance Ltd. is a registered company in England & Wales, registration number 8466597 This email is intended solely for the addressed recipients and may contain privileged or confidential information. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.

To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/smug/63037314-d13d-4bac-990f-b0761477aca6n%40googlegroups.com.

[Adam Pymble]

Great, thanks Sam.

I'll call 'em tomorrow. I think on balance most data is in iCloud so will go for the repair for now as it's a nice big screen and lovely machine in every other regard.

Only hesitation is we like Safari as our browser and so presume being on Ventura (at least for now and before exploring OCLP) nearly all websites will work as lots were struggling on Monterey.

AP

[Adam Pymble]

Thanks again to Sam for wise counsel from afar. 

Local independent near me put 1TB SSD in and my trusty TimeMachine did its job superbly so no need for more pricey data recovery from the failed drive.

So this iMac is now merrily whizzing along on macOS Ventura which for our home needs really is like a brand new iMac -  it's defo put a few more years life in it - all for £200 - so not too bad really.

Thanks again and HNY (nearly!)