Mac OS X System Data Recovery

First commercially released in 2001, Mac OS X is a 32 or 64 bit multi-tasking Unix-like operating system. The OS itself consists of two main parts: Darwin, an open source Unix like environment which is based on Mach microkernel/BSD Unix and the GUI (Graphical User Interface) ‘Aqua’ developed by Apple.

Although OS X is built on the stability of Unix, and the hardware used by Apple tends to be of a high quality, mistakes, accidents and hardware failures do happen, an Apple system is just as prone to data loss as any other system. These types of failure can include:

• Hard disk failure (see General Hard disk Failure section of Data Clinic website)
• Degradation of hard disk or peripheral media (including Floppy, CD, Zip or external hard disk etc.)
• User Error (accidentally deleted data etc)
• Accidental initialization or formatting of media
• File system corruption
• Malicious damage and more

Recovery of data from an OS X system requires an in-depth knowledge of not only how the operating system is put together but also and perhaps most importantly, how the file system at the core of OS X works. OS X uses as standard one of two completely different file systems, HFS+; the latest development of Apple’s proprietary Hierarchical File System, and UFS a true Unix file system.

Data Clinic have developed custom tools and solutions for every type of Macintosh data loss situation:

• File system corruptions.
• Incorrect Kernel commands leading to data loss.
• Incomplete File Vault operations due to power failure or system crash.
• Recovery of external media using other file systems. eg FAT32 formatted external hard disks.

It is even possible in rare cases to recover data from an OS X system where the files in question have been deleted using the Finder’s Secure Empty Trash facility, this is however dependant on the type of data that is to be recovered. Please ask to speak to a technician for more details on this process.

Data Clinic can also recover data from Linux/Unix distributions compiled for the PPC (Mac) architecture, should you require help with this kind of system please contact us on the number below and ask to speak to one of our Mac experts.