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How to recover data from a split fusion drive on an iMac that won't boot?

My iMac stopped booting after I switched to a refurbished charger from eBay. When I boot into Internet Recovery, Disk Utility shows my internal fusion drive as two separate disks: one HDD and one SSD. I can't restore the disks onto an external hard drive, as it fails with the message "could not validate source error 254." I can't verify the disks either. It gives the error "storage system verify or repair failed." I need to get back the data on my split fusion drive. Any help is appreciated!

Best Answered by

Jenny Zeng

Answered on Monday, April 29, 2024

There's still a good chance that you can recover data from the split fusion drive using iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.

It can put together the separated HDD and SDD as a virtual disk, allowing you to scan it for lost data. What's even better about this data recovery software is that you can run it in macOS Recovery without bothering to create a bootable USB, as other software requires.

Besides, it lets you preview the recoverable files for free.

Here's how to recover data from a split fusion drive on your iMac: (Run iBoysoft Data Recovery from Recovery Mode)

  1. Power on your Mac, then immediately press Command + Option + R.
  2. Release the keys when you see the spinning globe.
  3. Ensure your Mac is connected to the internet.
  4. Open Utilities > Terminal.
  5. Copy the command into Terminal and press Enter.sh <(curl http://boot.iboysoft.com/boot.sh)
  6. When iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is launched, follow the on-screen instructions to combine the split fusion drive.
  7. Scan the fusion drive and preview the found files.
  8. Recover your files.

After your data is rescued, you can recreate the fusion drive to make it bootable again, following Apple's guide.