Normally, when your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro can boot up, you can transfer files from Mac to Mac with Migration Assistant or an external disk. But when your Mac is broken or dead, how to transfer files from a broken Mac to a new Mac? Before you transfer files, take a moment to review the following important preparations:
- Do Not erase or reinstall
- Prepare an external hard drive
- Confirm your FileVault password
- If your Mac makes unusual noises, has been exposed to liquid, or has been dropped, stop using it immediately and disconnect it from power.
Way 1. Use Time Machine with Migration Assistant
It is always advisable to keep a backup of your data on a Mac. If you have used Time Machine to back up all the files on your broken MacBook Pro to an external drive, then it's very simple to recover data from a crashed MacBook Pro and transfer data to the new Mac.
- Connect your Time Machine backup drive to the new Mac.
- Launch Migration Assistant during initial setup or open it from Applications > Utilities on your new Mac.
- Click Continue. Migration Assistant will close your applications and log you out of accounts.
- Choose the option to transfer From a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk > click Continue.
- Select your Time Machine backup drive from the list > tap Continue.
- If you have multiple backups, select the specific backup date or version you want to use.
- Select the user accounts, apps, and computer settings you want to transfer, then click Continue to begin the transfer.
- Wait for the progress bar to complete. Once the transfer is finished, quit the program, restart your new Mac, and sign in to the transferred user account.
If you don't need the whole information transfer, you can choose to manually copy and transfer a few important files from the Time Machine backup drive. Here is how to:
- Launch Mac Finder, and access the drive under the Locations section in the left sidebar.
- Double-click the Backups.backupdb and then click the folder with the name of your dead Mac. All of your backups are listed in separate folders named after the dates they were created, in the format YYYY-MM-DD.
- Locate the folder labeled with the latest date and time. Then copy the files and folders you need from the latest backup to your new Mac's internal storage.
If, unfortunately, you didn't have any backups of your broken MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, don't worry; go ahead to try the solutions below to get files off a dead MacBook Air or Pro.
Way 2. Use Target Disk Mode on Intel Macs
Apple provides a very useful boot mode called Target Disk Mode on an Intel-based Mac. This mode can be used to share your (dead/broken) Mac's internal hard drive with another Mac to transfer files. If your broken Mac computer is fitted with an Intel chip, then use the steps below to solve how to transfer data from dead Mac to new Mac:
Note: If either Mac is running macOS 11 or later, use a Thunderbolt cable for the transfer.
- Connect your broken Mac and the new Mac using a USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt cable.
- Now make sure that the broken Mac is completely shut down. Press the power button on the dead Mac, then immediately hold the T key and wait to boot into Target Disk Mode.
- Now turn your attention to the new Mac. The broken Mac's drive icon should appear on the desktop or in the Finder sidebar under Locations.
- Double-click on the drive to access it. If the drive is encrypted with FileVault you should be prompted for the password, which macOS can use to decrypt the volume.
- Drag and drop the files/folders from the broken Mac disk to the new Mac's storage.
- Once you finish transferring data, on the new Mac, eject the dead MacBook by dragging its disk icon to Trash.
- Shut down the broken Mac and disconnect the cable between the two Macs.
Way 3. Use Share Disk on Apple Silicon Macs
The Target Disk Mode in Intel Macs has been replaced with Share Disk in Apple Silicon Macs. Let's see how to transfer data from dead Mac to new Mac using Share Disk:
- Connect your broken Apple Silicon Mac to the new Mac with a USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt cable.
- Ensure the broken Apple Silicon Mac is completely switched off. On the dead Mac, press and hold the power button until you see Loading startup options on the screen.
- Click the Options tab and then click Continue. Enter your admin password if prompted.
- Click Utilities and select Share Disk. Choose the disk or volume of your Apple Silicon M-series Mac and hit Start Sharing.
- On your new Mac, launch Mac Finder and select Network in the Locations section.
- If everything goes well, you should see the broken Apple Silicon Mac appear. Double-click on it > Connect As > Guest > hit Connect to finalize the process.
- Now you should be able to see your broken Mac files. Select the wanted files and then transfer and recover files from an Apple Silicon Mac to a new Mac.
- Eject the broken Mac disk icon in the Finder and shut down your Apple Silicon Mac when you're done. Finally, don't forget to disconnect the cable on your Mac.
Way 4. Use Data Recovery Software When Native Transfer Fails
Use third-party data recovery software - iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to transfer files like documents, pictures, audio, videos, and emails from a broken Mac to a new Mac.
This approach lets you access files from a broken Mac without physically removing its internal drive. You can either run the recovery environment through the iBoysoft Server or create a bootable USB drive to access the files on the affected Mac. The method you choose will depend on the condition of the Mac and your specific situation.
Note: iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is intended for situations where a Mac won't start normally but can still boot into macOS Recovery and the internal drive is recognized. It won't work if the Mac has no power, the logic board or SSD is physically damaged, or the internal drive doesn't appear at all in Disk Utility.
Case 1. If you only have the dead Mac computer
If you have only one unbootable Mac at hand, run Mac data recovery in Recovery Mode. Before starting the data transfer process, you need to prepare a healthy external storage device with enough free space to store the recovered data.
1. Boot your Mac into macOS Recovery mode. Even though your Mac can't boot up normally now, there's a recovery partition on your Mac to allow you to run some basic macOS utilities.
- For Intel Macs before 2018: Turn on your Mac and immediately press down Command + Option + R keyboard keys together (not regular Command + R). Hold them until you see a spinning globe on your screen.
- For Intel Macs after 2018 with T2 Security Chip: Turn on your Mac and immediately press down Command + Option + Shift + R keyboard keys together. Hold them until you see a spinning globe on your screen.
- For Apple Silicon Macs: Turn on your Apple Silicon Mac and immediately press the Touch ID button. Hold it until you see the Loading startup options. Click Options to enter macOS Recovery Mode.
2. Choose a network for your Mac. You need to keep your Mac connected to the Internet all the time.
3. Click Utilities in the top menu and select Terminal from the drop-down menu.
4. Type in the command line below and then press Enter. [For Fusion drive, enter sh <(curl https://boot.iboysoft.com/fdboot.sh)]
sh <(curl https://boot.iboysoft.com/boot.sh)
After entering the command, wait for a moment while iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac launches in Recovery Mode. The startup time may vary depending on your network connection.
5. When iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is launched, select the Mac hard drive in the list and click on Search for Lost Data to scan for files on this drive. (For Fusion drive, select Fusion Drive > Search for Lost Data)
6. Select and preview the files > click Recover to recover data from a T2-secured MacBook or Apple Silicon Mac. Save the recovered files to the external drive you prepared.
Case 2. If you have a broken Mac and a new Mac
If you have another new Mac and an empty USB drive, you can try the steps below to recover data from dead Mac hard drive. This solution is a little complicated; make sure you can follow every step patiently and carefully.
Step 1: Plug the USB drive into the healthy Mac computer.
Step 2: Download the two files below and save them to the root directory of the USB drive. These two files will install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on the drive.
- https://boot.iboysoft.com/boot.sh
- https://boot.iboysoft.com/iboysoftdatarecovery.dmg
Step 3: Connect the USB drive to the dead or broken Mac.
Step 4: Boot the Mac into Recovery Mode following the steps mentioned above. This time, use Command + Option + Shift + R keys on all Intel Macs.
Step 5: Open Terminal from the drop-down menu of Utilities in the Apple menu bar.
Step 6: Run the command below to list all mounted disks/partitions.
mount
In the picture below, the USB drive that contains the downloaded files is named Work Space and its path is /Volumes/Work Space.
Step 7: Run the following command.
cd '/Volumes/Work Space'
Step 8: Run this command to launch iBoysoft Data Recovery.
chmod +x ./boot.sh && ./boot.sh
Step 9: Recover lost data from the broken Mac after the software is launched.
How to Fix a Broken Mac Computer?
Note: Only repair, erase, or reinstall after files are transferred or recovered.
After transferring files from a broken Mac to a new Mac, you can troubleshoot the "MacBook won't turn on" problem by doing the following to make it usable again.
- Start Mac in Safe Mode
- Reset PRAM/NVRAM
- Repair startup disk
- Reset the SMC
- Restore Mac
- Reinstall macOS
Have you got all the ways to transfer files from broken Mac to new Mac? Please share our post to help others.
FAQs
- Q1. How to get files off Mac with broken screen?
-
A
1. If you're running on an Intel Mac, use Target Disk Mode.
2. Use Share Disk if your Mac model is from the Apple Silicon series.
3. Try an external screen in case it's just because of the broken screen.
- Q2. How long does it take for Mac to Mac Transfer?
-
A
It depends on how much data you're transferring and the method of transfer. Transferring 20-30 GB over a Thunderbolt 3 cable will take a few minutes. Transferring 100-200 GB over Wi-Fi will take a few hours.