Home > Questions

Help: How to recover data from decade plus old hard drive?

I have two old WD external hard drives and lost both adaptors. I purchased the 250GB IDE and 1TB SATA docks to go into my Macbook Pro. But the SATA drive doesn’t work. Disk Utility is telling me that the drive is uninitialized. Last night I let Disk Drill run data recovery on the volume but it turned up nothing but a few. ISO files. Can you recommend me data recovery software? This drive would mean a lot to me. Thanks all!!!

Best Answered by

iBoysoft author Eudora Liu

Eudora Liu

Answered on Wednesday, May 31, 2023

What you need to recover data from a decade-plus-old hard drive is professional data recovery software. And the one I recommend for you is iBoysoft Data Recovery for mac, which has a robust algorithm that can help you get back your lost data from an uninitialized hard drive.

For a brand-new disk, the drive is uninitialized which means it hasn't been activated. But an old disk may have some physical damage or file system problems. Anyway, once the disk is uninitialized, you can't open it and you are not allowed to access all the data stored on it. Unluckily, you may lose all your data restored. Therefore, it is better to recover data from an uninitialized disk before taking other steps.

iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac not only can recover lost data from an uninitialized disk but also can help you to recover deleted files. You can use it to recover your data from portable HDDs, SDDs, SD cards, and USB drives in all brands, including WD, Seagate, TOSHIBA, etc. And it supports all kinds of files to recover, including documents, photos, videos, etc.

Now, follow the steps to recover data from an uninitialized disk on Mac;

Step 1: Free download and launch the iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.

Step 2: Choose the uninitialized disk and click "Search for Lost Data" to scan it.

Step 3: Preview the scan results, choose the files you want and click "Preview".

Step 4:  Find the files you need, click "Recover" and choose a different folder to store the recovered files.

Step 4: Check to confirm you have got all the files.

Once the data is secured, you can follow the solutions below to fix the uninitialized external hard drive.

  • Use a different USB cable or reinsert the disk into another USB port.
  • Reconnect your disk to check whether it works.
  • Check and repair the disk with First Aid on Mac.
  • Reinstall the macOS.
  • Format the disk.

If the above solutions don't work, the disk may have some physical damage. You can send the disk to a professional local repair office.

People Also Ask

Read More Questions

Read More Advice From iBoysoft's Computer Experts

Überprüfung der Objektzuordnung im Festplattendienstprogramm

[Gelöst] Wie behebt man den Fehler einer ungültigen APFS-Objektzuordnung

Einfache zwei Schritte, um den Fehler " APFS Object Map ist ungültig" auf macOS High Sierra ohne Datenverlust zu beheben/ reparieren: Stellen Sie verlorene Daten von APFS-Volumen mit APFS-Dat

Tipps zur Mac-Datenwiederherstellung

time machine restore button greyed out

Time Machine Restore Greyed Out? How to Recover Data?

When you need to restore from Time Machine but only find the Restore button greyed out. Reading this post to know the possible reason and fixes. Plus the alternative of Time Machine.

How to Tips

WD My Passport 読み取り専用 Mac

MacでWD My Passportの読み取り専用を修正する完全ガイド

MacでWD My Passportの読み取り専用問題を解決するための完全ガイド、WD My Passportの書き込み保護を解除して読み取り専用のWD My PassportをmacOSおよびMac OS XでNTFS形式で使用できるようにするための方法