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Question

MAC disc initialize on a Windows Machine - Data gone?

Nov 11, 2012 6:37AM PST

Looking for some help regarding a Mac HDD.

Got a Mac G4 that has a cracked screen. Have loads of data on the HDD (I have not backed it up for a while, a mistake I know!) which I would very much like back. Taken the HDD out and plugged it into a USB Caddy. Plugged it into a Windows 7 machine and a message, "You must initialize the disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it," came up. With out thinking too much I clicked initialize and then after a couple of seconds the message to saying that the drive must be formatted came up - it was at this point I realised that I had just made a big error.

What is the best way to get the data from the disc...? Have I deleted data with initializing the disc? Can I undo the change?

I would be very thankful for any help.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Because you formatted it, I have to move to the best folk.
Nov 11, 2012 7:17AM PST

Sorry but if you had not done that, I have solutions. But with the formatting, it's best to contact the folk at

http://www.drivesavers.com

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Canceled format
Nov 12, 2012 5:08AM PST

Hello, thanks for replying. I didn't format the drive.... But it did Initalize the drive.

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Sounds like the same to me.
Nov 12, 2012 5:27AM PST

If you want to see if the contents are still there, try an Apple or boot up some Linux such as Ubuntu that has support for that file system.

Yes, I bet there are Windows addons but I've never used them.
Bob

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(NT) Initialize/Format. A rose by any other name.....
Nov 12, 2012 7:59AM PST