I have a legacy HDD from a very old iMac that uses a SATA connection. I have a SATA-to-USB adapter that allows me to plug this disk into a modern MacBook. The disk is recognized by the MacBook but it does not allow me to read any of its files. It also does not allow me to run a repair. I'd like to drag and drop certain files from this legacy disk onto an external drive. I assume I need a special app that can do this for me? This HDD was the primary boot drive of the iMac, and not a secondary drive.
1 Answer
This isn’t a software problem. The new OS will read the old files and you don’t need a special app. Disk Utility can check the disk once the OS recognizes it in system profiler.
Focus on hardware - ensuring the drive has enough power to spin up correctly and mount. Hopefully it’s a bad cable or part or you need a better power supply (external supply and not USB Bus power) connected to power the drive up.
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The power supply goes from the SATA power port right into the wall through a very robust AC adapter. I use this adapter all the time for old Windows drives and it has never failed, until now. And I thought because this was the first time I tried it on a drive from a Mac that it might be a software issue. I will try to find another adapter and see if that works since you feel compelled it's a hardware issue. Allow me some time to do that before I accept this answer. Commented Aug 8 at 22:16
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Take your time. That adapter sounds perfect, so hopefully the drive isn’t failing to make good use of proper cabling and power. You have the correct process to isolate what’s gone wrong here with a little more tests.– bmike ♦Commented Aug 8 at 23:48
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The new adapter came in the mail today and it worked as you had expected. Commented Aug 14 at 22:54
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1Oh wow indeed @lurningtookoad - good work and thanks for the follow up and confirmation check.– bmike ♦Commented Aug 14 at 23:54
diskutil listin Terminal and paste the results (as text not a screenshot) into your question. An old drive could have just failed over time.