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Pulled out iMac drive, stuck into enclosure and want to use as external to rescue data from it. How ?

Hi folks,


so there is a software issue with my iMac fusion drive that will most likely require me to do a full cleanup losing all my data regardless of the partitions.


So I literally took the iMac apart, pulled out the hard drive and stuck it into an external enclosure which can then connect to my MacBook . The problem is, I need to somehow put that drive into the target disk mode , but i cant do it on the actual iMac because it simply won't boot up.


So in short, is there a way to put the hard drive into the target disk mode while it is physically taken out of the iMac and connected via "drawer" and usb to a MacBook simply to try and save as much data as I can from the other partition before we have to wipe the entire hard drive?




Posted on Feb 7, 2022 12:14 PM

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Posted on Feb 7, 2022 12:46 PM

Hmmmm, I'd call AppleCare and see if they have some sage advice.

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4 replies

Feb 7, 2022 12:29 PM in response to rkaufmann87

heya , thank you for there reply ,

it is indeed a powered enclosure yes . the problem is that the MacBook to which the enclosure with the hard drive is connected - doesn't recognise it as an external storage drive.


when i go into disk utility I see it on the list as an external APFS physical storage but its grayed out and does not let me mount it.


I was excepting it would automatically be mounted and visible when connected to the MacBook but unfortunately it isn't and this is where Im stuck


when i press the mount button in disc utility , nothing happens

Pulled out iMac drive, stuck into enclosure and want to use as external to rescue data from it. How ?

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