May I ask what the software was that the Apple guy recommended for your bad hard drive? I have one with the same problem but got a quote from a recovery company for over $2,000 to recover the files. I’ve done without them up until now, but would still love to get them back.
Uh-oh... I’m just glad we don’t have earthquakes around here, because I’d be buried in household debris... not a great housekeeper... [blush]
Wow, found it right away (self-high-five)
The one in particular I used was an earlier version, obviously, and the box looked like the PC version shown. However, that’s a good sign, it means they’re updating the product and supporting it (and customers). The software ran about $100 last year. I booted off the CD, and had the drive attached, and 36 hours to kill. :’) Actually, I’m not sure how long it did take, but literally every file was restored from the original drive ONTO THE EXTERNAL DRIVE (which is required, I used a USB Simpletech drive, running under OS X it used USB 2.0 speed).
A week or so later I ran the software again, and tried a second method, since there was plenty of room on the Simpletech (the eMac drive is under 40 GB in size), just to be really certain I got all the data in a comprehensible way. The second method is for really destroyed drives I think, when the data just absolutely must be restored and you’re willing to figure out the actual filenames as you go.
That said, the first method restored every single file, I’ve never found a corrupt file in the copies on the Simpletech. It was miraculous, and super-simple to use. I’m glad the genius (who was younger than the shirt I had on that day, or some such hyperbole) recommended it.
After I was satisfied both with the results and with the level of geeking around I got to do (actually, pretend to do, the software did all the work, unattended), I reformatted the eMac drive, reinstalled the OS, and copied the restored files back onto it from the Simpletech.
If you’ve got your nuked drive, you can restore the data to a different drive, perhaps using an external case. I’m not sure about this product, I’ve heard of mixed results, you probably should check for reviews of it online (this one claims to be the “2008 version”):
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/U2NV2SPATA/