I don't know of a similar mode on Windows PCs, though I have had friends pull a bad drive out of a PC and use a specialized USB adapter or external drive enclosure to mount the drive for copying. My friend didn't have the best outcome, but at least she knows what steps to follow next time. Sometimes the entire target drive is a goner. When you migrate content from a Windows computer, Migration Assistant.
Sometimes certain files might be a lost cause. external disks, or Mac computers in target disk mode, that are connected with. select from another mac, pc, time machine backup, or other disk and then click continue. when the app loads, it will ask you how you want to transfer data. target disk mode and migration assistant. Once your user loads, open up the migration assistant application, which is found in applications > utilities.
If copying the same file or folder locks up the Mac again, try some other files. How To Boot Your Mac In Target Disk Mode For Easy File. But it’s not so easy to fix if Target Disk mode isn’t working properly. It’s easy to put your Mac in Target Disk mode by holding T while it boots up. Press and hold the target Mac's power key until the screen goes dark and boot into target mode again. When in Target Disk mode, your Mac behaves like an external storage device that lets you transfer files to another computer. If that happens, the FireWire symbol on the target Mac's screen will stop moving around. I've seen Target Disk Mode appear to be working, but if you happen to be copying a file that's on a bad place on the drive, you might just lock everything up. The tricky part is when the target Mac's hard drive is too far gone. It allows users to connect two Macs together via. Once that happens, you can open the drive and copy the files. Target disk mode is a Mac feature that has been around since the release of the PowerBook 100 in 1991. If everything is working correctly, the target Mac's hard drive should show up as a second drive on the working Mac.
That FireWire symbol will appear in different spots every few seconds like a screen saver. A large FireWire symbol will show up on the target Mac's screen, usually in less than 20 seconds, meaning you can let go of the "T" key. The only solution I can think of is to remove the drive from the Mac. If your Mac can’t even startup you can’t enter Target Disk Mode anyway. If that doesnt work, I would recommend that you try the Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire 800. And depending how your Mac failed you might not be able to do so. Theres another Windows utility you can try: HFS Explorer. Windows has absolutely no idea how to read/write macOS formatted drives. Then power on the target Mac and hold down the "T" key as you hear the start-up chime. No, you cannot use Target Disk Mode to connect to a PC. You use a FireWire cable to connect the "target" Mac (the one with the bad drive) to a working Mac. Because she was using a Mac, she had an option that PC users lack: Target Disk Mode.