MacBook – Transfer data from nonfunctional Mac to another Mac with an external drive

external-diskhard drivemacbook prothunderbolt

I have to save data from a MacBook Air (13" Early 2015) that won't start. I was suggested to buy a Thunderbolt cable, to be able to connect the broken MacBook to another MacBook and see all the data as an external drive.

At this point, instead of transferring all data to the functioning MacBook, can I connect an external drive to the functioning one to transfer all the data from the broken MacBook there?

Best Answer

Since you haven't specified the exact models of the Macs involved, we can't give you a definite answer.

However, assuming you can...

  • start the MacBook Air in Target Disk Mode
  • connect the MacBook Air to the other MacBook

... then yes you can also connect another external hard drive to the other MacBook and just copy the data from the MacBook Air to the external hard drive without first having to copy the data to the other Macbook.

Put simply, the functioning MacBook will see both the MacBook Air and the external hard drive as two separate drives and you would just be copying data from one drive to the other.

[EDIT]

I'm assuming you have a MacBook Air with a Thunderbolt port, but if you don't then Allan's answer is the way to go.

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