Recover your files if your Mac does not start or does not show an image

To access the files on your Mac you usually need to have a working version of OS X of course, along with a monitor to be able to interact with the system. From here, we can share file usage on the local network to access your data, or copy the data to external drives. However, if your Mac won't boot, or your screen isn't working properly, then you may still be able to get your data off of it.

The negative side is that the solution, although evident is more complicated and passes for having another Mac on hand, and activate in target disk mode on the faulty Mac. This mode boots into the system at a basic hardware level that essentially turns your Mac into an external hard drive. From here, a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable can be used to connect your system to access data.

The steps to follow would be in this order:

• Make sure the faulty Mac is turned off
• Connect your Mac to another using a Thunderbolt or Firewire cable
• Start your Mac while pressing the T key
• At this point we will make sure that we press the T after hearing the Mac startup sound on bluetooth keyboards if we have problems recognizing the command, since the Mac would have startup problems, we will have no other option than to use a USB keyboard to push it from the start

If your Mac is not able to enter the target disk mode even though we have done all the steps and we are sure that no password has been set in the firmware, we will have to make an appointment with the technical service since there may be more serious problems. If, on the other hand, it starts correctly we will see on the second Mac, how the computer has been connected as if it were an external disk and will require a password if FileVault protection was on, once entered it will be unlocked and we will have full access to all files.