While you should be able to browse all files on the drive in Target Disk mode, there may be some times when you can’t do this, either because of permissions restrictions or because files are hidden.
From here you can manually copy data from the drive or use Apple’s Migration Assistant or Setup Assistant tools to transfer your data.
Connect this Mac to another one via either a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable and its hard drive should appear as an external drive to your second Mac.
To use Target Disk mode, restart the Mac you wish to access and hold the “T” key when you hear the boot chimes. Use the Info window to ignore ownership on the connected drive. (If you instead see a Change button next to the Apple ID entry, your ID is already associated.)
You can then enable the option to allow resetting your password using an Apple ID. This feature first requires that you’ve associated your Apple ID, which can be done by going to the Users & Groups system preferences, and then clicking the Set button next to the words Apple ID and then supplying your Apple ID and password. In OS X you can bind your user account to your Apple ID and then use it to reset your OS X password if you’ve lost it. Reset the password for your user account by entering the following command (replace “username” with the short name of the desired account) Launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ Now run the following command to load Open Directory (Apple’s account directory service in OS X): When you see the command prompt, enter the following command to put the boot drive into read and write mode: Restart your Mac and hold down Command-S at the boot chimes. To proceed you’ll need to know the short name of the account for which you would like to reset the password, and then perform the following steps: While this account is generally hidden and inaccessible, you can quickly get to it for its administrative capabilities by booting your Mac into single-user mode. Use Single-User modeĮvery Mac has a main user account called “root,” which is the system account that’s used to launch the essential background services required for your Mac to operate. Log into your administrator account to change another account’s password. If you configure your Mac this way you can then log into the admin account and use the Users & Groups system preferences to change your main account’s password. To maximize your Mac’s security you should have both an administrator account for administrative tasks and a standard account that you use for your primary identity (you can still perform administrative tasks from within your main account by authenticating with the administrator credentials).
The approaches I outline below depend on how much access to your Mac you currently have. Resetting your PasswordĪpple includes several options for resetting account passwords in OS X.
Or you may simply forget what your password is, which can happen if you use a standard user account for daily tasks and haven’t touched the administrators account in awhile.įortunately, if you have lost your password, there are several approaches you can take for either regaining complete access to your Mac or, at least, getting to the specific data you need. Of course, there’s a slight danger that a day will come when that password doesn’t work-you’ve modified your Mac in some way that’s password-unfriendly or you’ve been negligent. Once a device is removed, you can add it back into the Apple ID control panel by-you guessed it-signing back into the device with your Apple ID.Even though you can set up your Mac to automatically log into your user account without a password, your computer is going to be more secure if you use one. This revokes access to any iCloud/Apple services (the person with the device will not be able to make any purchases with your account or access your account setttings) but it does not wipe the device. In order to remotely wipe a device, you need to have the “Find My” feature turned on for that device and you need to first wipe the device before removing it.
RELATED: How to Track, Disable, and Wipe a Lost iPhone, iPad, or Mac With a single tap and confirmation you can remove any device from your account but it’s important to understand what this accomplishes. If the device has Apple Pay configured with an associated credit card, you can also remove individual cards in this menu as well.įinally, and most usefully, you can remove the device from your account with the “Remove From Account” link at the very bottom.
In addition, you can also see the model number, the iOS version number, as well as the serial number of the device-which is super handy if you need to plug in the serial number for a warranty claim or the like but you don’t have the device right at hand.