Ok I will look through, thank you!
Then it narrowed down to two possibilities. You need help from @tut as mac user.
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The search engine didn’t actually search from that external hard drive. Maybe because it does not do indexing for external drives.
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Based on assumption above, you need to navigate to the right folder. We have lack experience nor have the macbook to guide you through. both me and sharpdrivetek. We’re windows and linux user. Worse case. the file didn’t transfer all the mac os to the external hard drive.
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Ok I will keep searching around.
Thank you both so much, I appreciate it.
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@Jesse0, you have been flailing needlessly, trying to follow advice from other users who don’t use Macs. Don’t worry, your data is recoverable, as long as it was not corrupted by your machine failure. Sometimes, data recovery software seems to be successful when it actually is not. Depending on what both you and your data recovery technician did, it may take some experimentation to get you back up and running. So let’s start slowly. And remember, I don’t have access to your installation, so I may send you down some unproductive paths. But follow my instructions exactly so you do not risk doing any further damage.
First, you need to undo any misguided efforts you made to reconstruct your application data folder. So, drag all files and folders you tried to move or copy to a safe place. This can be a folder on your desktop for now. Let’s name the folder Manager Junk. (I am not referring to the application, only to files you may have moved trying to restore your data.) You are not deleting them, just getting them out of the way temporarily.
Second, understand that none of your accounting data is stored in the program. So let’s simplify and/or correct your installation of the application. Hopefully, you installed both versions of the program in your Applications folder. Wherever you have them (if the first version still even exists), drag both to the Trash. Then, download and install a fresh copy of the program. Follow these instructions exactly: Install or update desktop edition on macOS | Manager. Ignore the comment in the Updating section about not uninstalling anything first. You are not updating; you will be making an initial installation.
At this point, you have a clean, default installation of the program without any businesses or accounting data. Don’t open it yet. You may or may not have a pristine version of your application data folder. But more about that at the end.
Third, we need to verify whether your old accounting data is uncorrupted and can be salvaged. Make sure whatever drive the recovered data is on is accessible to your new Mac. Depending on how the data recovery was performed, some relevant files may be hidden. Just to be sure you are seeing every file, while viewing the volume and folder containing your recovered data, toggle the Finder to show hidden files. Do this by pressing CMD + SHIFT + . (The third key is the period.)
When you have located the folder containing your data, you should see something like this:
The files with all zeroes is your old index file. Data stores the data path to your accounting data on the old machine. Size remembers your Manager window dimensions from the last time you closed the program. All are now useless. Drag them to Manager Junk.
Now, turn your attention to the 32-character hexadecimal file names, one at a time. These are either current data files, obsolete data files (left behind when Manager modified them due to database structural enhancements or you removed a business), or an audit file. You might have only one. If so, that’s your business. You might have many, depending on whether you ever created multiple businesses and how many times you have updated. Your goal is to identify the most recently modified version of each business you had on the old machine. To do this, select a file and look at the metadata.
When you have identified the most recent version of a business, double-click to open it. (Do not launch Manager first.) Manager will launch and, if the file is uncorrupted, the business will open in a window. Navigate around to confirm all looks good. Close the Manager application after every file you examine. Once you have identified each file you want to restore, drag it (or them) to your desktop. Do not put them into the Manager Junk folder.
If your business file(s) will not open at this stage, you are out of luck. Hopefully, you kept remote backups somewhere and can restore from them. If not, you have learned an expensive lesson: all machines eventually fail. But let’s assume you have successfully identified uncorrupted versions of all business data files.
Fourth, it is time to import the businesses into the pristine version of your application data folder. Launch Manager. Follow instructions in this Guide to import those businesses you just put on your desktop: Backup, restore, import, and transfer businesses | Manager. Once you have restored them, if they appear with those hexadecimal names, rename them according to this Guide: Name or rename a business | Manager. This step does two things:
- Imports copies of the data files to the current application data folder
- Builds the index file for the new installation so the desired businesses appear on the Businesses page when you first launch the application
Fifth, do final cleanup. Depending on what you may have done earlier, and in what order, you might have obsolete or duplicate files in your application data folder. Read this Guide about identifying unnecessary files: Manage application data folder contents | Manager. (This is the same Guide @sharpdrivetek referred you to.) Drag unnecessary files to Manager Junk. Once you are satisfied you have fully recovered, you can delete the data files I had you put on your desktop and the entire Manager Junk folder. Your good data is now stored in your application data folder on the new machine.
BE SURE TO MAKE REGULAR BACKUPS ON A SEPARATE STORAGE DEVICE OR CLOUD SERVICE.