How to recover data from a GPT protective partition?

Question

Can I get IMAC data back from a WD1600SJ HDD which shows as GPT protective partition in Disk Management?

Answer 1

Windows XP x64 was the first and only Windows XP edition that can recognize GPT partitions. That being said, Windows XP x64, Vista or 7 do not understand HFS+ natively, you would need some software for that:

Free solution:
http://www.catacombae.org/hfsx.html

Commercial solutions:
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows/

Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463525#X-201104111922342

Answer 2

I'm assuming you're using Windows XP? Try Windows 7 or a Linux boot disc, both of which should be able to read GPT partition tables and disks.

What GPT does to prevent non-GPT disk-aware systems from reading it is to create a false partition on the MBR. This marks the disk as used instead of free. See here.