cgsecurity.org

I have an external hard drive that's failed. I'm using a Macbook and the drive is formatted for Mac.

I've downloaded the latest stable version of PhotoRec/testdisk but don't understand how to use them. How do I run these programs?

Thanks for help in advance

Restdisk?

Never heard of. What should that be?

For software to change the time to power down the spindle "rest disk" please consult with your drive manufacturer.

Honestly, if you do not even care writing the name of the software correctly why should I care?

Read the site:
https://www.cgsecurity.org/

That takes time and effort. You will even find a manual there.

Get over yourself. It was a simple typo. And you didn't have to answer. You were the one who chose to 'waste your time'. In the meantime, not being a techy, I'd be grateful if, rather trying to validate your yourself by belittling people, you, or someone more au fait with manners and how to behave in a civilised way, could provide an answer to this very simple question.

Get over yourself. It was a simple typo. And you didn't have to answer. You were the one who chose to 'waste your time'. In the meantime, not being a techy, I'd be grateful if, rather trying to validate your yourself by belittling people, you, or someone more au fait with manners and how to behave in a civilised way, could provide an answer to this very simple question.

Indeed the reply you got was unnecessarily harsh, but indeed the answer to your question seems to be provided in the manual. (Run a search in the PDF with “Mac” to quickly find relevant information.)
https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
« 2.2.3 Installation of official binaries for macOS
• Download the archive from https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download
– macOS / Mac OS X Intel / OS X
– Mac OS X PowerPC for very old Mac (Mac OS X <= 10.5)
• Extract all the files including the subdirectories »
« 3.1.2 macOS
Install Xcode »
« 4.5 Starting from the USB stick
Plug the USB key on the damaged computer and boot this computer, and do whatever you need to do to boot from a
USB stick - often this will involve pressing or holding down F12, F2 or Del. If you are using a Mac computer, hold
down the left Alt/Option key to access the boot menu - you should see a Fedora logo. Click this to boot. »
« 6.6 Running TestDisk, PhotoRec under macOS
If you are not root, TestDisk (i.e. testdisk-7.1/testdisk) or PhotoRec will restart itself using sudo after
confirmation from your part.
If your administrator account has no password (a blank password), you must give that user a password before using
the sudo command:
• Choose Apple menu > System Preferences and click Accounts.
• Click Change Password.
Terminal doesn’t show the password as you type. If you enter the wrong password or a blank password, the command
isn’t executed and Terminal asks you to try again. »
...

I don't have first-hand experience with Mac OS so I don't know about the specific issues with running a third party program on this OS.

To cheer up the mood a little bit, look at this wonderful typo I saw earlier today :
Help Me To Repair This Hard Dick Please !! ♥