Hardware

Ask something
Question Locked

HDD problem

0 helpful
11 replies

by gilbertjp2001

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

A friend of mine has important data on an old drive that he needs. He pull that drive from an old pc for being too small. It is a 20 GB. I try to install it on my pc as a secondary drive to see if i can retrieve the data.However, it is not recognized by windows ( not showing up on windows explorer) but detected by the BIOS. I checked all jumper settings and the seems to be right to me. Can someone give me some ideas how i can retrieve those data or what else to try?
I'll appreciate any help
Tks

11 replies

by rob miners

Have you set the Jumpers on the drive to Slave.

Click Start, right click on My Computer, select manage, and then click ?Disk Management.? If the drive is not present in the Disk Management window or if you are not able to access it, then the drive may have failed. In this window you should see all of your connected physical drives, their format, if they are healthy, and the drive letter.

Change the drive letter of the drive. Right-click on the drive in the list, and from the resulting menu select "Change Drive Letters and Paths"

Click on Change so you can change the drive letter. Click Change. Select a new drive letter from the drop down list, preferably the one that is not normally used for this drive.

Click Yes on the confirmation screen and you are done.

by gilbertjp2001

Thanks for your suggestions. I 've tried that but it didn't work.Any other thoughts?
Tks

by rob miners

Explanation of error codes generated by Device Manager in Windows XP Professional

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310123

A device driver is not installed or a hardware device does not function correctly after you install Windows Vista Service Pack 1

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948187

"One of the Filter Drivers Installed for This Device Is Invalid" Error Message When You Restart the Computer

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823774

by oh smeg

That connects via USB and then plug it into a Suitable OS that can read the Partition Tables.

Here if this drive had XP or older loaded and your system has Vista it is possible that the new Security Protocols included with Vista is preventing the Partition Tables being read. If that is the case you'll need to fit this to another older OS to read the drive.

You could also open the Drive Management and allocate a Drive Letter tot his Drive if the OS can read it.

Col

by gilbertjp2001

Hi,
Thank you for your suggestions! When I try to put it in an external enclosure, i have a message that a New hardware is found just like when plugging a USB drive. However, there is a yellow warning sign on the left side of the drive when i go to Device Manager to check the status. I think that the drive is bad. Any thought of software tools that i can use to retrieve he data from the disk?
Thanks

by oh smeg

When you install a HDD to a USB Enclosure it needs to be set as the Master. If it isn't then you will get that Yellow Circle. Here you need to open the enclosure read the Sticker on the HDD on how to set the Drive to Master, Slave or Cable Select [b]CS.[/b]

Set the Jumper and try again. If it still doesn't work here is a short list of the better Data Recovery Applications available.

http://tinyurl.com/273ay5

http://tinyurl.com/rmvrv

http://tinyurl.com/yvrsl

http://tinyurl.com/yyk8cm

http://tinyurl.com/382vm

http://tinyurl.com/ynwnel

http://tinyurl.com/nc4kx

http://tinyurl.com/2wox7l

http://tinyurl.com/374d8b

http://tinyurl.com/djw6u

http://tinyurl.com/f73se

http://tinyurl.com/8bd3f

http://tinyurl.com/afu2j

While the last 2 are from the same company they are very different products. Win Hex should only be considered for use by someone who knows Hex Inside Out while Davory is a great cheap General Purpose Application.

Personally I prefer the On Track Option but it's anything but cheap. However because I use this type of software a lot it's paid for itself many times over by now, for a cheaper option Spin Rite from Gibson Research or Stella have both very good reputations by other TR members.

Though if there is any Important Data that you can not afford to loose I would send it to a Data Recovery Specialist. While it is possible to attempt a recovery now and if it doesn't work send the HDD away to a Data recovery Specialist you are reducing your chances of a Successful Recovery and increasing your Costs considerably.

Col

by robotech

More than likely a jumper setting to make it a slave to your other drive. If the jumper settings are not clear then connect it as the only drive on your Secondary IDE controller and transfer what you need to transfer. If that doesn't work then bearing in mind it's a 20GB HDD it may be so old that BIOS may have problems auto detecting it. In that case you will have to read the cylinder, sectors, head information and input it manually into the BIOS; your OS should then detect it.

by gilbertjp2001

It's detected by the BIOS but it does not appear on Windows explorer. After everything i try, it is still not working, i guess that it's a bad drive. Any thoughts on how to get the data out of it?
Tks

by slayer_

To check if the drive is any good at all.

First, tell us if it shows up in the drive manager, if it does, run a SMART test on it. Speedfan can do that for you if you need a program for it (google speedfan).

Also, check if the drive is actually doing anything, the easiest way is to turn your computer off, pull the drive from your case and hold it in your hand, but leave it plugged in. And start up your computer, if you feel/hear the drive spin up and read something, chances are the drive is good.

If this is an IDE drive and your system runs from SATA, often Windows screws up and ignores IDE drives. Nothing you can do about this except do the USB solution.

------------------------------
Lastly, if you still have no luck, plug the drive in as your primary and disconnect your current drive, and boot into the old OS. If you need to, use safemode on that old OS. If it comes up saying invalid system disc, chances are the drive has been ruined.

by jszivos

Use Disk Management in Windows. Admin Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management. You may need to configure the drive before Windows detects it.

This discussion is closed to new replies.