Hardware

Ask something
Question Locked

Problem Transferring Data using BYTECC

0 helpful
14 replies

by greyson321

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
I recently bought the adapter kit and attempted to install and access data on a IDE hard drive from an other computer.I connected the adapter to the hard drive and power to the adapter. I then connected the USB cable to the computer. The computer (XP Prof) recognizes the USB device as "E" but when I attempt to access it I get a message: "Drive Not Formatted". I am able to successfully run Seagate diagnostics on the drive so I assume the drive is ok. I queried Windows Disk Mangement (in Computer Management. It shows both drives (C and E) as Healthy and shows an Unknown Partiton (3.7 GB). This partition appears as part of the System (C) drive and also as a seperate paertition with no volume designation. Any help would be appreciated.

14 replies

by tobif

What OS formatted the initial partition.

If the disk was set up by a newer system (Vista, Win7) then it may not be directly backward compatible.

I'm quite sure there should be a way around, either by updating some driver in XP, or by booting from a recent Linux live disk, so that you can copy the needed data, before you reformat the drive with XP.

Or, try to find another computer with same system as the computer you got this disk from.

by greyson321

The disk was initially formatted by Win XP. The system I'm trying to read it with is XP Professional. V 5.1. The old system could not support the entire disk as one partition so it created two (2). I don't know if that's relevant. I will try to locate another system to try it on. Thanks.

by tobif

Your words about "initially two partitions" worries me a bit.
NTFS wouldn't enforce such limitations. Even FAT32 shouldn't have been a full stop for a rather large partition.

But: Do you say that you have joined two partitions? How did you do that?

by oh smeg

You have fitted a HDD from a computer to a USB Caddy and are attempting to access it on a different computer right?

When you plug in the USB Lead to the XP Computer what happens?

What is the IDE HDD set to on it's Jumper Master or Cable Select [b]CS?[/b]

If it is CS you need to reset the Jumper to Master and start again as the USB Enclosures need this setting for all IDE Drives unless it's a Note Book Drive in which case you may need to remove the Jumper depending on the Make of the Drive and the Make of the USB Mass Storage Device which is the Interface Card between the USB Lead and the Hard Disc Drive.

The 3.75 GIG Partition that you are talking about here can not be part of the C Drive and be this HDD as that is the Boot Drive for the system that it is plugged into. It could possibly be a Recovery Partition on that computer so that you can rebuild the OS in the event of a OS Failure but it can not be the HDD that you are plugging in here.

What exactly is shown in Disc Management here? You need to open the Control Panel then Administrative Tools and Device Manager. When the Device Manager Window Opens you need to left click on Drive Management and take notice of the Listed Hard Disc Drives shown. Post back whit what is shown there but first check that the Jumper on the HDD in the USB Caddy is in the right place Master. Then reset and try again.

Also knowing why this drive was removed from another computer would be helpful.

Additionally knowing what OS was loaded to the Computer that this HDD came from would be helpful as well. Some Formating may not be readable with XP.

Col

by greyson321

When I plug in the USB Cable, Windows recognizes it (bell sound). It appears in 'Device Manager' and 'Disk Management' as a healthy disk.

Jumper cable on HDD is set to 'Master'.

What you say about the 3.57 partion as part of the 'C' drive makes sense. I mentioned it because 1)it is indicated as an unknown partion and 2) it also appears at the top listing of drives without a volume designation (C or E) as Healthy/ Unknown partition.

The bottom window of Disk Management shows three (3) devices:

1.)Disk 0 'C' Basic Healthy and the 3.57 GB 'Unknown Partition).

2.)Disk 1 'E' On-Line Healthy (It appeaers as one partition whereas it was initially creatred as 2 because the initializing XP could not support the size as one paertition (Could that be an issue?).

3.)CD/ROM (DVD)

The list in the top window shows the 'C' and 'E' volumes plus a third entry with no volume designation as Healthy/Unknown Partition.

I removed this drive from an older PC (no longer available) which ran under Win XP (the new one has XP Professional). The purpose is to upgrade to a newer and faster PC.

The disk was initially formatted by Win XP. The system I'm trying to read it with is XP Professional. V 5.1. The old system could not support the entire disk as one partition so it created two (2).

Thanks for your efforts.

by oh smeg

Plug in the USB Caddy and see what appears.

As both systems where using a form of XP there should be no real issues so if you have a Password on your User Account you'll need to Take Ownership of the files not at all uncommon the directions are simple and are available here

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

The bit you want is this but it still pays to read the entire Knowledge Base Article. ;)

[i]To take ownership of a file or a folder
How to take ownership of a file
You must have ownership of a protected file in order to access it. If another user has restricted access and you are the computer administrator, you can access the file by taking ownership.

To take ownership of a file, follow these steps:
Right-click the file that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click Administrator, or click the Administrators group, and then click OK.

The administrator or the administrators group now owns the file.
To change the permissions on the file that you now own, follow these steps:
Click Add.
In the Enter the object names to select (examples) list, type the user or group account that you want to have access to the file. For example, type Administrator.
Click OK.
In the Group or user names list, click the account that you want, and then select the check boxes of the permissions that you want to assign that user.
When you are finished assigning permissions, click OK.
You can now access the file.[/i]

You'll also need to test the HDD with it's makers Testing Utility so as the drive has been removed from the NB you'll know it's name so just click on it's name here and download the makers Testing Utility here

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

Follow the directions for testing the drive just to check that it's actually working correctly.

[i]edited to add[/i] Also as this drive comes from a NB try removing the Jumper Clip and then plug the drive back into the enclosure and see if that makes any difference. Some HDD/USB Interfaces require IDE Drives to have the jumper removed to work properly. This is to do with the Chip Set used and how it addresses the drive. ;)

Col

by greyson321

I successfully ran Seagate diagnostics on the drive. Also removed jumper clip. HDD is recognized as before. Which files am I to take ownership of?

by tobif

You need to take ownership if the system tells you that you don't have the rights to access the files when you try to access them.

But it's too early for that.

First you need to see the list of files and directories...

by oh smeg

The Partition tables have been damaged and this is causing the problem here. There are several options available but first you have to ask yourself the question of [b]How Valuable is your Data and How Important is it?[/b]

If it is Important to you, you should pack up the drive do [b]Absolutely[/b] nothing to it and send it to a Data Recovery House and pay them to recover your Data. However if it would just be [b]Nice[/b] to get any data off this drive here are a few things to try.

Open the Command Prompt by clicking on Start then Run and type in [b]CHKDSK /r[/b] and check the E Partition. This may or may not do anything but as it's free it's not going to hurt anything if it doesn't work.

If you are still unable to access any data on this drive you need to attack it with some form of Data Recovery Software here is a short list of the better ones that I have used over the years

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 foe 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.

However if this Data is [b]Important[/b] to recover the more that you do now will make it harder for the Professionals to recover and the more expensive it's going to be for you. So if you simply must recover the Data don't do anything at all to the drive just pack it up and send it off to your preferred/nearest Data Recovery Specialist. It will be far faster and cheaper that way for you.

Col

by greyson321

I checked out your list of recovery software and found one (SpinRite) which allows a retrieval of one fole a day for thirty days as an introductory offer. I downloaded and tried it and was able to see the entire disk tree and access a file. Since I only need a small number of data files, this will do the trick for me. It is obvious that something on the disk is corrupted and I ultimately will format it for use on the new PC. Many thanks for your help. In addition to solving my problem, I got smarter.

Regards

by greyson321

I initialized the disk under XP using the Seagate installation program. Somewhere in that process amessage indicated that my system could not support the size of the disk as one partition and created a second logical disk. I did not 'join' the partitions but they appear as one in Disk Management of the current system.

by tobif

Then I think the post of OH Smeg is on track for you.
Good luck!

This discussion is closed to new replies.