A Not Tech needs desperate help

[TerryDrake]

so i have an old 04 dell xps, and i am trying to get the memory off of the 3.5 hdd useing a vantec SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 adapter because my desktop will not boot.
my issue (becides the not booting) is: with the transfer adapter to my laptop and it wont open the drive at all, matter of fact it makes the "my computer" window go unresponsive. i ran a chkdsk and most of the files are unreadable. but now that i am trying to run another chkdsk to see if i can salvage any of the data, my laptop is no longer identifying that i have a usb pluged in. not in my computer, not in the devices and printers, not even in the unplug port icon thing. is it a waste of time to even try, does anybody have any ideas, or should i let my wallet take a hit and take it in to a professional.... any help would be nice

 

[denis280]

Let me get this right.you want to move stuff from your old hdd to your laptop.but one question

because my desktop will not boot.

??? are you sure the hdd is good

 

[TerryDrake]

actually, no im not sure. i am just trying to salvage what files i can. i do know the os is shot, and most of the files are unreadable. but i want to get the ones that are readable moved if it is possible. and with my desktop not booting; it gave me 2 different stop error codes: Unmountable boot volume, and iqrl not equal or less. Sector 7, not Sector 0 Failure. that was with normal boot and safemode

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Does the hard drive spin up and make noise?

 

[Nec_V20]

If you have access to another computer I would advise you to take the HD out of your laptop and hook it up to that other computer and see what you can salvage.

If the HD is not recognised in the BIOS then you can be pretty sure it is knackered.

However if it is recognised then you might be able to get the data back.

If the partition is no longer recognised then you can get the software "Active@ Partition Recovery" http://www.partition-recovery.com/ which has stood me in good stead.

 

[TerryDrake]

@Nec: its my pc hd on a usb adapter on my laptop. and i will try and see if its in BIOS. the latest issue is it was recognized 2 days ago, but last night it wouldnt recognize it at all.

@dave: it does spin, it was spinning when i was dinking with it with the chkdsk. but last night when it wouldnt recognize the hd i had the power on the adapter it would spin for maby 2 min, then go quiet no spinning. but i dont know if its because of inactivity or because its finally shot from all the troubleshooting i have tryed.