Recover data from "retired" hard drive

[Pghpooh]

HI
No panic or problems here,,, just would like to reuse a hard drive.
2 years ago I "retired" a old computer I built.
The "C" drive or master boot drive I apologize for not using not the proper description) is a Western Digital WD1200 The old drive has pictures and music, etc on it that I had backed up on another drive,,, but not everything. I want to recover what is on the old drive then format it and reuse it for storage.
I have a SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter made by Vantec that I have use on other drives to recover data or just to use older drives for storage.
For some reason the adapter does not work on this drive.

When I use the adapter I get the message saying the drive needs to be formatted, etc. I'm assuming that the problem has something to do with the boot partition or other section for booting the pc on start up.
Is there a way around this so I can use the drive?
Thanks
Pghpooh

 

[janas19]

*Subscribes*

 

[paperwastage]

*Subscribes*

cough go to top of the original thread, Thread Tools-> Subscribe to This Thread

can you put the HDD in a computer with a spare "native" SATA port? sometimes SATA->USB 2.0 adapters don't give you low-level-enough functionality...

or get Ubuntu on a USB stick, swap your current boot HDD with the old HDD, boot into Ubuntu via the USB stick, then see if ubuntu can see your HDD

 

[Elixer]

If this is a IDE drive, then your best bet is to just use a motherboard that has a actual IDE interface that you can use. Some adapters don't work well with IDE drives.
If that isn't a option, then you are left with trying multiple enclosures or adapters, and hope you find one that works.

Using linux to read the drive is also a good choice, and if needed, you can perform recovery operations as well, but that is a bit more advanced.

 

[Pghpooh]

Elixer
OOPS!!!! I forgot to add in my original post that is is a IDE drive.
My daughter has a older pc that used IDE drives that I can use. Should I set my drive up as the primary drive replace the exixting drive or if I option my drive as a slave drive will that work?
Thanks
Pghpooh

 

[Motorheader]

If it is a name brand box there is a good chance that the IDE drives are jumpered for Cable Select(CS) and you will want to adjust this if you are still trying to get the data. I would set it up either as a slave to the primary - making sure the primary is jumpered to master - or as a slave to the secondary if you have 2 IDE ports and the optical drive is setup as the master on that port.

 

[Elixer]

What Motorheader said pretty much covers it.
Then once in windows (or linux, or...) you should be able to see you data again.
If not, then use testdisk (free) to have it scan the drive and see if can find anything.

If it does, then you have the option of doing a clone of the drive to another drive, and then do recovery tests on the backup HD.

 

[Pghpooh]

HI
Thanks for the info. Will try to borrow my daughters old pc and swap out the drives.
Hopefully I can recover the data on the drive then format it and use it as a spare drive.
Thanks
Pghpooh