recovering stuff

syconub

Senior member
Aug 7, 2004
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ok so my dad about 5 years ago had a HD crash. there is a trick that you put it in the freezer and it contracts and when you take it out it expands and gives it some life to run again. Its been in the freezer for about 5 years. He is an architect and had some EXTREMELY important files on there. So one day i decided i was bored and i would see if it would work. I plugged it in and it posted and i saw the files that he wanted me to put on a cd. It wasnt compatable with my cd rom drive. So i plugged it into the grey spot for secondary drives, and put my regular hd back on primary. when i do the hardware profile it says there is a SG3432894 (my primary seagate 200GB drive) and a WD231425 drive (the old drive). Now i cant find it to be able to copy the files onto a cd. How do I do this?

BTW if i get these important files for my dad and hes coming back from buissiness trip in like 2 days so i need a response fast casue i said i would have them on his nightstand on a cd

cliffnotes:
1.had drive crashed 5 years ago and i put it in and it works.
2.i need to copy certain files onto cd but cdrom drive is impompatable with that hard drive
3.VERY important files for buissiness
4.a prize to whoever help me
 

montag451

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
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Well done for having the patience to wait so long ;-)

Try copying the drives straight onto another hard drive - much faster. You won't have much time to do this, so be as kwik as you kan.
Then copy onto cd.
I can't think why your hdd would have probs with a cd player except the jumpers are set wrong.
 

montag451

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
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On a bootable system, Hook the drive up to the secondary channel as MASTER drive on the end connector. [look on the back of the drive for the jumpers - and there should be a diagram to show you how to set the jumper].
If there is another device on that cable, disconnect it.

Boot into windows, copy to your c drive.
presto - in theory
 

syconub

Senior member
Aug 7, 2004
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so can i just change the connectors on this one now? or are you saying like connect it to where my cd rom drive is and use that as a secondary?
 

D1gger

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
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Right Click Start Menu
Left Click Explore
Left Click old hard drive with files in the left pane of the Explore window
Right Click and hold on the folder or files in the right window that you want to copy
Drag the folder or files to the left window onto the working hard drive. in the left pane of the Explore window and release the right mouse button
You will be asked if you want to move / copy / create shortcut / cancel. Choose copy.

It should now copy the folder and or files you want to rescue. Repeat as needed. Then you can burn them from your known good drive to a CD.
 

montag451

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
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Just keep your hard drives connected - that might speed things up a little.
Then do what d1gger suggests
 

syconub

Senior member
Aug 7, 2004
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it shows up in the profile, but not in the explorer thing. or in my computer. how do I put it on there?
 

montag451

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
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what profile does it show up in?

Also, was your dad using NT when the drive stopped working?
 

syconub

Senior member
Aug 7, 2004
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like when i click on control panel and then performance and mantience, and then system check and then system properties, and then on hardware, the DEVICE manager thing.
 

montag451

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
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ok.
What operating system did your dad use 5 years ago?
It might be the file system is very different. Was it NT3? or NT3.5 etc etc?

Switch computer off.
Place in freezer overnight.
Try and do whatever you have to do before the drive warms up - you will be lucky to get this to work again - but what the hell!!!!

Make sure the jumpers are correct, and the drive is plugged in well when you do this.
then - if you can boot into win and see the drive in explorer, brilliant.

If you can't see drive in explorer, try SPINRITE 6.
that is probably about the best from what i have heard - will cost - but could be worth it.
 

syconub

Senior member
Aug 7, 2004
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how about if i got an old cdrom drive that would be compatable???it was windows ME and I have windows XP SP2 on this computer.
 

montag451

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
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Dont use anything else apart from hard drives -- keep the system faster and the data transfer faster -
Dont use the dodgy hard drive until you are ready to do the data transfer.

5 years ago - he was using ME, are you sure?
 

syconub

Senior member
Aug 7, 2004
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ok.. it was 4
i just typed in a number..

BUT how should i connect it? just reconfigure my jumpers on the back?
 

montag451

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
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If you go into device manager, see the drive, and look under properties, what does it tell you under all the tabs??

Also can you be clearer about the operating system that he used all those years ago please?
 

syconub

Senior member
Aug 7, 2004
520
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its just ME under fat32 files system and all i can do is delete the partition..how can i get it so i can copy files from it
 

montag451

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
4,587
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could try
xcopy in DOS to copy the all folders/files.

trouble is you wont be able to see into your NTFS / XP [if you dont use fat32 for xp] hdd.
you may be able to get around this by using a partition manager to create a different partition using FAT32 in your primary hdd. Careful though if this is your bootable hdd with all your files on it. Make backups.

forget completely about copying direct to CD. Must copy to hdd.

Could also try SPINRITE6. that is supposed to be A+ as long as the drive spins and the platters aren't destroyed
 

syconub

Senior member
Aug 7, 2004
520
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Originally posted by: montag451
could try
xcopy in DOS to copy the all folders/files.

trouble is you wont be able to see into your NTFS / XP [if you dont use fat32 for xp] hdd.
you may be able to get around this by using a partition manager to create a different partition using FAT32 in your primary hdd. Careful though if this is your bootable hdd with all your files on it. Make backups.

forget completely about copying direct to CD. Must copy to hdd.

Could also try SPINRITE6. that is supposed to be A+ as long as the drive spins and the platters aren't destroyed

too complicated