going back a few years i had an old dell laptop, which broke and i no longer have. i still have the old HDD and now wish to access this drive, i have tried to put the old hard drive into my new computer but i get the blue screen telling me the HDD does not recognise my hardware. i was just wondering what my options would be, is there anyway of recovering the information off it?? thanks in advance.
help retrieving data from old hard drive
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You tried putting a 2 1/2" drive inside a system that runs 3 1/2" ide or sata desktop models. If you don't end up at a data recovery service you would need an external usb adapter for notebook drives to see what could be recovered.
First you need the correct interface and may end up having to try a live for cd Linux distro to access the partition on the old drive. If your new system is another laptop companies like Dell and HP offer hard drive adapters that go in where the optical drives are seen. The drive itself fits inside a casing and then inserted.
First you need the correct interface and may end up having to try a live for cd Linux distro to access the partition on the old drive. If your new system is another laptop companies like Dell and HP offer hard drive adapters that go in where the optical drives are seen. The drive itself fits inside a casing and then inserted.
17,000 posts of total garbage, rubbish, nonsense and rambling insanity. That has to be a new record.
The reason you're getting the blue screen is that you're probably trying to boot off it and the second you hit the drive controller drivers it chokes. That's standard fare. To get away from that you have to change them to the standard busmaster controllers first.
Otherwise just get an R-Driver III usb to SATA/PATA 3 1/2", 2 1/2" adapter and plug it into your USB. You can surf it through My Computer. You may have to take ownership of the Documents folder.
Linux will do nothing for you but add one more useless, unnecessary step. Worst case scenario you can use Stellar Phoenix to recover data off the drive.
The reason you're getting the blue screen is that you're probably trying to boot off it and the second you hit the drive controller drivers it chokes. That's standard fare. To get away from that you have to change them to the standard busmaster controllers first.
Otherwise just get an R-Driver III usb to SATA/PATA 3 1/2", 2 1/2" adapter and plug it into your USB. You can surf it through My Computer. You may have to take ownership of the Documents folder.
Linux will do nothing for you but add one more useless, unnecessary step. Worst case scenario you can use Stellar Phoenix to recover data off the drive.
Having never used any live distros you wouldn't know. Where do you come up with this booting off of a laptop drive in an atx case?
And do you know what OS was run on the old laptop since none was mentioned?
At least once in an external adapter(mentioned earler) or added into another laptop there are various methods for data recovery.
I have (and have used) half a dozen live distros sitting right here beside me (Ubuntu included.. about a dozen copies of Ubuntu actually, 64 and 32 bit).
It doesn't matter what OS it was.. Most drive controller drivers are not interoperable..
And you can easily boot off a laptop drive in a tower. Just about anyone but you can do it. You'd need about 30 steps (29 1/2 of them completely unrelated), a Google search, a 30 paragraph post about the history of 64 bit computing and a Linux CD just to plug the damn thing in.
I actually have a 2 1/2" to 3 1/2" PATA adapter kit here (I can't remember which member here sent it to me). A little adapter with a power plug, for using a laptop drive on a regular drive cable/controller.
It doesn't matter what OS it was.. Most drive controller drivers are not interoperable..
And you can easily boot off a laptop drive in a tower. Just about anyone but you can do it. You'd need about 30 steps (29 1/2 of them completely unrelated), a Google search, a 30 paragraph post about the history of 64 bit computing and a Linux CD just to plug the damn thing in.
I actually have a 2 1/2" to 3 1/2" PATA adapter kit here (I can't remember which member here sent it to me). A little adapter with a power plug, for using a laptop drive on a regular drive cable/controller.
I'm well aware of the various adapters available. The option to use a live distro overcomes obstacles once a partition becomes unreadable. The old laption saw Linux or Mac there and the new one is Windows... oops! you then need something that can read across different OS platforms. Windows can't read VFat or Mac too well.
That's fabulous PC eye. I marvel at your technical expertise.
However, if you could please come back to planet earth and in particular get with the program in at least this thread, an old Dell laptop doesn't run Mac OS, nor Linux. So if you think you could take your meds to stay with us for the duration... That would be great.
It also doesn't matter if the old drive was Linux. He couldn't boot off it anyways because of the drive controller drivers.
By the way, Linux uses the EXT3 filesystem. Just for your own interest's sake. And Windows can read a VFAT filesystem (the Windows long file name compatible file system option in Linux) just fine...
However, if you could please come back to planet earth and in particular get with the program in at least this thread, an old Dell laptop doesn't run Mac OS, nor Linux. So if you think you could take your meds to stay with us for the duration... That would be great.
It also doesn't matter if the old drive was Linux. He couldn't boot off it anyways because of the drive controller drivers.
By the way, Linux uses the EXT3 filesystem. Just for your own interest's sake. And Windows can read a VFAT filesystem (the Windows long file name compatible file system option in Linux) just fine...
People have been custom installing various OSs for years while that fact seems to elude some people apparently.
The best option available is to use an external drive bay while a bootable drive with a working OS is on another drive or boot with a live for cd Linux distro like Knoppix or ubuntu would allow you to see what is on the old drive itself depending on condition.
It's not that the drive isn't detecting the hardwares but rather the lack of boot information and how you are trying to boot from the drive itself. In a few years time a volume can become heavily fragmented as well as unreadable where it would need to be repartitioned and reformatted to bexome usable again. That also means losing whatever is on it.
The first question here is how you are connecting the drive in order to boot up from it?
The best option available is to use an external drive bay while a bootable drive with a working OS is on another drive or boot with a live for cd Linux distro like Knoppix or ubuntu would allow you to see what is on the old drive itself depending on condition.
It's not that the drive isn't detecting the hardwares but rather the lack of boot information and how you are trying to boot from the drive itself. In a few years time a volume can become heavily fragmented as well as unreadable where it would need to be repartitioned and reformatted to bexome usable again. That also means losing whatever is on it.
The first question here is how you are connecting the drive in order to boot up from it?
PC, I know you're stuck on Linux. I understand that.. I get it. Sort of.
However, take a Windows installation installed on, say, an AMD chipset and attempt to put it in a computer with an Intel chipset (as an extreme). What happens? It bluescreens once it hits the controller drivers. Same can be said for variants of either chipset. The solution, a well documented one incidentally, is to switch the busmaster drivers to the MS default ones before you attempt a boot, and then it doesn't matter a darn which hardware you originally installed it on, it will still boot.
Fragmentation, etc, has absolutely nothing to do with it. Even if it was corrupted, 9 out of 10 corrupted drives are repairable with chkdsk.. I do it every day of the week (courtesy of Western Digital of course).
However, take a Windows installation installed on, say, an AMD chipset and attempt to put it in a computer with an Intel chipset (as an extreme). What happens? It bluescreens once it hits the controller drivers. Same can be said for variants of either chipset. The solution, a well documented one incidentally, is to switch the busmaster drivers to the MS default ones before you attempt a boot, and then it doesn't matter a darn which hardware you originally installed it on, it will still boot.
Fragmentation, etc, has absolutely nothing to do with it. Even if it was corrupted, 9 out of 10 corrupted drives are repairable with chkdsk.. I do it every day of the week (courtesy of Western Digital of course).
For some reason I don't seem to have to that often. 
With any major change you would expect to see a fresh partition as well as clean install of Windows to begin with. Despite that there are circumstances where you can't access a previous installation when the system volume information is lost or corrupted too far.
Yet then there's that little old self contained OS that loads from a cd-r that can get on there to see what's left bothering with. http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/
With any major change you would expect to see a fresh partition as well as clean install of Windows to begin with. Despite that there are circumstances where you can't access a previous installation when the system volume information is lost or corrupted too far.
Yet then there's that little old self contained OS that loads from a cd-r that can get on there to see what's left bothering with. http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/
Well, that's fine... But today I had an emergency call for exactly that problem. The drive was so badly corrupted the computer would just post and then sit there.
After three passes, I had the drive repaired and booting the way it should...with chkdsk. And Knoppix would not have worked on it, as Knoppix will only work if the directory structure can be read... so in today's case one had to repair the drive first, to a point where Knoppix would have been able to read it.
After three passes, I had the drive repaired and booting the way it should...with chkdsk. And Knoppix would not have worked on it, as Knoppix will only work if the directory structure can be read... so in today's case one had to repair the drive first, to a point where Knoppix would have been able to read it.
Inaccessible is one thing.. Totally damaged is something different PC. We do a lot of data recovery.
When all the drive gives is "can't find C:\Windows" or a flashing cursor, or "invalid boot disk" or whatever.. and putting it on a USB cable only shows the system volume info folder.. you're screwed, and knoppix won't help.
When all the drive gives is "can't find C:\Windows" or a flashing cursor, or "invalid boot disk" or whatever.. and putting it on a USB cable only shows the system volume info folder.. you're screwed, and knoppix won't help.
Linux doesn't rely on the same things Windows does when reading from drives. This is one reason why that article was written there in the first place. Being a totally different UNIX not MS type platform it goes right past the snags Windows would see as long as the heads on a drive are still good.
Once a drive is setup properly as a slave or in an external drive bay data recovery programs are the more common Windows method. The last option for anything unreplacable is ending up going to a professional data recovery service with a spare drive or blank media where they will place on those whatever is found intact on the original drive.
Once a drive is setup properly as a slave or in an external drive bay data recovery programs are the more common Windows method. The last option for anything unreplacable is ending up going to a professional data recovery service with a spare drive or blank media where they will place on those whatever is found intact on the original drive.
Yes, I realize that. And I'm not knocking Knoppix, either. I readily acknowledge it's a valuable tool that has it's place. The trick, of course, when giving advice is to know the place and tailor one's recommendations accordingly.
As you don't use a robertson to loosen a philips fastener, nor do you use a Caterpillar to flatten a mole hill, nor do you bring a tank to a knife fight... You don't throw your entire arsenal at a basic problem.
We and our partners can do any kind of recovery, from basic corruption and formatted drives all the way up to a harddrive that's been burned in a fire. Between us we have just about every tool in the book, including clean rooms. If you're willing to pay for it we can lift data off a smashed platter in many cases.
In other words, you're preaching to the choir. Knoppix, Ultimate Boot CD, Emergency Boot Disk, Ubuntu, Stellar Phoenix, etc, etc, etc, are all fabulous tools...but every tool has it's place.
As you don't use a robertson to loosen a philips fastener, nor do you use a Caterpillar to flatten a mole hill, nor do you bring a tank to a knife fight... You don't throw your entire arsenal at a basic problem.
We and our partners can do any kind of recovery, from basic corruption and formatted drives all the way up to a harddrive that's been burned in a fire. Between us we have just about every tool in the book, including clean rooms. If you're willing to pay for it we can lift data off a smashed platter in many cases.
In other words, you're preaching to the choir.
Knoppix, Ultimate Boot CD, Emergency Boot Disk, Ubuntu, Stellar Phoenix, etc, etc, etc, are all fabulous tools...but every tool has it's place.INTELCRAZY
banned
Well actually PC he did give all the info you need for an accurate diagnosis.. Considering I've seen that problem oh.. dozens of times.. I know exactly what it is and indeed posted how to fix it.
Here we go again...
You must deal with this all the time. Repairing an office PC for a pool hall is hard work...
Intel, if you're going to insist on being an ass, you're going to be treated like one.
Anyways, it's not an office computer, it was a Pixel Point network that even Pixel Point couldn't fix.
Regardless, I'm warning you to watch your step. I can deal with a lot, but if you're going to start "stalking" and compromising my online security and in any way compromising my business or professional life, you will pay the price and be held accountable, I promise. Guide yourself accordingly, as I will not warn you again.
Anyways, it's not an office computer, it was a Pixel Point network that even Pixel Point couldn't fix.
Regardless, I'm warning you to watch your step. I can deal with a lot, but if you're going to start "stalking" and compromising my online security and in any way compromising my business or professional life, you will pay the price and be held accountable, I promise. Guide yourself accordingly, as I will not warn you again.
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INTELCRAZY
banned
Stalking: No... Talking to other members: Yes... If you wouldn't talk so arrogantly, ppl would like you... And you know what I am talking about. Don't brag about it if you don't want ppl to find out, makes pretty damn good sense to me.
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