Issue with retrieving data off an old SATA hardrive

Hi everyone, years back I had a laptop screen go out and decided a new laptop was better than replacing the screen, also upgraded to a better laptop. I have purchased a StarTech USB to IDE and SATA adapter cable to retrieve the old data off two old hard drives. The IDE hard drive I had no problem with and now get to enjoy some long lost music.

The other hard drive is a 250gb SATA hard drive and connecting it is a bit more in depth than the IDE. I have everything plugged in and I can see the icon for the hard drive under "Devices and Printers" as USB to ATA/ATAPI bridge. From here how do I go about accessing this SATA hard drive? I am sort of stuck now and wanted to ask somewhere before proceeding.

This is the cable setup I have and I have both connectors on the hard drive as well as the small connection for additional plugged in as well. The green SATA light is not illuminated but the red USB light is. Both switches are ON.

a reply to: StratosFear

check to see if there is a switch to divert power to the SATA side of the power.

originally posted by: StratosFear
Hi everyone, years back I had a laptop screen go out and decided a new laptop was better than replacing the screen, also upgraded to a better laptop. I have purchased a StarTech USB to IDE and SATA adapter cable to retrieve the old data off two old hard drives. The IDE hard drive I had no problem with and now get to enjoy some long lost music.

The other hard drive is a 250gb SATA hard drive and connecting it is a bit more in depth than the IDE. I have everything plugged in and I can see the icon for the hard drive under "Devices and Printers" as USB to ATA/ATAPI bridge. From here how do I go about accessing this SATA hard drive? I am sort of stuck now and wanted to ask somewhere before proceeding.

This is the cable setup I have and I have both connectors on the hard drive as well as the small connection for additional plugged in as well. The green SATA light is not illuminated but the red USB light is. Both switches are ON.

What OS are you running? You might need to go in disc management and assign a drive letter. Can you hear the drive spin at all?

a reply to: StratosFear

When your hard drive is plugged in can you hear it gearing up and start spinning? If not then there is no power going to it.

When my old laptop screen blew all I did was remove the hard drive, dock it in a docking station similar to this one....

www.maplin.co.uk...

And it worked the same way as a USB memory stick or portable hard drive.

I dont know but maybe the FAT file is corrupt

a reply to: StratosFear

How old is the drive? How is it formatted? Fat32?

All newer systems use NTFS

a reply to: StratosFear

Plug both..rt click open..no dbl click..highlight files..copy and drop into new drive...don't drop n drag...cut n paste..good luck!

Thx for the quick replies, I'm running windows 7 as was the SATA hard drive at the time. No spinning heard from the drive though. It shouldn`t be damaged its been put up for about a year and a half maybe 2 years. Disk management has it under disk1 and it is not initialized. When I click to initiate should I select the MBR (Master Boot Record) option or the GPT (GUID Partition Table) option?

Notice the switch. I used to have one of these. The power goes to either of the connections but not both at the same time.

originally posted by: StratosFear
Disk management has it under disk1 and it is not initialized. When I click to initiate should I select the MBR (Master Boot Record) option or the GPT (GUID Partition Table) option?

If you want your data, DO NOT make changes in disk management. There are other utilities to try, but if you don't have spinning of the platter, you will not have a chance without sending it out.

originally posted by: network dude

originally posted by: StratosFear
Disk management has it under disk1 and it is not initialized. When I click to initiate should I select the MBR (Master Boot Record) option or the GPT (GUID Partition Table) option?

If you want your data, DO NOT make changes in disk management. There are other utilities to try, but if you don't have spinning of the platter, you will not have a chance without sending it out.

Why not? I guess you shouldn't if you don't really know what you're doing.

a reply to: network dudeYeah both switch are on, do I not need that smaller connection? COuld you elaborate a bit more on your following post? The hard drive isn't spinning but it is slightly warmer than ambient temperature. I am also not aware of any other utilities to try, and I haven't done anything since the start other than remove the small connection and turn that corresponding switch and nothing. So I guess that is not required.

originally posted by: StratosFear
a reply to: network dudeYeah both switch are on, do I not need that smaller connection? COuld you elaborate a bit more on your following post? The hard drive isn't spinning but it is slightly warmer than ambient temperature. I am also not aware of any other utilities to try, and I haven't done anything since the start other than remove the small connection and turn that corresponding switch and nothing. So I guess that is not required.

I've been in the IT field for about 15 years and things like this are very hard to troubleshoot without having remote access or physically being there.

a reply to: NWOMGWTFI understand and will provide as much info as I can. A search came up with some articles I am reading that say initializing the disk will basically wipe the previous data off. Any specific details that you need to know? Any thoughts or qualms about Yodot hard drive recovery software?

originally posted by: NWOMGWTF

originally posted by: network dude

originally posted by: StratosFear
Disk management has it under disk1 and it is not initialized. When I click to initiate should I select the MBR (Master Boot Record) option or the GPT (GUID Partition Table) option?

If you want your data, DO NOT make changes in disk management. There are other utilities to try, but if you don't have spinning of the platter, you will not have a chance without sending it out.

Why not? I guess you shouldn't if you don't really know what you're doing.

If you make changes to the partition (as you know) you will not be able to get access to any data on that drive without some data recovery software. So yea, don't mess with it unless you really know what you are doing.

a reply to: StratosFear

If the drive is recognizable in disk management, then there is a good chance it's spinning. Just quietly. If you pick it up you may feel it moving like a gyro. It spins quite fast.

If you cannot get it to have a drive letter with just plugging it in, chances are something is damaged. There are programs to do deep scans on the drive and attempt to recover data, but before you go through all that, is what's on there super important? ( I realize you are just asking questions on this but how important the data is relates to how much $ and time you should be putting into this.)

a reply to: network dudeIt IS spinning, very subtle. The amount of music alone is enough to warrant a shot at it, but there are other things I created, found, collected that I just do not think I `ll be able to track down or recreate again. Nothing illegal or perverted I promise. Music, artwork, car project data, files of research from topics seen here over the years, Old resume and references, phone numbers. etc.

Any hard drive recovery software recommended?

a reply to: StratosFear

personaly i would wonder is the ide to sata converter is working ok.

but if you have to go the software route there's no much better than "runtime get data back" but its not free.

a reply to: StratosFear

The more perverted the better. I am not here to judge, just help.

my advice is to buy some cheap software. I have bought some in the past and they worked. (cannot remember the name right now) but avoid free stuff unless you are confident it's junk free. Last time I bought some, it was $35 or so. I used it to recover XLS files from a formatted drive. I think most of the programs run on the same platform, so as long as they are reputable, should be OK. But there is no guarantee on this. So don't spend more than you can afford to gamble away.

Others may have direct experience with some software. And my advice is free so you get what you pay for there as well.

a reply to: PhoenixODI can pull up the old hard drive in device manger in the expandable "disk drive" section, it does recognize it and gives the number for the hard drive. Both my working laptop and hard drive in question are SATA and my IDE hard drive worked just fine. I gave Recuva a shot but I cannot find how to get the program to see the hard drive connected via cable adapter. Drivers are all up to date.