I am trying to recover data from my laptop's hard drive.

I took the hard drive out of the laptop and put it in one of those
external hard drive boxes that connect to the USB port of a PC and
within a few minutes the drive showed up including access to all the
files inside the old hard drive.

I started switching files around from one folder to another to prepare
to burn them on DVD discs.
Stupid mistake!
I should have immediately copied the files from the old hard drive into
the computer!!!!!

Within about 30 minutes of switching files around, suddenly that
particular hard drive disapeared from the computer saying I no longer
had access to it.

I've tried it on other computers using the same external box and even
went to the point of buying another brand's external box---which the
computer never even recognzied, meaning I had less success with it.

Now, still trying to access the data, all the computer does is set up a
drive for it but it tries yet never actually reads it. All the hard
drive does is turn and turn and turn for hours until I get tired and
unplug it.

Device Manager says the device is working perfectly.

I have even tried one of those internal IDE plug adapters.

I don't know if I need to set jumpers or what but I have tried
everything I possibly know how to try.

Does anyone know of any other possible way or some other method to get
data off this laptop hard drive?

Or is there something I am possibly doing wrong with the devices I have
because most of these devices come with absolutely no or very little
directions.

Help please !

Re: "I started switching files around from one folder to another to
prepare to burn them on DVD discs. Stupid mistake! I should have
immediately copied the files from the old hard drive into
the computer!!!!"

You got that part right. In this type of situation, always, always,
always treat the source drive as "read only".

You may have lost the date irrecoverably, but maybe not.

In this type of situation, you will have more luck (if any) using an IDE
interface instead of USB. Get a 2.5" to 3.5" ide cable adapter and try
that.

The information that you get from device manager relates only to the USB
controller in the external box, not to the drive itself.

USB external adapters are fine for drives that work ok and don't have
any fundamental underlying problems. They do not work well, however,
when dealing with a drive that is failing or which has significant
hardware or data structure problems.

[The best way to use an IDE adapter is to temporarily put the laptop
drive, via the adpater, onto the secondary IDE port of a desktop
computer (temporarily disconnect all devices currently connected to that
port, usually optical drives).]


rantr13@yahoo.com wrote:

Re: "I started switching files around from one folder to another to
prepare to burn them on DVD discs. Stupid mistake! I should have
immediately copied the files from the old hard drive into
the computer!!!!"

You got that part right. In this type of situation, always, always,
always treat the source drive as "read only".

You may have lost the date irrecoverably, but maybe not.

In this type of situation, you will have more luck (if any) using an IDE
interface instead of USB. Get a 2.5" to 3.5" ide cable adapter and try
that.

The information that you get from device manager relates only to the USB
controller in the external box, not to the drive itself.

USB external adapters are fine for drives that work ok and don't have
any fundamental underlying problems. They do not work well, however,
when dealing with a drive that is failing or which has significant
hardware or data structure problems.

[The best way to use an IDE adapter is to temporarily put the laptop
drive, via the adpater, onto the secondary IDE port of a desktop
computer (temporarily disconnect all devices currently connected to that
port, usually optical drives).]


rantr13@yahoo.com wrote:

< In this type of situation, you will have more luck (if any) using an
IDE
interface instead of USB. Get a 2.5" to 3.5" ide cable adapter and try

that. >

< The information that you get from device manager relates only to the
USB
controller in the external box, not to the drive itself. >

< USB external adapters are fine for drives that work ok and don't have

any fundamental underlying problems. They do not work well, however,
when dealing with a drive that is failing or which has significant
hardware or data structure problems. >

< [The best way to use an IDE adapter is to temporarily put the laptop
drive, via the adpater, onto the secondary IDE port of a desktop
computer (temporarily disconnect all devices currently connected to
that
port, usually optical drives).] >


In the original message I mentioned:


The weird thing is those adapter plugs come with 40 pins when laptop
female IDE cables have one of the pins in the middle blocked. PC's
block one of the pins in the middle probably to insure that it is being
put on correctly since it doesn't use that pin. So basically, you have
to break the middle pin off of the adapter. Neither PC's or laptop's
use them. I looked at the laptop drive and it has no middle pin
either.

So if you have a 40 pin adapter, it isn't able to be fit into your PC's
IDE cable until the middle pin s broken off. Since the laptop has the
pin missing anyway, it evidently is not needed.

So I connected the adapter to the laptop and to the PC's IDE cable
9after breaking off the middle uneeded pin) and connected the power
cable of the adapter-----and it still did absolutely nothing.

I had at least something trying to go on with the USB version (the
extrenal box adapter)....but nothing with the IDE cables. I don't know
if I need to set some jumpers to accept the hard drive as "slave" or
what.

If so, I have no clue how to do that.

Any advice how to use the IDE cable adapters to where they work?
Because they come with absolutely no directions at all whatsoever.






Barry Watzman wrote:

< In this type of situation, you will have more luck (if any) using an
IDE
interface instead of USB. Get a 2.5" to 3.5" ide cable adapter and try

that. >

< The information that you get from device manager relates only to the
USB
controller in the external box, not to the drive itself. >

< USB external adapters are fine for drives that work ok and don't have

any fundamental underlying problems. They do not work well, however,
when dealing with a drive that is failing or which has significant
hardware or data structure problems. >

< [The best way to use an IDE adapter is to temporarily put the laptop
drive, via the adpater, onto the secondary IDE port of a desktop
computer (temporarily disconnect all devices currently connected to
that
port, usually optical drives).] >


In the original message I mentioned:


The weird thing is those adapter plugs come with 40 pins when laptop
female IDE cables have one of the pins in the middle blocked. PC's
block one of the pins in the middle probably to insure that it is being
put on correctly since it doesn't use that pin. So basically, you have
to break the middle pin off of the adapter. Neither PC's or laptop's
use them. I looked at the laptop drive and it has no middle pin
either.

So if you have a 40 pin adapter, it isn't able to be fit into your PC's
IDE cable until the middle pin s broken off. Since the laptop has the
pin missing anyway, it evidently is not needed.

So I connected the adapter to the laptop and to the PC's IDE cable
9after breaking off the middle uneeded pin) and connected the power
cable of the adapter-----and it still did absolutely nothing.

I had at least something trying to go on with the USB version (the
extrenal box adapter)....but nothing with the IDE cables. I don't know
if I need to set some jumpers to accept the hard drive as "slave" or
what.

If so, I have no clue how to do that.

Any advice how to use the IDE cable adapters to where they work?
Because they come with absolutely no directions at all whatsoever.






Barry Watzman wrote:

rantr13@yahoo.com wrote:

I have an adapter here that is a circuit board with a female laptop IDE
adapter on one side, and a male PC IDE adapter on the other side. The PC
side has one pin missing. Yes you have to make sure that the laptop
drive is not plugged in upside down so pin 1 on the laptop drive has to
go on the end closest to the power adapter. Not sure what you are
talking about, but did you have the drive reversed?

Ian Singer

--


================================================== =======================
See my homepage at http://www.iansinger.com
hosted on http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=10623894
All genealogy is stored in TMG from http://www.whollygenes.com
Charts and searching using TNG from http://www.tngsitebuilding.com
I am near Toronto Canada, can I tell where you are from your reply?
================================================== =======================

rantr13@yahoo.com wrote:

I have an adapter here that is a circuit board with a female laptop IDE
adapter on one side, and a male PC IDE adapter on the other side. The PC
side has one pin missing. Yes you have to make sure that the laptop
drive is not plugged in upside down so pin 1 on the laptop drive has to
go on the end closest to the power adapter. Not sure what you are
talking about, but did you have the drive reversed?

Ian Singer

--


================================================== =======================
See my homepage at http://www.iansinger.com
hosted on http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=10623894
All genealogy is stored in TMG from http://www.whollygenes.com
Charts and searching using TNG from http://www.tngsitebuilding.com
I am near Toronto Canada, can I tell where you are from your reply?
================================================== =======================

go on the end closest to the power adapter. Not sure what you are
talking about, but did you have the drive reversed? >

Nope, it was connected properly.

So I guess the "Master" - "Slave" thing isn't an issue.
Because this was once a Master drive in a laptop.
It seems like setting it up in a PC's IDE cable is making the drive a
Slave drive rather than another Master.

Sorry, I just have no clue what to do or what's going on, problemwise.




Ian Singer wrote:

go on the end closest to the power adapter. Not sure what you are
talking about, but did you have the drive reversed? >

Nope, it was connected properly.

So I guess the "Master" - "Slave" thing isn't an issue.
Because this was once a Master drive in a laptop.
It seems like setting it up in a PC's IDE cable is making the drive a
Slave drive rather than another Master.

Sorry, I just have no clue what to do or what's going on, problemwise.




Ian Singer wrote:

rantr13@yahoo.com wrote:
If the HD in the PC is set on the Primary IDE channel and the laptop
hard drive is on the Secondary IDE channel then that means they are both
on separate cables and so master/slave is immaterial. If they are both
on the same cable then one has to be set as Master and the other as
SLAVE unless they are both set to autoselect.

Ian Singer


--


================================================== =======================
See my homepage at http://www.iansinger.com
hosted on http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=10623894
All genealogy is stored in TMG from http://www.whollygenes.com
Charts and searching using TNG from http://www.tngsitebuilding.com
I am near Toronto Canada, can I tell where you are from your reply?
================================================== =======================

rantr13@yahoo.com wrote:
If the HD in the PC is set on the Primary IDE channel and the laptop
hard drive is on the Secondary IDE channel then that means they are both
on separate cables and so master/slave is immaterial. If they are both
on the same cable then one has to be set as Master and the other as
SLAVE unless they are both set to autoselect.

Ian Singer


--


================================================== =======================
See my homepage at http://www.iansinger.com
hosted on http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=10623894
All genealogy is stored in TMG from http://www.whollygenes.com
Charts and searching using TNG from http://www.tngsitebuilding.com
I am near Toronto Canada, can I tell where you are from your reply?
================================================== =======================

What about trying this item here?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=160025500940

Would it help me in any way different than the other methods I've
tried?

There's got to be something out there to solve this problem with?

I've even considered buying another one of the exact same laptop on
ebay and installing this hard drive in it instead.

Or buy an external hard drive, connect it to the PC then switch that
hard rive with the old laptop hard drive.

Or do those work on 40 (actually 39) pin adapters?

Seems like my only other alternative is to take a computer course on
how to work on computers.
And see if I can learn how myself.

Or pay a tech to teach me how.

What about trying this item here?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=160025500940

Would it help me in any way different than the other methods I've
tried?

There's got to be something out there to solve this problem with?

I've even considered buying another one of the exact same laptop on
ebay and installing this hard drive in it instead.

Or buy an external hard drive, connect it to the PC then switch that
hard rive with the old laptop hard drive.

Or do those work on 40 (actually 39) pin adapters?

Seems like my only other alternative is to take a computer course on
how to work on computers.
And see if I can learn how myself.

Or pay a tech to teach me how.

Normally the laptop drive will be configured as a master, but sometimes
as "cable select". Put it on an IDE channel BY ITSELF (NO other drive
present), then it can be seen (since the desktop's hard drive is, by
definition, on the primary IDE channel, put the laptop drive on the
secondary channel. If there were other drives on the secondary channel,
temporarily disconnect them).

Yes, there is a pin that is used for "keying" the connector. The
adapter may or may not have that pin present. on the desktop side, and
it may not have the key on the laptop side. You have to carefully
insure that you get pin 1 to pin 1 all the way from the motherboard IDE
port to the laptop drive (and all of the cables and adapters in
between). You can put it on backwards. Usually won't do any damage,
but it won't work. You also have to connect power to the 2.5" to 3.5"
adapter. If the drive doesn't spin up, then you definitely have
something wrong.

There is a chance that you broke off the wrong pin, if your reference to
"pin 1" was wrong somewhere. [Breaking off a pin is sometimes necessary
if you have a desktop IDE cable which is keyed. It's usually easier to
get an unkeyed cable than to break off the pin, and it's not difficult
to break off the wrong pin if you have the cable backwards (in fact,
there's almost a 50% chance of that).


rantr13@yahoo.com wrote:

Normally the laptop drive will be configured as a master, but sometimes
as "cable select". Put it on an IDE channel BY ITSELF (NO other drive
present), then it can be seen (since the desktop's hard drive is, by
definition, on the primary IDE channel, put the laptop drive on the
secondary channel. If there were other drives on the secondary channel,
temporarily disconnect them).

Yes, there is a pin that is used for "keying" the connector. The
adapter may or may not have that pin present. on the desktop side, and
it may not have the key on the laptop side. You have to carefully
insure that you get pin 1 to pin 1 all the way from the motherboard IDE
port to the laptop drive (and all of the cables and adapters in
between). You can put it on backwards. Usually won't do any damage,
but it won't work. You also have to connect power to the 2.5" to 3.5"
adapter. If the drive doesn't spin up, then you definitely have
something wrong.

There is a chance that you broke off the wrong pin, if your reference to
"pin 1" was wrong somewhere. [Breaking off a pin is sometimes necessary
if you have a desktop IDE cable which is keyed. It's usually easier to
get an unkeyed cable than to break off the pin, and it's not difficult
to break off the wrong pin if you have the cable backwards (in fact,
there's almost a 50% chance of that).


rantr13@yahoo.com wrote:

The laptop might have used "cable select" instead of "master", and if
so, depending on the cable that you use, the drive could come up as a
slave rather than as a master when you plug it into the desktop.


rantr13@yahoo.com wrote:

The laptop might have used "cable select" instead of "master", and if
so, depending on the cable that you use, the drive could come up as a
slave rather than as a master when you plug it into the desktop.


rantr13@yahoo.com wrote:

That's my favorite device, but no, it won't help you. It's
architecturally no different than the USB case. Just physically
different and more versatile (in ways that are irrelevant to your
current situation).


rantr13@yahoo.com wrote:

That's my favorite device, but no, it won't help you. It's
architecturally no different than the USB case. Just physically
different and more versatile (in ways that are irrelevant to your
current situation).


rantr13@yahoo.com wrote:

Unfortunately, you don't have time to learn now. And neither could a
tech really teach you in a reasonable amount of time (or at a reasonable
cost, if he's being paid). Also, there is the possibility that the
drive is just dead, and that no one could get it to work ... e.g. you
might not be doing anything wrong.


rantr13@yahoo.com wrote: