How to get data off my (detached) HD?

[bigred]

I have a HD from my previous PC (a POS Compaq), which I only bought about 3 yrs ago. PC would not boot and I gave to a friend, but kept the HD as it has data on it I still want. Not sure if the HD was the reason for the inability to boot or not...assuming not, or perhaps even assuming so, what options if any do I have to try and get the data off of it? And no I am not going to some pro shop to do it because I don't trust anyone regarding this data. Thx

[gmanontario]

Go out and buy a cheap exterior drive case that connects by USB to the main computer. Install the drive you want into the case, connect it and see if the data exists.

That way you can transfer the data to wherever you want and then you have a working extra detachable drive.

Of course this assumes that the data is intact but the system boot files are corrupt. It'll be a cheap method of finding out though, cheaper than a shop.

[RecoveringYuppy]

Tiger Direct has a cheap one that does both SATA and IDE.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1951866&sku=M501-1196&srkey=ECS-STU35K

[bigred]

Thanks RY but that thing got pretty poor reviews - understand it's really a 1-time need kinda thing so maybe that's OK, long as the thing works.

I also saw this advertised on that page and wondering what y'all think - they are also cheap and I love the "plug n play" concept (at least it sounds that way):

Hard Drive Docks (Toasters)
An incredibly simple, yet functional new product category emerged in 2008: Hard Drive Toasters (Hard Drive Docks). This device lets you plug in regular internal hard drives as though they were pop-in flash drives. You drop in your hard drive, and the dock instantly gives your system access to that drive, without wiring, or power connections - it's all done by the hard drive toaster. This way you can use any compatible hard drive as an external removable hard drive for backup purposes!

[RecoveringYuppy]

Oh, I definitely wouldn't recommend it for constant use. But it is cheap and flexible. I have one and use it specifically for the occasional rescue of a hard drive.

Those docks seem fine. Make sure your hard drive has the same interface.

[Dancing David]

Oh, I definitely wouldn't recommend it for constant use. But it is cheap and flexible. I have one and use it specifically for the occasional rescue of a hard drive.

Those docks seem fine. Make sure your hard drive has the same interface.
How does the toaster get power to the HD?

[bobhope2112]

Any of the toasters I've seen (http://remarkablymobile.blogspot.com/2008/02/hard-drive-toaster.html) are for serial ATA drives, not parallel. What interface does your drive use?

[Modified]

I've been using one of these: http://www.microbarn.com/details.aspx?rid=101560 to copy files from my old IDE drives as needed to a SATA-only machine and haven't had any problems.

Normally, though, my solution would just be to open the case on the new system and plug in the old drive.

[bigred]

Any of the toasters I've seen (http://remarkablymobile.blogspot.com/2008/02/hard-drive-toaster.html) are for serial ATA drives, not parallel. What interface does your drive use?
No idea. :o And I'm moving so it's packed away God knows where - just wanted to throw this out while I was thinking of it.


I've been using one of these: http://www.microbarn.com/details.aspx?rid=101560 to copy files from my old IDE drives as needed to a SATA-only machine and haven't had any problems.

Normally, though, my solution would just be to open the case on the new system and plug in the old drive.
I thought about that...might Windows be able to "auto detect" it (ie if so, I'll probably do that when I get a new PC, hell w/paying for the docking thing)

[Rasmus]

I thought about that...might Windows be able to "auto detect" it (ie if so, I'll probably do that when I get a new PC, hell w/paying for the docking thing)

Yes, if you can't boot from the drive anymore it might just be recognized as a secondary hard drive.

You might want to consider running Ubuntu or something similar, too. If there is something wrong with the drive you should not risk allowing the system to perform any write operations. Also, I've had a drive once that I could still read with Ubuntu (may have been Knoppix at the time) that were no longer accessible by Windows. (I no longer have that drive, but thanks to whichever instant linux it was, I still havew what was on it...)