Old IDE Hard drive - restoring files!?

hddrecover · Mar 14, 2013

Hi, i have a old IDE hard drive from my old pc which is now dead. I have bought a brand new laptop running windows 7. I have purchased a IDE to USB adapter from ebay and i when i plug it in, with some help of recovery software, i get the available space of 2.5gb? when my hard drive has at least 20GB of free space and total size of 80Gb.

1) why is it showing as so less free space
2) how can i restore my photos as no software (that i have downloaded) has let me!!!

I am able to pay someone who helps me out.

Thanks

christiangordon · Mar 14, 2013

You will need to use a software program to recover lost files. It sounds like a partition on the drive has gone bad. There are a lot of programs out there that can help you recover files from bad sectors and bad partitions. If you don't care about the data then you can format the entire drive, but I wouldn't personally use this drive for anything because of the age and reliability.

hddrecover · Mar 14, 2013

christiangordon :

Thanks for the fast reply! i really need the files as they are very important files of my baby boy. Can you please tell me some software that may be able to recover them?

Thank You

christiangordon · Mar 14, 2013

you can try this.

http://www.piriform.com/recuva

or go for higher grade software which will cost your or even send it out to have data recovery process done for $250-$1000

http://www.easeus.com/landing/data-recovery-wizard.htm?gclid=CPzYrtOm_LUCFemiPAodqDIApQ

hddrecover · Mar 14, 2013

christiangordon :

Ive tried them with no hope, any mac softwares?

4745454b · Mar 14, 2013

What adapter are you using? I'm guessing its an issue with the adapter. My first thought was the 2GB jumper was on the IDE drive, but you reported using it as an 80GB. That and no one has used that jumper for a LONG time. I'm hoping there are some settings/jumpers for the adapter that need to be changed.

Know anyone with a desktop you can borrow? To plug in the drive and copy the data off? I know I'd let someone do that if they asked.

hddrecover · Mar 14, 2013

4745454b :

Hi, i purchased this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380559824965&ssPageName=ADME:X:eRTM:GB:1123

Its not the best i do agree but i think you are right! i think its dodgy!

No unfortunately everyone i know has a laptop, would it be possible to somehow use the hard drive as the primary hard drive on my laptop to see the files?

hddrecover · Mar 14, 2013

christiangordon :

thats not for hard dive connected by usb. i think its for my own macs hard drive.

hddrecover · Mar 14, 2013

Just to clarify, i have a imac and a windows 7 laptop, if any recovery software is better on one platform please let me know as i can use that. Or maybe if the USB leads where dog rubbish, could you recommend a different one?

Thanks

christiangordon · Mar 14, 2013

I would attempt to recover windows 7 files on a windows computer
I would attempt to recover apple files on a mac computer

hddrecover · Mar 14, 2013

christiangordon :

aah yes of course! sorry about that!
also this was a old desktop i had before so they are windows xp files.

christiangordon · Mar 14, 2013

Windows 95-xp used fat format and xp had more options. The recovery tools will work for fat16 fat32 and ntfs

4745454b · Mar 14, 2013

Speaking of which...

Windows 98/ 2000/Me/XP, Mac compatible

You bought an adapter that isn't compatible with your new Win7 laptop? Interesting. It really seems to me like a non functioning adapter or driver issue. There probably isn't anything wrong with the drive so recovery software isn't needed. You need the drive to be seen correctly. I'd really try to find someone with a tower and just hook it up normal. Will honestly be easiest.

hddrecover · Mar 14, 2013

4745454b :

I see, i tired it with my mac and i have downloaded a trial of 'file salvage'. It detects MP3 music only when i have at least 10GB of photos?

is it the adapters problem?

Also one of my mates has a desktop tower, do you have any guidance on how i can put the hard drive in there and get it to work?

thanks a lot!

hddrecover · Mar 14, 2013

4745454b :

Theres an update on my side:

i downloaded EaseUS mac data recovery tool and it managed to find my files, i couldn't recover then as i had to pay about £80 for it. I plugged the hard drive back into my W7 laptop and i have found nothing!

do you think that its definitely the cable or software?

Thanks

4745454b · Mar 14, 2013

I think its more a driver issue. Win7 and it don't speak to each other that well so it incorrectly reports as a 2.5GB drive.

Shut the mates machine down and just plug it in. I'm not sure what his computer is so not sure what needs to be done. It's IDE so you'll need to worry about master/slave jumpers. If the files where in your "my pictures" folder you'll need to take ownership of them as well. Read the following links.

http://www.onlinecomputertips.com/pc-hardware/hd_jumpers.html
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753659.aspx

hddrecover · Mar 15, 2013

4745454b :

Hi again, yes i plugged it into my mates tower but i got a message " reboot and select proper boot device" what does this mean and how can i solve it? do you think it would be better if i re-installed windows xp on it and then tried using the deleted partition recovery software because at least that way the drive would show up...

thanks in advance

4745454b · Mar 15, 2013

Sometimes when you plug a drive in the boot order can get messed up. Put it back in and go into the bios. Make sure his drive is the one selected to boot from. While your in there make sure your drive is seen by the bios. Finally, when you put your drive in make sure you don't change the jumper on his. If his is master on primary make sure you add yours as slave on primary.

Old IDE Hard drive - restoring files!?

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