How to access a an old external hard drive's files on a new laptop, when prompted to format which would erase them?!

Gaevans3 · Mar 28, 2013

I have recently bought a new sony vaio latop (running windows 8) but would like to recover files from an old laptop (running windows xp) which has stopped working. I removed the hard drive from the old laptop and bought a connector to transfer the files from the old hard drive to the new PC. However when I plug it in it says it requires formatting which would erase the hard drive and as a result completely defeat the object of what i am trying to do. Any advice on how to recover these files? I'm not at all bothered about the old hard drive itself but i would like to switch the files across.

I not the most technically astute person when it comes to computers so any help would be appreciated

Brett928S2 · Mar 28, 2013

Gaevans3 :

I have recently bought a new sony vaio latop (running windows 8) but would like to recover files from an old laptop (running windows xp) which has stopped working. I removed the hard drive from the old laptop and bought a connector to transfer the files from the old hard drive to the new PC. However when I plug it in it says it requires formatting which would erase the hard drive and as a result completely defeat the object of what i am trying to do. Any advice on how to recover these files? I'm not at all bothered about the old hard drive itself but i would like to switch the files across.

I not the most technically astute person when it comes to computers so any help would be appreciated

Duplicate posting is against the rules here...

All the best Brett

Gaevans3 · Mar 28, 2013

Brett928S2 :

If you are insinuating that I posted more than once I had no idea and apologise. Or if I am duplicating another thread then please point me in the direction of it because I have looked and there are a multitude of similar answers but none that fit my exact experience. This is my first post on the forum so help rather than criticism would be appreciated.

fzabkar · Mar 28, 2013

What "connector" are you referring to?

If you mean a USB-SATA adapter, then be aware that some are configured with 4096-byte sectors, others with 512-byte sectors.

Can you show us a screen dump of sector 0 with a disc editor?

DMDE - DM Disk Editor and Data Recovery Software:
http://softdm.com/

Gaevans3 · Mar 28, 2013

Hi fzakar,

Thanks for your help. I've been using a USB - IDE adaptor as the laptop from which I am trying to recover the documents is rather old. When I plug it into my PC there does seem to be signs of life in the hard drive so I don't think its a hardware issue. After looking at some other threads I downloaded tenoshare but that didn't seem to find any files whatsoever. However I have just downloaded Kernel, and it informed me that there was a corruption but now I am scanning the physical drive and this does seem to be far more successful in finding files although the process is still running. Will this type of software then allow me to just copy files across to my computer (providing I pay for a subscription of course)?

I followed the link you provided also but there didn't seem to be an option for windows 8, is this significant? Or is it ok to just continue with the kernel software?

zip GUI for Windows zip mirror Windows 98/ME/2K/XP/Vista/7 (screenshots)
zip Console for Win zip mirror Windows 98/ME/2K/XP/Vista/7 (console version)
zip Console for DOS zip mirror DOS/Windows9x/ME (console version)
zip Console for Linux zip mirror Linux (terminal)
zip DOS boot package zip mirror DOS boot package to fit on a floppy disk

Sorry if some of my questions seem a basic, but I really have very little PC knowledge or the terminology that goes with and am trying to work on a trial and error basis, without making an error that deletes all the files.

fzabkar · Apr 2, 2013

Sorry, I didn't see your reply.

I also didn't notice that you were using Windows 8, so I don't know which free disc editor to recommend.

The fact that Windows detects "something" on your USB port is inconclusive. Device Manager could just be reporting the USB-IDE bridge IC inside the enclosure rather than the HDD behind the bridge.

How do HD Sentinel and Microsoft's UVCView identify the drive? UVCVIew talks to the bridge IC whereas HD Sentinel attempts to communicate with the HDD.

http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_IDs/UVCView.x86.exe
http://www.hdsentinel.com/

Gaevans3 · Apr 2, 2013

Hi fzakbar,

I persisted with the Kernel software, and managed to identify and recover the necessary files, I did have to pay however, but that's secondary as the files I required are worth far more.

Thanks for your help!

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