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2.5" Laptop Sata connected to new pc via external case not initializing

Tags:
  • Laptops
  • SATA
  • Storage
  • Hard Drives
Last response: in Storage
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December 26, 2013 6:58:50 PM

Hi,
My laptop motherboard seems to have died so I have removed the 250GB HDD and connected it to a new Windows 8 desktop via a 2.5" SATA External Case.
This seemed like a simple fix and should have turned the old internal SATA drive into an external USB drive, however, in disk management the drive is either missing or appears as not initialized / unallocated.
When trying to initialize using GPT it fails with an error message 'incorrect function’.
Also when it does appear in disk management it sometimes shows incorrect size such as 650GB even though it is definitely only a 250GB HDD.
Any help would be very much appreciated as there are files on this drive I really need to recover 

More about : laptop sata connected external case initializing

December 31, 2013 2:10:21 AM

Resolved through my own perseverance - very high level summary below but more details available upon request :) 
Before starting it is worth mentioning I decided to purchase a premium quality external sata drive case since my original post which made the HDD far more stable. It solved the intermittent issue of the drive disappearing and incorrect GB reference, however, the drive was still inaccessible.
Anyway this is what I done to access and recover my files.
1:Started Command Prompt
2:Command= diskpart
3:Command= list disk
4:Command= select disk ? (Note: do not type ? this should be the number that references the disk you are trying to fix)
5:Command= clean
6:Command= exit
7:Now in disk manager I am able to initialize the disc and it has been assigned a drive letter. (On the downside it is now showing as RAW and is telling me I need o format disc; HOWEVER, do not despair and DO NOT FORMAT)
8:From this point find, install and run some data recovery software which will now be able to access your previously hidden HDD and recover RAW files; I used 'iCare Data Recovery Software' with great success.

I have now recovered and transferred to another HDD many GB of JPEG, Excel, Word and Mp4 files AND now backep them up :) 
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