Trying to copy HD from 1997, but all files are 32Kb...?

[brightlights]

Hi,
I want to copy all files I have on my old HD, a caviar 36400 (I think its from around 1997),
So I hooked it with a USB/IDE cable, booted my laptop with ubuntu (thought it would be more reliable then my vista), and connected it.

after 5 min, if finally recongized the HD, it is 2.1GB, and it shows the files and folders,
but when trying to copy it I get some I/O error files bigger then 32KB, and it creates them onlyas 32KB files on the destination HD (a WD 1TB external drive).

is due to different format systems? (maybe the old one is even fat16? i don't know),
if so, is there a solution for this? how can i transfer all the data correctly? thanks!

 

[Zenthar]

There is always the possibility that the HDD's data got damaged and won't be recoverable. In the mean time, you can always try to clone the HDD (to ISO or another partition) and copy the files from there. You can also run chkdsk (Windows) or fsck (linux) on the drive too to see if it contains any errors; I suggest you run them in check-only mode so they won't try to fix anything as it could definitely destroy some data.

 

[brightlights]

There is always the possibility that the HDD's data got damaged and won't be recoverable. In the mean time, you can always try to clone the HDD (to ISO or another partition) and copy the files from there. You can also run chkdsk (Windows) or fsck (linux) on the drive too to see if it contains any errors; I suggest you run them in check-only mode so they won't try to fix anything as it could definitely destroy some data.

what do you mean that the data is damaged? I can see the data on the disk (for example, it displays the thumbnails of the images that are on the disk), but I can't COPY it correctly, so I'm not sure its a damaged data issue, but maybe a different file system issue (maybe its FAT16? so I can't copy it correctly to an NTFS HD..)

so I don't see how I clone the HDD as you suggested, and that is exactly my problem - I can't copy it (of course that I don't want to use the HD itself, its 14 years old, so I don't see any use to run chkdsk, etc.)

hope I've made the problem more clear now, thanks!

 

[MrLinux]

A drive of that age is probably using CHS addressing, USB adaptors use LBA... if you want to access the data, connect it directly to an IDE port and hope the BIOS still supports CHS.

 

[brightlights]

I went here:

http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/hard-drives-hdd/western-digital/AC-36400-CAVIAR-6448MB-3-5-SL-ATA4.html

its the technical details, says it supports both CHS and LBA, so I guess that not the issue

isn't the issue the different file system??

 

[MrLinux]

The drive may support both CHS and LBA, the question is what was used to WRITE the data, and what is being used to READ it?

Data written using CHS can't always be read using LBA.

The two arn't the same, the way sectors are allocated can differ.

 

[brightlights]

if the problem is the CHS issue, would'nt I be able to read the files at all?
as I've mentioned, I can see the files, I just can't copy them correctly...

and if this is what causing the problem,
then I can't use the IDE to USB cable at all, and need to install the drive on a motherboard that supports it, and then I would be able to copy the files to any other hard drive on the same computer? and it has nothing to do with the file system being FAT16/32/NTFS what so ever?

how would I know if my motherboard supports it?