Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
So I had an old Dell C640 laptop that recently died on me. Had a small 60gig Fujitsu hard drive on it, but I never bothered backing it up as I thought we just used it for web, email. Well, turns out my wife used it to store a lot of her school files (she's a teacher), so I need to recover the data on it. Picked up one of these
Newegg.com - Thermaltake BlacX N0028USU External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5" & 3.5" USB 2.0
Thinking I could just plug the drive in and recover the data. Well, turns out the C640 was old and had an IDE Ultra ATA 100 (44 pin) interface and of course the drive won't plug in to this device.
Does anyone know if this enclosure will work on the drive?
Newegg.com - MASSCOOL UHB-UPS255 Aluminum 2.5" Black USB 2.0 External Enclosure
This is the drive ....
MHV2060AH
Thanks!
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You can also just get an IDE to USB adapter - like these - like these - for 15-20 bucks. There are also combo IDE/Sata and even IDE/Sata/eSata to USB.
But, since I've just spent part of the weekend recovering data from my aunt's computer, I also have another suggestion that involves time more than money.
I created a UBCD4WIN rescue-and-recovery disk, based on BartPE, for which you can find instructions and forums all over the Internet. Basically, you build a new Windows XP installation disk based on the original one, but with tons of small, freeware applications and utilities designed specifically to help recover data from dying computers.
Very rough overview - you insert it into the CD drive and it will boot up instead of the regular Windows XP bootup, and it forms kind of a "shell," for lack of a better word, over your existing installation. Once it has booted up, you will be able to see your entire computer - data, program, systems files, etc. - as a separate drive within the shell. Then you can use any of the various apps that are installed with it to carry out actions on your installation. You will be able to make an image of the drive, copy folders or files to another computer or external hard drive, and just save and recover all your essential data and files even if the system can't even boot up with its own operating system anymore.
It's a fantastic solution when you have a drive you can't access anymore. It's hard to describe the feeling when you suddenly see all the files and folders that you thought were gone forever.
The trick is building the recovery disk correctly so that in the end, it does in fact boot your system up properly. If you have the original operating system CD, you are about 40% done. If you don't have that anymore, don't despair, because there are ways around it.
A few helpful and also essential sites to find more info, downloads, guidance, and active forums where you can ask questions:
Wikipedia's entry on BartPE
Bart's PE Builder
UBCD4WIN - Utility to build a recovery disk based on Bart PE
There are other, similar projects like Hiren's BootCD.
It takes time, especially if it's the first time you're doing this. You can run into all kinds of software conflicts and errors, and then you have to research how to untangle them - Google will become your BFF. The good news is that no matter what snag slows you down, someone has experienced it before you and has discussed it somewhere online, and someone else wrote a little app to repair the problem. You just need time and patience, and a methodical approach.
Just don't forget that time, in a sense, is "money," too - this is the kind of project that can absorb you for many hours before you realize you should have been doing something else more worthy, and just spent the $20 for the IDE to USB adapter. So that's something to keep in mind, but in any case, it's good to know that these kinds of endeavors exist, just for when you get that sinking feeling of realizing you should've, could've, would've backed up your hard drive sooner.
Help - laptop failure and need harddrive data
Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by pbc, Jul 11, 2010.
