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Recovering Hard Drive

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  • 28-01-2021 8:48pm
    #1
    Technique
    Registered Users Posts: 1,384 ✭✭✭


    I've got an old PC that stopped working about 10 years ago. It's from the days before cloud computing, so there are lots of family photos on the hard drive that I'd like to recover.

    I've looked online and there are companies that do data recovery, but it seems to be geared towards hard drives that are actually damaged. I'm not sure that this hard drive is damaged. Also, the service seems to be quite expensive.

    Is there any way of hooking up the hard drive and extracting the data? Would a local computer repair shop be best?

    The hard drive is a Hitachi Deskstar 160gb from October 2008.


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    #2
    Vestiapx
    Registered Users Posts: 1,001 ✭✭✭Vestiapx


    Technique wrote: »
    I've got an old PC that stopped working about 10 years ago. It's from the days before cloud computing, so there are lots of family photos on the hard drive that I'd like to recover.

    I've looked online and there are companies that do data recovery, but it seems to be geared towards hard drives that are actually damaged. I'm not sure that this hard drive is damaged. Also, the service seems to be quite expensive.

    Is there any way of hooking up the hard drive and extracting the data? Would a local computer repair shop be best?

    The hard drive is a Hitachi Deskstar 160gb from October 2008.
    Vestiapx wrote: »
    pull the drive nd connect with a cable like this


    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-to-IDE-SATA-ATA-2-5-3-5-480Mbs-Hard-Drive-Disk-Cable-Adapter-Connector-W/184613518015?hash=item2afbd2babf:g:tOoAAOSwQ8Veu2Uo

    take off anything you want to keep and weee the rest

    Should work


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    #3
    Technique
    Registered Users Posts: 1,384 ✭✭✭Technique


    Excellent, thank you.

    I didn't think I'd be able to hook it up to my laptop. There are 39 pins on my hard drive, so I'm guessing that the 39 SATA connection on that should work fine.

    What about the power to the drive? The connection is four pins in a row.


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    #4
    Technique
    Registered Users Posts: 1,384 ✭✭✭Technique


    So after some research, it seems like the cable above is fine for a hard drive from a laptop, but a hard drive from a desktop needs a power supply as the usb power is insufficient.

    The power connector on my hard drive is a molex 4-pin. Any ideas how to get power to this?


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    #5
    cnocbui
    Registered Users Posts: 20,053 ✭✭✭✭cnocbui


    Technique wrote: »
    So after some research, it seems like the cable above is fine for a hard drive from a laptop, but a hard drive from a desktop needs a power supply as the usb power is insufficient.

    The power connector on my hard drive is a molex 4-pin. Any ideas how to get power to this?

    What size and interface is the drive? Is it a 5.25" with IDE or a 3.5" SATA?

    What you are after is a HD docking station incorporating it's own power supply. You could open up the old desktop, if the power supply still works and power the drive from the supply - usually there are spare power leads - and then you just need the USB interface cable. This is perfectly safe as the power is 12v or 5V DC. This would be cheaper than a docking station, which you might have to get from China on Aliexpress if it's a 5.25 IDE.


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    #6
    Tazium
    Registered Users Posts: 902 ✭✭✭Tazium


    The original linked multi function adapter will supply the power requirements for an IDE drive too. I've got one myself, handy gadget and it comes with the cables and power supply you'll need to get going.


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    #7
    Technique
    Registered Users Posts: 1,384 ✭✭✭Technique


    2o8KF4V.jpg

    DqjNmwX.jpg

    evD3JqS.jpg


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    #8
    JoyPad
    Registered Users Posts: 1,703 ✭✭✭JoyPad


    Your best bet is to hook it up to a desktop, using the molex adapter to provide power to the HDD and the IDE-to-USB cable to get the data.

    It would also be possible to power it like an external HDD, using a PSU with the molex cable and a short to allow it to run without a motherboard (google for "psu paperclip").

    One more thing to know: IDE hard drives could be connected alone on a ribbon, or in pairs (master and slave). See more info here.
    Those jumpers between the IDE connector and the power connector need to be placed in either "Single" mode or "Master" mode. If this was the sole HDD in your old PC, it might already be set to "Single" or "Master". Just make sure it's not set to "Slave".


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    #9
    Tazium
    Registered Users Posts: 902 ✭✭✭Tazium


    JoyPad wrote: »
    Your best bet is to hook it up to a desktop, using the molex adapter to provide power to the HDD and the IDE-to-USB cable to get the data.

    OP wants to connect it to a laptop. It's a standard IDE drive and the link from vestiapx will do the job nicely.


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    #10
    JoyPad
    Registered Users Posts: 1,703 ✭✭✭JoyPad


    Tazium wrote: »
    OP wants to connect it to a laptop. It's a standard IDE drive and the link from vestiapx will do the job nicely.

    Except that cable only provides data connectivity. If you look at all the pictures there, you will see one where an IDE drive is connected, and there's a separate power brick that powers the IDE HDD. I don't think that power brick is included, only the USB adapter cable.

    541354.jpg

    It says so in the ad:
    Supports standard desktop 3.5" SATA or IDE hard drives, external power adapter is needed(not included).

    Looks like something like this.


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    #11
    FanadMan
    Registered Users Posts: 3,820 ✭✭✭FanadMan


    Something like this is what's needed

    https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing-accessories/components-upgrades/hard-drive-enclosures/dynamode-3-5-usb-2-0-sata-ide-hard-drive-enclosure-19300678-pdt.html

    It has it's own PSU, is IDE and SATA compatible. Plus, when you are finished transferring the data across, you can use the drive as external storage.


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    #12
    Tazium
    Registered Users Posts: 902 ✭✭✭Tazium


    JoyPad wrote: »
    Except that cable only provides data connectivity. If you look at all the pictures there, you will see one where an IDE drive is connected, and there's a separate power brick that powers the IDE HDD. I don't think that power brick is included, only the USB adapter cable.

    It says so in the ad:


    Looks like something like this.

    Good spot. Totally missed it.


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    #13
    pah
    Registered Users Posts: 3,518 ✭✭✭pah


    This dock will do the job. Handy to have for other drives etc in the future too. Have something similar myself.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075ZF845X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_E713XH3WP51ERQMGRKPV


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    #14
    ozmo
    Registered Users Posts: 3,866 ✭✭✭ozmo


    Should be fine - i have that dock - its ok. Mount and assign drive letter if necessary, use search to find all file types you might want- they could be in several folders and several profiles.

    Best if you seat the ide drive in the dock before powering on- the old drives can take a lot of power to spin up and you dont want any surge current damaging the drive.
    Normally not an issue but if this is as precious as you suggest - a drive with no other backup you should be careful- maybe even get someone who has done it before to do it.

    “Roll it back”



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