9Hi
I am not very computer savvy so I need some direction. About 8 months ago
my PC lost it's power supply. I recently bought a new laptop. I removed the
hard drive from the PC and installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure. I hooked it
up to my lap top and the new computer is reading the old drive now. BUT, I
don't know how to access my files. When I first installed it, it renamed a
partition as Drive E. Drive E shows nothing in it. The purpose of doing
this was to recover the files from my old PC. The old hard drive shows up in
disk management as:
disk 1 your drive 9.54 GB FAT32 Healthy (active) and then another partition
that says: new volume E 16 MB FAT (Healthy). I have been careful not to
answer yes to any prompts that would erase any data. I would appreciate any
instruction as to how to access my files from the old PC. Thanks

Does it show in "my computer".. If so simply R.click on it,open.Also,in
diskmgmt
L.click the drive,go to actions,all,select,"make active".

"gwenbfine" wrote:

> 9Hi
> I am not very computer savvy so I need some direction. About 8 months ago
> my PC lost it's power supply. I recently bought a new laptop. I removed the
> hard drive from the PC and installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure. I hooked it
> up to my lap top and the new computer is reading the old drive now. BUT, I
> don't know how to access my files. When I first installed it, it renamed a
> partition as Drive E. Drive E shows nothing in it. The purpose of doing
> this was to recover the files from my old PC. The old hard drive shows up in
> disk management as:
> disk 1 your drive 9.54 GB FAT32 Healthy (active) and then another partition
> that says: new volume E 16 MB FAT (Healthy). I have been careful not to
> answer yes to any prompts that would erase any data. I would appreciate any
> instruction as to how to access my files from the old PC. Thanks

Thank you. Ok, I r clicked on it, selected make active. But the part that
says New volume drive e is showing as active and the part that says your
drive says unknown partition. I'm beginning to think I might need to take it
to someone else, lol. I like to think I'm an intelligent person,but I'm not
feeling it right now

"Andrew E." wrote:

> Does it show in "my computer".. If so simply R.click on it,open.Also,in
> diskmgmt
> L.click the drive,go to actions,all,select,"make active".
>
> "gwenbfine" wrote:
>
> > 9Hi
> > I am not very computer savvy so I need some direction. About 8 months ago
> > my PC lost it's power supply. I recently bought a new laptop. I removed the
> > hard drive from the PC and installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure. I hooked it
> > up to my lap top and the new computer is reading the old drive now. BUT, I
> > don't know how to access my files. When I first installed it, it renamed a
> > partition as Drive E. Drive E shows nothing in it. The purpose of doing
> > this was to recover the files from my old PC. The old hard drive shows up in
> > disk management as:
> > disk 1 your drive 9.54 GB FAT32 Healthy (active) and then another partition
> > that says: new volume E 16 MB FAT (Healthy). I have been careful not to
> > answer yes to any prompts that would erase any data. I would appreciate any
> > instruction as to how to access my files from the old PC. Thanks

Making a partition "active" does not do what you think it might. The only
partition that should be active, in a basic setup, is the one that boots the
system. As seen in disk management, it will be the one marked (System).
(It shouldn't hurt anything to leave it that way for now)

Just a WAG, but did you by any chance have Goback installed on the
original system? There are other reasons, but that's one that would
explain why the partition is showing up as "unknown".



"gwenbfine" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:EEFE69AE-35AF-45DF-A435-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Thank you. Ok, I r clicked on it, selected make active. But the part that
> says New volume drive e is showing as active and the part that says your
> drive says unknown partition. I'm beginning to think I might need to take it
> to someone else, lol. I like to think I'm an intelligent person,but I'm not
> feeling it right now
>
> "Andrew E." wrote:
>
>> Does it show in "my computer".. If so simply R.click on it,open.Also,in
>> diskmgmt
>> L.click the drive,go to actions,all,select,"make active".
>>
>> "gwenbfine" wrote:
>>
>> > 9Hi
>> > I am not very computer savvy so I need some direction. About 8 months ago
>> > my PC lost it's power supply. I recently bought a new laptop. I removed the
>> > hard drive from the PC and installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure. I hooked it
>> > up to my lap top and the new computer is reading the old drive now. BUT, I
>> > don't know how to access my files. When I first installed it, it renamed a
>> > partition as Drive E. Drive E shows nothing in it. The purpose of doing
>> > this was to recover the files from my old PC. The old hard drive shows up in
>> > disk management as:
>> > disk 1 your drive 9.54 GB FAT32 Healthy (active) and then another partition
>> > that says: new volume E 16 MB FAT (Healthy). I have been careful not to
>> > answer yes to any prompts that would erase any data. I would appreciate any
>> > instruction as to how to access my files from the old PC. Thanks

"gwenbfine" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:EEFE69AE-35AF-45DF-A435-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Thank you. Ok, I r clicked on it, selected make active. But the part
that
> says New volume drive e is showing as active and the part that says your
> drive says unknown partition. I'm beginning to think I might need to take
it
> to someone else, lol. I like to think I'm an intelligent person,but I'm
not
> feeling it right now
>


No!
DO NOT use disk management to "make active" the drive should have shown up
without doing anything.

Making any changes (other than drive letter assigned)
may cause you to loose your data!

NOTE: only your "boot" drive can contain an acitve partition

>> "gwenbfine" wrote:
>>
>> > 9Hi
>> > I am not very computer savvy so I need some direction. About 8 months
>> > ago
>> > my PC lost it's power supply. I recently bought a new laptop. I
>> > removed the
>> > hard drive from the PC and installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure. I
>> > hooked it
>> > up to my lap top and the new computer is reading the old drive now.
>> > BUT, I
>> > don't know how to access my files. When I first installed it, it
>> > renamed a
>> > partition as Drive E. Drive E shows nothing in it. The purpose of
>> > doing
>> > this was to recover the files from my old PC. The old hard drive shows
>> > up in
>> > disk management as:
>> > disk 1 your drive 9.54 GB FAT32 Healthy (active) and then another
>> > partition
>> > that says: new volume E 16 MB FAT (Healthy). I have been careful not
>> > to
>> > answer yes to any prompts that would erase any data. I would
>> > appreciate any
>> > instruction as to how to access my files from the old PC. Thanks


"gwenbfine" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:EEFE69AE-35AF-45DF-A435-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Thank you. Ok, I r clicked on it, selected make active. But the part
> that
> says New volume drive e is showing as active and the part that says your
> drive says unknown partition. I'm beginning to think I might need to take
> it
> to someone else, lol. I like to think I'm an intelligent person,but I'm
> not
> feeling it right now


gwenbfine:
It's entirely possible that for one reason or another the data on that
problem HDD has been lost, so if that data is supremely important to you it
may be necessary to seek some professional recovery help or at least take it
to some knowledgeable acquaintance of yours.

But let's first try a few things and then go on from there, ok?

1. At the time your desktop PC (I'm assuming it was a desktop machine) lost
its power supply, there was only a single hard drive installed in that
machine, right? Was that desktop an OEM machine - from Dell, or HP/Compaq,
or Gateway, or some such?

2. And that hard drive is the one that you removed from that computer and
installed in your USB external enclosure, right?

3. You've mentioned that Disk Management in your new laptop reports the
total disk capacity of that (now) external HDD - the same one you removed
from your previous PC - as just under 10 GB. Was that *actually* the size of
that hard drive, or have you "lost" some disk space from that drive since
the transfer?

4. And when that hard drive was installed in your former PC, as far as you
knew it had only a single partition? Neither you nor anyone else to you
knowledge ever multi-partitioned it, right?

5. Was that hard drive functioning OK before the computer's power supply
became defective? It booted up just fine and functioned without any
problems? The only problem was that PC was a defective power supply right?

6. After you installed that hard drive in your USB external enclosure and
connected it to your new laptop and booted up, what exactly happened? You
say Disk Management immediately indicated there were two partitions on that
drive, one of 9.54 GB and a tiny one of 16 MB.

6. Can you account at all for those two partitions? They bear no resemblance
to what was in that hard drive when it was in your desktop PC? And again,
was the total disk capacity of that hard drive when it was installed in your
former PC about 10 GB?

7. And both partitions now show empty. No files or folders in either
partition?

As I say, we can go on from here if you want.
Anna

Anna,
Yes, the data is very important to me. I had family tree information that
would be hard to duplicate. Plus I had over 700 music files. And a lot of
family photos.

Now to answer your questions if I can
1. Yes, it was a gateway pc w/only 1 hard drive installed. I never added
anything else (and to the post from bill, yes it had goback on it)
2. Yes, that's the hard drive I hooked up to my new laptop.
3. Yes, the actual size is 10.2 GB (I bought the computer in 99)
4. There were no partitions on that hard drive. I didn't even know what a
partition was until this problem. I was the only user except for
occasionally my daughter when she came home from college.
5. Yes, everything was working fine. Then one day I tried to turn the pc
on and got nothing, no power at all.
6. when I first installed it, disk management showed two partitions. One,
Your drive, showed a blue bar across the top. The "new volume" showed a
black bar across the top. And I've tried a number of things since then, so I
can't remember the exact sequence of events.
7. The partition that says your drive, I can't access it. the only action
it gives me the option of taking is "delete partition". How do I know if
there are any files??

I'd be willing to take it somewhere if it wouldn't cost an arm & a leg for
them to check it out. I do have an acquaintance at work that suggested the
external enclosure to begin with. But any advice that I could try first that
wouldn't hurt anything.. . . . .
Thanks for your time!


"Anna" wrote:

>
> >> "gwenbfine" wrote:
> >>
> >> > 9Hi
> >> > I am not very computer savvy so I need some direction. About 8 months
> >> > ago
> >> > my PC lost it's power supply. I recently bought a new laptop. I
> >> > removed the
> >> > hard drive from the PC and installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure. I
> >> > hooked it
> >> > up to my lap top and the new computer is reading the old drive now.
> >> > BUT, I
> >> > don't know how to access my files. When I first installed it, it
> >> > renamed a
> >> > partition as Drive E. Drive E shows nothing in it. The purpose of
> >> > doing
> >> > this was to recover the files from my old PC. The old hard drive shows
> >> > up in
> >> > disk management as:
> >> > disk 1 your drive 9.54 GB FAT32 Healthy (active) and then another
> >> > partition
> >> > that says: new volume E 16 MB FAT (Healthy). I have been careful not
> >> > to
> >> > answer yes to any prompts that would erase any data. I would
> >> > appreciate any
> >> > instruction as to how to access my files from the old PC. Thanks
>
>
> "gwenbfine" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:EEFE69AE-35AF-45DF-A435-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Thank you. Ok, I r clicked on it, selected make active. But the part
> > that
> > says New volume drive e is showing as active and the part that says your
> > drive says unknown partition. I'm beginning to think I might need to take
> > it
> > to someone else, lol. I like to think I'm an intelligent person,but I'm
> > not
> > feeling it right now
>
>
> gwenbfine:
> It's entirely possible that for one reason or another the data on that
> problem HDD has been lost, so if that data is supremely important to you it
> may be necessary to seek some professional recovery help or at least take it
> to some knowledgeable acquaintance of yours.
>
> But let's first try a few things and then go on from there, ok?
>
> 1. At the time your desktop PC (I'm assuming it was a desktop machine) lost
> its power supply, there was only a single hard drive installed in that
> machine, right? Was that desktop an OEM machine - from Dell, or HP/Compaq,
> or Gateway, or some such?
>
> 2. And that hard drive is the one that you removed from that computer and
> installed in your USB external enclosure, right?
>
> 3. You've mentioned that Disk Management in your new laptop reports the
> total disk capacity of that (now) external HDD - the same one you removed
> from your previous PC - as just under 10 GB. Was that *actually* the size of
> that hard drive, or have you "lost" some disk space from that drive since
> the transfer?
>
> 4. And when that hard drive was installed in your former PC, as far as you
> knew it had only a single partition? Neither you nor anyone else to you
> knowledge ever multi-partitioned it, right?
>
> 5. Was that hard drive functioning OK before the computer's power supply
> became defective? It booted up just fine and functioned without any
> problems? The only problem was that PC was a defective power supply right?
>
> 6. After you installed that hard drive in your USB external enclosure and
> connected it to your new laptop and booted up, what exactly happened? You
> say Disk Management immediately indicated there were two partitions on that
> drive, one of 9.54 GB and a tiny one of 16 MB.
>
> 6. Can you account at all for those two partitions? They bear no resemblance
> to what was in that hard drive when it was in your desktop PC? And again,
> was the total disk capacity of that hard drive when it was installed in your
> former PC about 10 GB?
>
> 7. And both partitions now show empty. No files or folders in either
> partition?
>
> As I say, we can go on from here if you want.
> Anna
>
>
>
>

When you right cick the Blue partition do you get the option to "take
Possesion"??
The Black Partition is unallocated space........
peter
"gwenbfine" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:9371595C-CC5E-4C3C-BD32-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Anna,
> Yes, the data is very important to me. I had family tree information that
> would be hard to duplicate. Plus I had over 700 music files. And a lot of
> family photos.
>
> Now to answer your questions if I can
> 1. Yes, it was a gateway pc w/only 1 hard drive installed. I never added
> anything else (and to the post from bill, yes it had goback on it)
> 2. Yes, that's the hard drive I hooked up to my new laptop.
> 3. Yes, the actual size is 10.2 GB (I bought the computer in 99)
> 4. There were no partitions on that hard drive. I didn't even know what
> a
> partition was until this problem. I was the only user except for
> occasionally my daughter when she came home from college.
> 5. Yes, everything was working fine. Then one day I tried to turn the pc
> on and got nothing, no power at all.
> 6. when I first installed it, disk management showed two partitions.
> One,
> Your drive, showed a blue bar across the top. The "new volume" showed a
> black bar across the top. And I've tried a number of things since then,
> so I
> can't remember the exact sequence of events.
> 7. The partition that says your drive, I can't access it. the only
> action
> it gives me the option of taking is "delete partition". How do I know if
> there are any files??
>
> I'd be willing to take it somewhere if it wouldn't cost an arm & a leg for
> them to check it out. I do have an acquaintance at work that suggested
> the
> external enclosure to begin with. But any advice that I could try first
> that
> wouldn't hurt anything.. . . . .
> Thanks for your time!
>
>
> "Anna" wrote:
>
>>
>> >> "gwenbfine" wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > 9Hi
>> >> > I am not very computer savvy so I need some direction. About 8
>> >> > months
>> >> > ago
>> >> > my PC lost it's power supply. I recently bought a new laptop. I
>> >> > removed the
>> >> > hard drive from the PC and installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure. I
>> >> > hooked it
>> >> > up to my lap top and the new computer is reading the old drive now.
>> >> > BUT, I
>> >> > don't know how to access my files. When I first installed it, it
>> >> > renamed a
>> >> > partition as Drive E. Drive E shows nothing in it. The purpose of
>> >> > doing
>> >> > this was to recover the files from my old PC. The old hard drive
>> >> > shows
>> >> > up in
>> >> > disk management as:
>> >> > disk 1 your drive 9.54 GB FAT32 Healthy (active) and then another
>> >> > partition
>> >> > that says: new volume E 16 MB FAT (Healthy). I have been careful
>> >> > not
>> >> > to
>> >> > answer yes to any prompts that would erase any data. I would
>> >> > appreciate any
>> >> > instruction as to how to access my files from the old PC. Thanks
>>
>>
>> "gwenbfine" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:EEFE69AE-35AF-45DF-A435-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > Thank you. Ok, I r clicked on it, selected make active. But the part
>> > that
>> > says New volume drive e is showing as active and the part that says
>> > your
>> > drive says unknown partition. I'm beginning to think I might need to
>> > take
>> > it
>> > to someone else, lol. I like to think I'm an intelligent person,but
>> > I'm
>> > not
>> > feeling it right now
>>
>>
>> gwenbfine:
>> It's entirely possible that for one reason or another the data on that
>> problem HDD has been lost, so if that data is supremely important to you
>> it
>> may be necessary to seek some professional recovery help or at least take
>> it
>> to some knowledgeable acquaintance of yours.
>>
>> But let's first try a few things and then go on from there, ok?
>>
>> 1. At the time your desktop PC (I'm assuming it was a desktop machine)
>> lost
>> its power supply, there was only a single hard drive installed in that
>> machine, right? Was that desktop an OEM machine - from Dell, or
>> HP/Compaq,
>> or Gateway, or some such?
>>
>> 2. And that hard drive is the one that you removed from that computer and
>> installed in your USB external enclosure, right?
>>
>> 3. You've mentioned that Disk Management in your new laptop reports the
>> total disk capacity of that (now) external HDD - the same one you removed
>> from your previous PC - as just under 10 GB. Was that *actually* the size
>> of
>> that hard drive, or have you "lost" some disk space from that drive since
>> the transfer?
>>
>> 4. And when that hard drive was installed in your former PC, as far as
>> you
>> knew it had only a single partition? Neither you nor anyone else to you
>> knowledge ever multi-partitioned it, right?
>>
>> 5. Was that hard drive functioning OK before the computer's power supply
>> became defective? It booted up just fine and functioned without any
>> problems? The only problem was that PC was a defective power supply
>> right?
>>
>> 6. After you installed that hard drive in your USB external enclosure and
>> connected it to your new laptop and booted up, what exactly happened? You
>> say Disk Management immediately indicated there were two partitions on
>> that
>> drive, one of 9.54 GB and a tiny one of 16 MB.
>>
>> 6. Can you account at all for those two partitions? They bear no
>> resemblance
>> to what was in that hard drive when it was in your desktop PC? And again,
>> was the total disk capacity of that hard drive when it was installed in
>> your
>> former PC about 10 GB?
>>
>> 7. And both partitions now show empty. No files or folders in either
>> partition?
>>
>> As I say, we can go on from here if you want.
>> Anna
>>
>>
>>
>>

No, I only get the option to delete partition. that's it.

"peter" wrote:

> When you right cick the Blue partition do you get the option to "take
> Possesion"??
> The Black Partition is unallocated space........
> peter
> "gwenbfine" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:9371595C-CC5E-4C3C-BD32-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Anna,
> > Yes, the data is very important to me. I had family tree information that
> > would be hard to duplicate. Plus I had over 700 music files. And a lot of
> > family photos.
> >
> > Now to answer your questions if I can
> > 1. Yes, it was a gateway pc w/only 1 hard drive installed. I never added
> > anything else (and to the post from bill, yes it had goback on it)
> > 2. Yes, that's the hard drive I hooked up to my new laptop.
> > 3. Yes, the actual size is 10.2 GB (I bought the computer in 99)
> > 4. There were no partitions on that hard drive. I didn't even know what
> > a
> > partition was until this problem. I was the only user except for
> > occasionally my daughter when she came home from college.
> > 5. Yes, everything was working fine. Then one day I tried to turn the pc
> > on and got nothing, no power at all.
> > 6. when I first installed it, disk management showed two partitions.
> > One,
> > Your drive, showed a blue bar across the top. The "new volume" showed a
> > black bar across the top. And I've tried a number of things since then,
> > so I
> > can't remember the exact sequence of events.
> > 7. The partition that says your drive, I can't access it. the only
> > action
> > it gives me the option of taking is "delete partition". How do I know if
> > there are any files??
> >
> > I'd be willing to take it somewhere if it wouldn't cost an arm & a leg for
> > them to check it out. I do have an acquaintance at work that suggested
> > the
> > external enclosure to begin with. But any advice that I could try first
> > that
> > wouldn't hurt anything.. . . . .
> > Thanks for your time!
> >
> >
> > "Anna" wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> >> "gwenbfine" wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> > 9Hi
> >> >> > I am not very computer savvy so I need some direction. About 8
> >> >> > months
> >> >> > ago
> >> >> > my PC lost it's power supply. I recently bought a new laptop. I
> >> >> > removed the
> >> >> > hard drive from the PC and installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure. I
> >> >> > hooked it
> >> >> > up to my lap top and the new computer is reading the old drive now.
> >> >> > BUT, I
> >> >> > don't know how to access my files. When I first installed it, it
> >> >> > renamed a
> >> >> > partition as Drive E. Drive E shows nothing in it. The purpose of
> >> >> > doing
> >> >> > this was to recover the files from my old PC. The old hard drive
> >> >> > shows
> >> >> > up in
> >> >> > disk management as:
> >> >> > disk 1 your drive 9.54 GB FAT32 Healthy (active) and then another
> >> >> > partition
> >> >> > that says: new volume E 16 MB FAT (Healthy). I have been careful
> >> >> > not
> >> >> > to
> >> >> > answer yes to any prompts that would erase any data. I would
> >> >> > appreciate any
> >> >> > instruction as to how to access my files from the old PC. Thanks
> >>
> >>
> >> "gwenbfine" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> >> news:EEFE69AE-35AF-45DF-A435-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> > Thank you. Ok, I r clicked on it, selected make active. But the part
> >> > that
> >> > says New volume drive e is showing as active and the part that says
> >> > your
> >> > drive says unknown partition. I'm beginning to think I might need to
> >> > take
> >> > it
> >> > to someone else, lol. I like to think I'm an intelligent person,but
> >> > I'm
> >> > not
> >> > feeling it right now
> >>
> >>
> >> gwenbfine:
> >> It's entirely possible that for one reason or another the data on that
> >> problem HDD has been lost, so if that data is supremely important to you
> >> it
> >> may be necessary to seek some professional recovery help or at least take
> >> it
> >> to some knowledgeable acquaintance of yours.
> >>
> >> But let's first try a few things and then go on from there, ok?
> >>
> >> 1. At the time your desktop PC (I'm assuming it was a desktop machine)
> >> lost
> >> its power supply, there was only a single hard drive installed in that
> >> machine, right? Was that desktop an OEM machine - from Dell, or
> >> HP/Compaq,
> >> or Gateway, or some such?
> >>
> >> 2. And that hard drive is the one that you removed from that computer and
> >> installed in your USB external enclosure, right?
> >>
> >> 3. You've mentioned that Disk Management in your new laptop reports the
> >> total disk capacity of that (now) external HDD - the same one you removed
> >> from your previous PC - as just under 10 GB. Was that *actually* the size
> >> of
> >> that hard drive, or have you "lost" some disk space from that drive since
> >> the transfer?
> >>
> >> 4. And when that hard drive was installed in your former PC, as far as
> >> you
> >> knew it had only a single partition? Neither you nor anyone else to you
> >> knowledge ever multi-partitioned it, right?
> >>
> >> 5. Was that hard drive functioning OK before the computer's power supply
> >> became defective? It booted up just fine and functioned without any
> >> problems? The only problem was that PC was a defective power supply
> >> right?
> >>
> >> 6. After you installed that hard drive in your USB external enclosure and
> >> connected it to your new laptop and booted up, what exactly happened? You
> >> say Disk Management immediately indicated there were two partitions on
> >> that
> >> drive, one of 9.54 GB and a tiny one of 16 MB.
> >>
> >> 6. Can you account at all for those two partitions? They bear no
> >> resemblance
> >> to what was in that hard drive when it was in your desktop PC? And again,
> >> was the total disk capacity of that hard drive when it was installed in
> >> your
> >> former PC about 10 GB?
> >>
> >> 7. And both partitions now show empty. No files or folders in either
> >> partition?
> >>
> >> As I say, we can go on from here if you want.
> >> Anna
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>

>> >> "gwenbfine" wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > 9Hi
>> >> > I am not very computer savvy so I need some direction. About 8
>> >> > months
>> >> > ago
>> >> > my PC lost it's power supply. I recently bought a new laptop. I
>> >> > removed the
>> >> > hard drive from the PC and installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure. I
>> >> > hooked it
>> >> > up to my lap top and the new computer is reading the old drive now.
>> >> > BUT, I
>> >> > don't know how to access my files. When I first installed it, it
>> >> > renamed a
>> >> > partition as Drive E. Drive E shows nothing in it. The purpose of
>> >> > doing
>> >> > this was to recover the files from my old PC. The old hard drive
>> >> > shows
>> >> > up in
>> >> > disk management as:
>> >> > disk 1 your drive 9.54 GB FAT32 Healthy (active) and then another
>> >> > partition
>> >> > that says: new volume E 16 MB FAT (Healthy). I have been careful
>> >> > not
>> >> > to
>> >> > answer yes to any prompts that would erase any data. I would
>> >> > appreciate any
>> >> > instruction as to how to access my files from the old PC. Thanks
>>
>>
>> "gwenbfine" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:EEFE69AE-35AF-45DF-A435-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > Thank you. Ok, I r clicked on it, selected make active. But the part
>> > that
>> > says New volume drive e is showing as active and the part that says
>> > your
>> > drive says unknown partition. I'm beginning to think I might need to
>> > take
>> > it
>> > to someone else, lol. I like to think I'm an intelligent person,but
>> > I'm
>> > not
>> > feeling it right now


> "Anna" wrote:
>> gwenbfine:
>> It's entirely possible that for one reason or another the data on that
>> problem HDD has been lost, so if that data is supremely important to you
>> it
>> may be necessary to seek some professional recovery help or at least take
>> it
>> to some knowledgeable acquaintance of yours.
>>
>> But let's first try a few things and then go on from there, ok?
>>
>> 1. At the time your desktop PC (I'm assuming it was a desktop machine)
>> lost
>> its power supply, there was only a single hard drive installed in that
>> machine, right? Was that desktop an OEM machine - from Dell, or
>> HP/Compaq,
>> or Gateway, or some such?
>>
>> 2. And that hard drive is the one that you removed from that computer and
>> installed in your USB external enclosure, right?
>>
>> 3. You've mentioned that Disk Management in your new laptop reports the
>> total disk capacity of that (now) external HDD - the same one you removed
>> from your previous PC - as just under 10 GB. Was that *actually* the size
>> of
>> that hard drive, or have you "lost" some disk space from that drive since
>> the transfer?
>>
>> 4. And when that hard drive was installed in your former PC, as far as
>> you
>> knew it had only a single partition? Neither you nor anyone else to you
>> knowledge ever multi-partitioned it, right?
>>
>> 5. Was that hard drive functioning OK before the computer's power supply
>> became defective? It booted up just fine and functioned without any
>> problems? The only problem was that PC was a defective power supply
>> right?
>>
>> 6. After you installed that hard drive in your USB external enclosure and
>> connected it to your new laptop and booted up, what exactly happened? You
>> say Disk Management immediately indicated there were two partitions on
>> that
>> drive, one of 9.54 GB and a tiny one of 16 MB.
>>
>> 6. Can you account at all for those two partitions? They bear no
>> resemblance
>> to what was in that hard drive when it was in your desktop PC? And again,
>> was the total disk capacity of that hard drive when it was installed in
>> your
>> former PC about 10 GB?
>>
>> 7. And both partitions now show empty. No files or folders in either
>> partition?
>>
>> As I say, we can go on from here if you want.
>> Anna


"gwenbfine" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:9371595C-CC5E-4C3C-BD32-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Anna,
> Yes, the data is very important to me. I had family tree information that
> would be hard to duplicate. Plus I had over 700 music files. And a lot of
> family photos.
>
> Now to answer your questions if I can
> 1. Yes, it was a gateway pc w/only 1 hard drive installed. I never added
> anything else (and to the post from bill, yes it had goback on it)
> 2. Yes, that's the hard drive I hooked up to my new laptop.
> 3. Yes, the actual size is 10.2 GB (I bought the computer in 99)
> 4. There were no partitions on that hard drive. I didn't even know what
> a
> partition was until this problem. I was the only user except for
> occasionally my daughter when she came home from college.
> 5. Yes, everything was working fine. Then one day I tried to turn the pc
> on and got nothing, no power at all.
> 6. when I first installed it, disk management showed two partitions.
> One,
> Your drive, showed a blue bar across the top. The "new volume" showed a
> black bar across the top. And I've tried a number of things since then,
> so I
> can't remember the exact sequence of events.
> 7. The partition that says your drive, I can't access it. the only
> action
> it gives me the option of taking is "delete partition". How do I know if
> there are any files??
>
> I'd be willing to take it somewhere if it wouldn't cost an arm & a leg for
> them to check it out. I do have an acquaintance at work that suggested
> the
> external enclosure to begin with. But any advice that I could try first
> that
> wouldn't hurt anything.. . . . .
> Thanks for your time!


gwenbfine:
Since the data on that hard drive is obviously so valuable to you and you
really can't afford to lose it, I think it would be in your best interest at
this point for you to take the drive to a reliable computer repair shop
(hopefully you have one in your area) and let them see what they can do in
terms of data recovery.

I would be very apprehensive about your further accessing that drive from
this point on. Doing so might cause other problems to the extent that the
data will be unrecoverable for all practical purposes.

The fact that the drive is now contained in a USB external enclosure in *no
way* affords it any added safety or protection from further corruption - it
remains vulnerable.

Hopefully, the missing data can be resurrected. Sometimes it's not a
particularly expensive proposition but unfortunately it can be. At least
consult some knowledgeable technician in your area. If & when you do, please
make it abundantly clear to him or her that recovery of the data is of
paramount importance to you - actually the *only* thing you're interested
in - and that you have no interest in that drive being "wiped clean" in
order that it will be functional again.

Let's hope the data can be recovered. And please - now that you have an
external enclosure - make it a point from now on to embark on a routine &
systematic backup program.
Anna