Data Question about adding a second Hard Disk

[Rich Raine]

I would sure apprecitate the group's thoughts on this problem.

My laptop stopped working due to a power problem. Before shipping it to
Sony I removed the hard disk to preserve the data. The fees to repair the
laptop dictate the purchase or a new machine.

My hope and best thought about how to retrive the data would be to buy a USB
hard disk case, insert the disk in the case and hopefully retrieve this data
throught the USB port.

I've using XP formatted as NTFS, the Hard disk is a Hitachi DK23BA-20. This
is a pretty popular drive in the laptop world.

If I'm dreaming, is there anyway I can get the data off this hard disk onto
a new machine?

Thank you in advance. This is a big problem for me!!

Rich Raine
(e-mail address removed)
remove pants for email

 

[D.Currie]

I would sure apprecitate the group's thoughts on this problem.

My laptop stopped working due to a power problem. Before shipping it to
Sony I removed the hard disk to preserve the data. The fees to repair the
laptop dictate the purchase or a new machine.

My hope and best thought about how to retrive the data would be to buy a USB
hard disk case, insert the disk in the case and hopefully retrieve this data
throught the USB port.

I've using XP formatted as NTFS, the Hard disk is a Hitachi DK23BA-20. This
is a pretty popular drive in the laptop world.

If I'm dreaming, is there anyway I can get the data off this hard disk onto
a new machine?

Thank you in advance. This is a big problem for me!!

Rich Raine
(e-mail address removed)
remove pants for email

You'll need to get an adapter that converts the laptop drive to fit a
standard IDE. From that point, you could connect it via USB with a disk
case, or if this is a one time thing, there are USB cables that are cheaper
than the cases Or just plug it into a standard desktop computer using that
IDE adapter.

 

[Rich Raine]

This would be my salvation! I only need the recovery of some of the
contents of the old laptop harddrive. If I secured the adapter to convert
to IDE and mounted it in a desktop would the voltages be the same? i.e. are
all these things standard?

Thanks again.

Rich Raine
(e-mail address removed)
remove pants for email

 

[D.Currie]

Yup. A laptop HD doesn't have a connector for power like you'd see on a
regular drive. The adapter plugs into the hard drive, then has a regular IDE
connector and a power connector. I use them quite frequently and haven't had
any problems. They've gotten cheaper, too. First one I bought came with
driver rails that I never used. Next one was just the adapter. Quite handy.

 

[Rich Raine]

Do you have a link to might use to get this adapter? The retrieval of the
data is most important to me right now. It sounds like I would want to find
a Hard Disk case to access the drive at a later time.

Rich Raine

 

[Rich Raine]

Here's even another solution. I have an old Thinkpad 600X. I removed the
HD from it and replaced it with the Sony Hitachi Drive. The drives are
exactly the same size. I was disappointed to find the Thinkpad could not
find and boot from the Hitachi drive. Is there anyway this could be
achieved? This would be a great solution as it would give access to the
data and upgrade the Thinkpad at the same time.

Thanks again for helping me understand all this. I appreciate it.

Rich Raine

 

[D.Currie]

If it's not seeing the drive at all, you're probably out of luck. But if
it's just Windows that's not being seen, you could do a repair install of
the OS, if you've got the appropriate Windows CD. If it's a customized OEM
cd, your chances are slim.

If it was me, I wouldn't go that route until the data is recovered.
Otherwise you risk messing things up to a point to where the data won't be
recoverable.

As far as where to get the adapters, I don't know where they're sold retail.
I get mine from a distributor, and they don't sell to end-users. You'll
probably find them at some of the bigger stores, and they're probably
readily available online as well.

 

[Rich Raine]

Ohhh.. boy does that sound like a hot solution. I am not seeing the load of
windows.

Use the original XP disks to allow the software to find the new hard disk
and configure it automatically? That does sound terrific.

I'm scared of loosing the data so I may just go with the 2.5" drive
enclosure. Even thought they are out of stock everywhere. I am going to
get a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter to see if I can mount the drive in an old desktop I
have.

Thanks so much for this insight. You have opened new solutions to me.

Rich Raine
(e-mail address removed)