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| HELP, old hard drive is in external box, new computer doesnt see it
Posted: 11/6/2009 12:32:43 PM | My old computer processor gave up the ghost so I took out the hard drive
and put it into a good external box, hooked it to my new Windows 7 machine via USB ports,
and it is recognized, the hard drive, but it is not seen in "my computer"
on Windows 7 where all the drives are listed.
Therefore I can't get the files off of it.
I had the hp help desk install new driver's for my USP ports and that didnt' help.
Here is the documentation for the external box:
Q. My computer recognizes the NexStar 3i, but it does not assign a drive letter to it.
A. You are probably using a brand new hard drive. If not, then your computer may not be able to
recognize the partition on the hard drive because it is damaged or not a valid format. Please refer to
the section "Creating A New Partition" for information on how to create a useable partition on your
drive.
How can I copy those files and programs from my old hard drive to my new computer?
Sue | |
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| HELP, old hard drive is in external box, new computer doesnt see it
Posted: 11/6/2009 1:23:33 PM | If that drive contain irreplaceable files, I recommend you make a backup image using Acronis or something similar before you do anything.
If your partitions are damaged, you can try to repair the partitions or you can run special file recovery software like GetDataBack. Maybe someone can recommend a free or low cost alternative. Take a look at http://www.runtime.org/
What version of Windows was your previous PC? If it was Windows 98, I found a free file recovery software that only works for drives that are formatted FAT-32. If it was Windows XP, you need recovery software for NTFS. | |
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| HELP, old hard drive is in external box, new computer doesnt see it
Posted: 11/6/2009 1:33:13 PM | How am I going to make a backup image?
The hard drive is in an external box, not a computer, and
the new Windows 7 computer will not assign the external drive
(which it now is) a drive letter.
HP tech support struggled with my new computer trying to solve this
and couldn't.
In other words, I cannot access the external drive or use it at all so far. | |
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bname
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Joined: 10/28/2009
Msg: 5 | |
| HELP, old hard drive is in external box, new computer doesnt see it
Posted: 11/6/2009 2:36:57 PM | Sometimes using external hard drive cases with older hard disks will cause problems.
1. Firmware on the usb interface (external drive) doesn't communicate with firmware on the hard drive.
2. External usb cases are can sometimes have tight requirements on power usage ... so the hard drive will not function correctly. Does the hard drive spin up? Can you feel vibrations when powered on. I have several hard disks that will only work in certain external cases. Maxtor is usually the hard disks that messes up the most.
** If it is a power issue, you don't want to just get it half working and die as the file system will likely corrupt **
I would expect that the hard drive and the partition and the data are fine. Don't mess with that. There's is little you can do with that even if it was a problem.
I suggest using a friends external usb case if they are OK with that.
IF not visit a computer store, external usb cases are 20-30 bucks ... ask them to test it before hand to see if it spins up and is readable. That's not too bad as then you will have another external hard disk for use.
Alternately, if you have a friend with and ide hard drive setup you can plug the drive directly to the ide channels.
The data on the disk is MOST LIKELY fine. The reason why windows doesn't see it is likely because of the reasons mentioned above.
**** If you can download a live linux cd version, it might work as well ... but you're probably over your head if you have to go this route ... if the problem is a power problem this won't help ... but it may solve the driver/firmware issue ****
You're problem is solvable. | |
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| HELP, old hard drive is in external box, new computer doesnt see it
Posted: 11/6/2009 2:51:36 PM | Yes the hard drive is working, it definitely spins up.
It shows up under "devices and drivers". It does not show up under "computer" ( my computer in windows XP).
It shows as having a current driver.
The instruction booklet that came with the box says that if your computer
recognizes the box but does not assign it a drive letter then there is a problem
with the disk partition and I should create a new partition so the computer
will recognize it.
The box is meant to be used with windows xp which the old hard drive is but
makes no mention of windows 7.
I can try some different brands of cases if you think that would help. It wont hurt. | |
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bname
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Joined: 10/28/2009
Msg: 7 | |
| HELP, old hard drive is in external box, new computer doesnt see it
Posted: 11/6/2009 3:37:23 PM | Maybe a firmware problem then ... try Ubuntu (live cd - I think they are all live - not sure). Burn it ... then boot from it ... and see if sees the external drive and can read from it.
It could be a partition issue of course ... it can happen for a few reasons .. but that doesn't matter as you have no intention of repartitioning it anyway, as the data would be lost.
When the disk shows up in the my computer "thingy" is it shown as an empty disk or an unallocated disk? unallocated means empty empty means - has a partition. This would be under my computer->manage-> Disk management. I don't need to know the answer.
I doubt it's a configuration issue with your OS as the HP tech guys would have caught that. It's pretty straight forward. This is why I believe the problem is likely between the external drive and the disk.
It is possible the power issues on your older computer caused problems for the disk ... but that is unlikely as well.
I'm still sure the data is fine however.
If you work in an office with tech support ... this is likely as easy problem to solve. So, I wouldn't push yourself to hard to solve it ... it's likely a quick solution for them.
If you search for (Internet) "bartpe" ... a pseudo windows live version, download, burn, boot ... this may also be able to get past your current problem. If you're going to try live cd stuff ... try this first.
But, the best odds are the simple solutions first ... a different external usb case. Unfortunately, process of elimination is your real option. | |
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| HELP, old hard drive is in external box, new computer doesnt see it
Posted: 11/6/2009 4:54:27 PM |
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
It's a Windows tool that will create a 'Bootable USB Flash Drive' also called a 'Live USB'.
(It automatically does everything, you just select the version/distribution you want it to download & make)
Ubuntu is also an option for this:
Introduction
UNetbootin allows you to create bootable Live USB drives for a variety of Linux distributions from Windows or Linux, without requiring you to burn a CD. You can either let it download one of the many distributions supported out-of-the-box for you, or supply your own Linux .iso file if you've already downloaded one or your preferred distribution isn't on the list.
Requirements
* Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7, or Linux. If you are having trouble with the Linux version, try the Windows version, it usually works better.
* A broadband internet connection to download the distribution's .iso file (unless you're using pre-downloaded files)
Features
UNetbootin can create a bootable Live USB drive, or it can make a "frugal install" on your local hard disk if you don't have a USB drive. It can load distributions by automatically downloading their ISO (CD image) files, or by using existing ISO files, floppy/hard disk images, or kernel/initrd files, for installing other distributions.
screenshot
The current version has built-in support for automatically downloading and loading the following distributions, though installing other distributions is also supported:
* Ubuntu (and official derivatives)
o 6.06 LTS
o 6.10
o 7.04
o 7.10
o 8.04 LTS
o 8.10
o 9.04
o 9.10
o Daily CD Images
* Debian
o Stable/Lenny
o Testing/Squeeze
o Unstable/Sid
* Linux Mint
o 3.1
o 4.0
o 5-r1
o 6
* openSUSE
o 10.2
o 10.3
o 11.0
o 11.1
o Factory
* Arch Linux
o 2007.08
* Damn Small Linux
o 4.4
* SliTaz
o Stable
o Cooking
* Puppy Linux
o 4.00
* gNewSense
o deltah-2.1
* FreeBSD
o 6.3
o 7.0
* NetBSD
o 4.0
* Fedora
o 7
o 8
o 9
o 10
o 11
o Rawhide
* PCLinuxOS
o 2007
o 2008
* Sabayon Linux
o 4-LiteMCE
* Gentoo
o 2007.0
o 2008.0
* MEPIS
o SimplyMEPIS 8
o AntiX 8
* Zenwalk
o 5.2
* Slax
o 6
* Dreamlinux
o 3.2
* Elive
o Development
* CentOS
o 4
o 5
* Mandriva
o 2007.1
o 2008.0
o 2008.1
* FaunOS
o 0.5.4
* Frugalware Linux
o Stable
o Testing
o Current
* xPUD
o 0.8.9
UNetbootin can also be used to load various system utilities, including:
* Parted Magic, a partition manager that can resize, repair, backup, and restore partitions.
* SystemRescueCD, a system repair, backup and recovery tool.
* Super Grub Disk, a boot utility that can restore and repair overwritten and misconfigured GRUB installs or directly boot various operating systems
* Dr.Web Antivirus, F-Secure Rescue CD, and Kaspersky Rescue Disk, which remove malware from Windows installs.
* Backtrack, a utility used for network analysis and penetration testing.
* Ophcrack, a utility which can recover Windows passwords.
* NTPasswd, a utility which can reset Windows passwords and edit the registry.
* Gujin, a graphical bootloader that can also be used to boot various operating systems and media.
* Smart Boot Manager (SBM), which can boot off CD-ROM and floppy drives on computers with a faulty BIOS.
* FreeDOS, which can run BIOS flash and other legacy DOS utilities.
More info and instructions at the website,
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
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| HELP, old hard drive is in external box, new computer doesnt see it
Posted: 11/6/2009 6:09:10 PM | Thanks I will try a diffrent box first.
It complicates things for me that this is windows7 and there is no longer My Computer, there is instead just Computer which shows drives C, D (factory image) and E, DVD rewrite drive,
I miss my old machine!!!!! | |
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