Issues with accessing HDD via USB

[archangel]

First, let me apologize in advance if this is posted in the wrong forum. I'm new to this site & felt this was the best section for this post. That said, moving on.

Around 2009, I had a desktop computer that was stripped down for parts. I've retained the HDD from it. As a need came for the deed, I've been trying to access the HDD. Many websites I've visited said the same thing: that paying a company for data restoration is a waste of money. So I've been trying to access my HDD on my own. I've had no success thus far. I have a IDE-to-USB adapter (As this is my 1st post, I don't think it'd be good for me to post a url in here. But search Google for this: C2G / Cables to Go 30504 USB 2.0 to IDE or Serial ATA Drive Adapter -- this is what I have) but it won't recognize the HDD. The HDD powers up. I just can't get my PC to recognize it. I dunno much about these things, so I was kinda hoping someone in this forum had any ideas for how I can get the HDD read. I'm using Win 8 on this laptop but I have 2 other desktops--one running Win 7 and the other XP. So I could try things on a different system if needed. Could anyone help me out or if not, could anyone recommend me a way to safely access my HDD? Thanks in advance

[pcimage]

Check the hdd is set to "master" and not "slave" or "Cable Select"

Some usb adaptors/caddies are fussy about that.

[HaQue]

Many websites I've visited said the same thing: that paying a company for data restoration is a waste of money.

If you need something, and you can get it by paying, and you can't do it yourself, then it is not a waste of money. it is a personal situation thing.

Do you know anyone that tinkers with computers? See if they can put your drive in an old IDE based chassis. Or buy an old PC.. they go for AU$10 - $20. Adapters should work, but some of these adapters when you break them open are a circuit the barely does the job with no protection built in, though personally the sata ones at least seem to work ok..

Put the drive in its native habitat and see how it goes.

[Keatah]

Adapters should work, but some of these adapters when you break them open are a circuit the barely does the job with no protection built in, though personally the sata ones at least seem to work ok..

What sort of protection?

[HaQue]

What sort of protection?

Well no scientific stuff here, Ill leave that to the other guys I am talking about perceived quality of these cheap things.

What I am getting at is that most "good" devices do their job, but the manufacturer has added decent circuit design, voltage protection, and filtering to make what I class as a "good" product.

I have seen cheaper things that do just the job, and in the case of some, not even. Examples, a Ritmo USB hub, would not work with 3 or more devices plugged in. My billion router crapped out with 6 devices associated to the Wi-Fi.

This is my el-cheapo SATA/IDE to USB. It does work, but I wouldn't want to guess how stable it is under pressure, or the longevity of it.. And I wonder that if the design is quite good, and the engineering is "proper", why does my USB - SATA dock, that does not support IDE, have at least 10 times the components and circuitry? Yes I know the dock is powered and the cable isn't.. but still.

So what is inside the cable? Well first thing I noticed was the shield wires frayed out, intermingled in the 4 USB wires. Might explain why I had to jiggle it a few times when I first used it.

so the kind of protection I'm talking about would be voltage protection, and protection of your data transfer in relation to crappy products.

Cheers

[Keatah]

Ahh.. Grounding, separation and isolation of signal paths, good soldering, generous timing, proper strain-relief, proper voltage levels, low-resistance connections.. That sort of thing..

[digitalferret]

On a Quality Tangent, old farts may remember Modems, like a treasured V.Everything here costing in excess of £200 GBP back in the day.

Then M/fctrs stuck an "internal modem" inside a PC and folks wondered why the performance dipped. It was a very simplistic pcb that stole processing power from the CPU. M/fct cost ? pennies.

Its all cost driven these days, like the cheap sh*t hard drives that only have a reasonable duty cycle of 2% stuffed into plastic laptops.
Great if all you do is browse a little, email a little and maybe do the odd document.

When these are used in an enterprise environment as a cheap way to get started, the phrase "recipe for disaster" comes to mind.

Still have some old 15k Seagate cheetah's here. How old? These will run all day and all night at full throttle and are nigh on bomb proof.

Bl**dy progress lol.
/rant off

Kern

[HaQue]

yep - especially strain relief on the usb headers of "portable" drives!

[fzabkar]

I have a IDE-to-USB adapter (C2G / Cables to Go 30504 USB 2.0 to IDE or Serial ATA Drive Adapter) but it won't recognize the HDD. The HDD powers up. I just can't get my PC to recognize it.

Is there a "USB mass storage device" in Device Manager?

Can you see the USB-IDE adapter with UVCView, with or without the HDD connected?

http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_ID ... ew.x86.exe

[Keatah]

This old fart was old when 300-baud modems were in vogue.. And CRT's were luxury devices.

[HaQue]

I still have punch cards - well IIRC they were cards we marked with a pencil - from a visit to ( I want to say IBM, but cant be sure, note to self, find out) computer centre in primary school. we loaded them in and it spat out our first name in a large graphic on continuous form paper. NSA knows everything about us anyway, so who cares.. Im in low-mid 40's

[digitalferret]

CRT / 300 ? You were lucky!

haha, starting to sound like "The Four Yorkshiremen" sketch (monty python)

Keatah, as far back as the ickle box with the foam cups for the phone handset, the USR 300ish type of thing?

HaQue
iirc the punch cards we saw had a grid of numbers 000000 11111111 etc on them which you punched through on some sort of die with a sharp end pointer or a pen.
The woman showing me may have mentioned cobol or fortran. didn't make much sense as a 10yo tho.

Into my 50s now, still stoked and "finding out" all the time \0/

Obligatory thread derailment apology follows.....

Kern

[Keatah]

Yep, the foam cups.