Copy data from old HD: Hi & thank you for looking at this post. My old pc recently failed & cannot get it to boot. I have a backup of the data but there are a few things that I would...

pgerardi Loc: Bethel Park, PA

Hi & thank you for looking at this post. My old pc recently failed & cannot get it to boot. I have a backup of the data but there are a few things that I would love to save. Is there a way to gain access to that hard drive without putting it into a new pc? Don't believe that the drive is corrupt. Again thanks for any input you may have.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

pgerardi wrote:

Hi & thank you for looking at this post. My old pc recently failed & cannot get it to boot. I have a backup of the data but there are a few things that I would love to save. Is there a way to gain access to that hard drive without putting it into a new pc? Don't believe that the drive is corrupt. Again thanks for any input you may have.

You can probably set it up as an External Drive; you'll need a 3.5" or 2.5" inch type drive USB case. I ended up doing that myself when my Laptop Died. The screen died not the two HDDs. I still have them -- reformatted now as additional back-up drives.

Math78 Loc: Scottsdale, AZ

If you can boot from your original Windows CD or a recovery disk, then you might gain access to the hard drive (if it is still good). In that case, if you've lived a good life, you have a chance of making the hard drive bootable again. The other option is to remove the drive and put it in an external USB enclosure.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

If your PC is not booting because of a hardware issue, not related to your HD, you most certainly can. All you'd need to do is purchase an external drive case. They range in price from a couple of dollars to several hundred. Once you have your new PC going, just attach the external drive you just built and extract the data you want.
--Bob

pgerardi wrote:

Hi & thank you for looking at this post. My old pc recently failed & cannot get it to boot. I have a backup of the data but there are a few things that I would love to save. Is there a way to gain access to that hard drive without putting it into a new pc? Don't believe that the drive is corrupt. Again thanks for any input you may have.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

the external drive case is the way to go. PLUS they are VERY easy to assemble, just plug and play..... pick up a cheap one and give it a try.

seagull5

second......external hard drive case......amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Sabre
nt-Tool-free-Enclosure-Optimized-EC-UASP/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_sfl_title_23&smid=A29Y8OP2GPR7PE....$12.99 Sabrent 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool-free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized For SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP) ......drop in the old drive thats it.......if your old machine is 7 or 8 or 10.....you may need to get permission especially if its on the old drives desktop or documents......just configure the permission by right clicking.....

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

Several years ago(2010) I got an Apricorn Notebook Drive Upgrade Kit that I used to replace a hard drive in a laptop computer. It worked quite well for transferring all my files and programs to the new hard drive. I just tried finding the set up by googling, but I guess that Apricorn has been bought out by someone.

blackest Loc: Ireland

pgerardi wrote:

Hi & thank you for looking at this post. My old pc recently failed & cannot get it to boot. I have a backup of the data but there are a few things that I would love to save. Is there a way to gain access to that hard drive without putting it into a new pc? Don't believe that the drive is corrupt. Again thanks for any input you may have.

It's a bit of a depends situation but If you can boot a live linux dvd such as say ubuntu desktop iso / maybe Linux mint (it is also an install disk but that doesn't matter). When you boot from the DVD you are making no change to the PC but you can work with it. To boot from the dvd you may need to change the boot order maybe f12 on startup or go into the bios (usually Del key).

once you have the desktop loaded you can go to the file manager app and see if your hard drive is recognised if so you can copy files from the hard drive , say to an external hard drive.

Another possibility, add the pc's hard drive to another pc you just need a sata cable and a spare power connector the new pc would see the drive as a new drive maybe drive E: if the new system already has a C: and D: drive again if it mounts then you can copy data from the unbootable drive.

If the disk can't mount then there are low level techniques to recover data.

If non of this makes sense you need someone else to help.

pgerardi Loc: Bethel Park, PA

Thanks everyone for the feedback! As far as booting up from anything that is not happening, just hear a series of beeps. I think I will try the external drive case route, just need to see what size case to purchase. The drive is on the larger size so I need to do a little research.

Once again the wealth of knowledge here is so valuable & why it is a daily read for me.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

pgerardi wrote:

Hi & thank you for looking at this post. My old pc recently failed & cannot get it to boot. I have a backup of the data but there are a few things that I would love to save. Is there a way to gain access to that hard drive without putting it into a new pc? Don't believe that the drive is corrupt. Again thanks for any input you may have.

Lots of alternatives.

http://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hard+drive+adapter

blackest Loc: Ireland

pgerardi wrote:

Thanks everyone for the feedback! As far as booting up from anything that is not happening, just hear a series of beeps. I think I will try the external drive case route, just need to see what size case to purchase. The drive is on the larger size so I need to do a little research.

Once again the wealth of knowledge here is so valuable & why it is a daily read for me.

Ok the series of beeps means something, google beep code and the make and model of your motherboard / system.

Other things to try might be reseating the ram (often a winning move) there may be a bad ram stick so try different combinations.

I'm kind of assuming that you are getting a completely blank screen and not some beeps and press f1 to continue message which tends to occur when the bios battery has died and can't keep its settings.

Why get an external drive case? If you can take the drive out of one system you can put it in another. Most motherboards have 4 sata headers at least 2 in use for the hard drive and dvd rom. You can take the drive and its cable from your dead system and put it in your other system for the purposes of testing and data recovery. It will most likely show up as E: or maybe E: and F: While an external case or sata dock is useful it will quite possibly cost more than the drive is worth.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

See: http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Docking-Station-DS-UBLK/dp/B00IKAQ538/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1464958784&sr=1-4&keywords=hard+drive+docking+station

This is a "hard drive docking station", which allows you to take an internal hard drive and then read it through a USB port on another computer. This usually works.

pgerardi Loc: Bethel Park, PA

Once again thank you for the information!

WayneT Loc: Paris, TN

sb wrote:

See: http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Docking-Station-DS-UBLK/dp/B00IKAQ538/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1464958784&sr=1-4&keywords=hard+drive+docking+station

This is a "hard drive docking station", which allows you to take an internal hard drive and then read it through a USB port on another computer. This usually works.

I have hard drive docking stations but one of these is great to have in case of problems. Not to costly but very versatile.

http://www.amazon.com/External-Docking-Station-Duplicator-Function/dp/B00MHJQ4H0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

Be Careful !!
If your HDD is OLD - - it may NOT have the current SATA interface !
It MAY be an ATA-100 interface
Be SURE to look at the HDD so that you get the RIGHT external enclosure !!