Ask a new question

Trouble accessing old SATA drive via USB reader

My Windows XP machine died and I have quite a bit of important data I am trying to recover from the two hard drives I had in it.

I have connected a USB SATA reader to my new Windows 7 Home Premium netbook, but I am having trouble accessing the drives through it.
They do not show up at all in Windows Explorer.
When I open Disk Management, the drive is there (listed as Disk 1 Unknown with the note 'Not Initialized) and a window immediately pops up asking me to initialize the disk.  No matter which option I select in the initialize wizard, I get the error 'the device is not ready' and then the initialize option greys out.

I am assuming that I do not in fact *want* to initialize the disks.  That will wipe them and erase the data I'm trying to recover, correct?

What do I need to do to get these drives to show up in Windows Explorer so I can copy my files to my new computer?
I assume the issue is that the drive letters on my old disks are the same as the drive letters on my new disk, but I am not finding an option for relabeling them.
Do not initialise the drives, you will lose your data if you do.

Do you have a separate power supply to the enclosures? USB will not provide enough power for 3.5 inch drives or older 2.5 inch drives.

If your old machine died because one or both drives failed you will need to send them to a recovery specialist. Test them with their manufacturers' diagnostic utilities.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

My Windows XP machine died and I have quite a bit of important data I am trying to recover from the two hard drives I had in it.

I have connected a USB SATA reader to my new Windows 7 Home Premium netbook, but I am having trouble accessing the drives through it.
They do not show up at all in Windows Explorer.
When I open Disk Management, the drive is there (listed as Disk 1 Unknown with the note 'Not Initialized) and a window immediately pops up asking me to initialize the disk.  No matter which option I select in the initialize wizard, I get the error 'the device is not ready' and then the initialize option greys out.

I am assuming that I do not in fact *want* to initialize the disks.  That will wipe them and erase the data I'm trying to recover, correct?

What do I need to do to get these drives to show up in Windows Explorer so I can copy my files to my new computer?
I assume the issue is that the drive letters on my old disks are the same as the drive letters on my new disk, but I am not finding an option for relabeling them.

Two questions:
  1) What "died" about your old Windows XP machine?
  2) These two drives - were they individual partitioned and not RAIDed in any manner?
 
Your first assumption is correct, given you want the data off the drives to USE - not off the drives permanently and without recovery.
 
Your last assumption is incorrect - it has nothing to do with drive letters.
.-
Shenan Stanley
MVP 2005-2011 & 2013-2015
Insider MVP 2016-
.-

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

We're not 100% certain why the old machine died, but we believe it overheated.  It was in one of those desks that has a computer compartment with a door on it.  One morning we found the door closed and the computer has never turned on since.

It is possible that the drives were damaged, but that wouldn't be my first or second guess.

There is a separate power supply for the SATA reader.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

1)  As I said to DominicP, we're not 100% certain why the old machine died, but we believe it overheated.  It was in one of those desks that has a computer compartment with a door on it.  One morning we found the door closed and the computer has never turned on since.

2) Yes.  Only one of them really has anything on it, the other was there because I happened to have it lying around and was getting close to full on the first.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure which is which just looking at them physically.


Do you know what the issue is?  Or a better method than the one I am using to recover my files?

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

1)  As I said to DominicP, we're not 100% certain why the old machine died, but we believe it overheated.  It was in one of those desks that has a computer compartment with a door on it.  One morning we found the door closed and the computer has never turned on since.

2) Yes.  Only one of them really has anything on it, the other was there because I happened to have it lying around and was getting close to full on the first.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure which is which just looking at them physically.

Do you know what the issue is?  Or a better method than the one I am using to recover my files?

In general - with a decent external USB adapter (what SATA to USB adapter - make & model - do you have?) - what you are doing should work fine.  It sounds to me like the translation is not working properly with the adapter you have - to me anyway.  The only other alternative possibility is that both drives are dead - and that is highly unlikely (not impossible, just unlikely.)
 
The other option would be to actually put the drive in another system (obviously not the netbook) as a secondary drive.
.-
Shenan Stanley
MVP 2005-2011 & 2013-2015
Insider MVP 2016-
.-

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

I don't know the exact model of the adapter (I'm borrowing it from a friend) but it's a Vantec and looks like this one -> http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/530 <- except that it's USB 2.0 not 3.0.

Guess I should invest in a different adapter.  If you have any recommendations, I'd be grateful.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

I don't know the exact model of the adapter (I'm borrowing it from a friend) but it's a Vantec and looks like this one -> http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/530 <- except that it's USB 2.0 not 3.0.

Guess I should invest in a different adapter.  If you have any recommendations, I'd be grateful.

I've had good luck with Rosewill brand...  StarTech too.

Before you go too crazy - try connecting the drives via that USB adapter to a different computer - like the friend that is letting you borrow the adapter.  Could be the computer you are connecting to, not the adapter.  ;-)
 
Kanguru might be a little high-end (cloning, etc.) for this - but they are my favorite.  ;-)
.-
Shenan Stanley
MVP 2005-2011 & 2013-2015
Insider MVP 2016-
.-

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks again, Shenan.  I purchased a docking station and, sure enough, now I am able to access both drives.  Next up -> figuring out why I can't access the secondary partitions on them, heh.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks again, Shenan.  I purchased a docking station and, sure enough, now I am able to access both drives.  Next up -> figuring out why I can't access the secondary partitions on them, heh.

You could be running into something similar to this:
http://hawksoft.com/blog/2011/windows-fun-with-external-usb-hard-drives-553.shtml
.-
Shenan Stanley
MVP 2005-2011 & 2013-2015
Insider MVP 2016-
.-

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

You could be running into something similar to this:
http://hawksoft.com/blog/2011/windows-fun-with-external-usb-hard-drives-553.shtml

Ugh, yup.  Didn't have 'Learn Linux' on my to do list for this week, but if that's what I'm gonna have to do.....  Better get started!

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

 
 

Question Info

Last updated February 28, 2018 Views 767 Applies to: