External HArd Drive/Enclosure Question

HTeresa · 11-12-2007

I pulled the hard drive (3.5") from an older computer that did not have USB ports. I have data on the drive that I wish to keep! I purchased an external hard drive enclosure so that I could use this with my current computer (uses Windows XP). I installed the hard drive into the enclosure - it uses USB to run. The computer recognizes the drive. When I go to Windows Explorer, this drive shows up as "F: Local Drive." When I double-click on it (or use the mouse to Open), I get a pop-up box that asks me if I want to format the drive. I respond no. So... I cannot access the files I have on this drive. I am assuming that formatting will erase all data. Any suggestions on what I am doing wrong? I just want to be able to open the drive, and intend to copy files to hard drive of current pc.

Thanks.

_chef_ · 11-12-2007

Hard to say, maybe its the enclosure (chipset) making trouble.
Is USB2 fully enabled in the BIOS of your computer?

If it wont work, I would just install the hddinternally and copy the files over.

*THE C.* · 11-12-2007

Try a right click on the hard drive icon open auto play and let it upload an image of the hard drives contents after its done, close the window that pops up and try again with just double clicking on the icon and everyting should be listed now. Hope this helps.

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nork · 11-12-2007

Just a thought, but i wonder if your old drive is formatted fat32 and that makes a difference? I dont know if it makes a difference or not that your present system is using NTFS formatted drive(s) and this hard drive in the enclosure might be formatted fat32. My guess is that it doesn't matter, but maybe it does?
Did you set the jumper to master?

Last edited by nork; 11-12-2007 at 18:24. Reason: spelling

*sikoone* · 12-12-2007

Hopefully the drive hasn't changed to RAW mode. It has happened to me before and in trying to fix it i lost all of the data. If this is the case the data is still there but the boot sector of the drive is corrupted. DiskPatch addresses fixing a NTFS boot sector in their guide so if you drive is in RAW mode you may want to read up on the program. I found out about the program after i hosed my HD so i don't know if it'll fix but it was the best solution i found.

__________________
"He had a thousand ideas, you might have heard his name
He lived alone with his vision
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He was off on another plane
The words that he said were a mystery
Nobody's sure he was sane"
'Portrait (He Knew) ' - Kansas

HTeresa · 12-12-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by nork

Just a thought, but i wonder if your old drive is formatted fat32 and that makes a difference? I dont know if it makes a difference or not that your present system is using NTFS formatted drive(s) and this hard drive in the enclosure might be formatted fat32. My guess is that it doesn't matter, but maybe it does?
Did you set the jumper to master?

Thank you for all the replies. I am a bit of a newbie, so the replies generated more questions!

Anyway, I do not know what it means - is the USB2 fully enabled in the BIOS of my computer? How can I verify that? Setting the jumper to master - how can I do that? I do not see anywhere in the enclosure or the hard drive to do that. My old drive is a Maxtor model 84320D4. It says "Jumper J50" and that the Master/Single is "On" and that the Slave is "Off." Also, how do I determine how my old drive is formatted? It used to run on Windows 95 - 233 Mhz as I recall. And how would I know if the drive has changed to the RAW mode?

Thanks in advance (again!).

_chef_ · 12-12-2007

Get the free tool "PC Inspector File Recovery" and run it over the drive.
Best would be to have another hdd as target or at least enough backup...so you could save the data on the hdd first before doing anything to it.

http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file...htm?language=1

nork · 12-12-2007

If that hard drive was in a win 95 machine then its a guarantee that its formatted fat32. Win xp hard drives, for example, are formatted NTFS. Its how the hard drives are set up to enable them to work. I was just wondering if that was the problem.
When a hard drive is in an external box it must be set at master. You, i think, are quoting what is showing on the top of the hard drive, in terms of the master, slave?
You have to set that hard drive to master before it will work in the enclosure. That could be your whole problem right there. So go to the maxtor website. Seagate bought out maxtor but you can just use google to search for maxtor. At some point your plug in the maxtor hard drive model, as you quoted, 84320D4, and find the jumper configuration for that hard drive.
As for usb setting in your bios. If you are unsure about going into your bios, you might first want to go to device manager in windows and see what you have listed under usb section and see if there are any yellow markings there or not, and also see what is listed under usb. To get to device mgr you right click on "my computer", go to properties, then click on "hardware" and click on "device manager". Go down to usb and click on that.
Checking the jumper setting is first and foremost as the hard drive wont work if its jumpered as slave. So that might solve your problem right there.

nork · 12-12-2007

http://www.seagate.com/images/suppor...ta_jumpers.gif

Go here and you will see a page showing maxtor jumpering. You have to make sure which type you have. You can tell by the pin markings, sometimes by the absence of a certain pin.

*sikoone* · 12-12-2007

Quote:

And how would I know if the drive has changed to the RAW mode?

Just right click the drive and check the file system under properties.

__________________
"He had a thousand ideas, you might have heard his name
He lived alone with his vision
Not looking for fortune or fame
Never said too much to speak of
He was off on another plane
The words that he said were a mystery
Nobody's sure he was sane"
'Portrait (He Knew) ' - Kansas

External HArd Drive/Enclosure Question

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