Hard drive reading?

[Grizzly]

Hi,
My old desktop PC has died a death. It's a 10 year old Asus. I don't use it much nowadays, but it's handy as another back up for photo's etc, and also useful when editing or printing photo's etc with it's big monitor and plugged in to printer and scanner etc
.
Local computer shop thought it was probably the graphics chip, but after testing and trying a graphics card it looks like it's the mother board - so time for a new PC?
Anyway, shop took out hard drive and it tested out ok - all files visible etc.

I'm now at home trying to access this loose hard drive to save any files etc I don't have elsewhere.
I'm using a Sata cable with double USB plugs to connect it to my laptop. When I plug it in to the laptop I get an aubible signal that a device has been connected - but drive does not become "visible" on my laptop.
Laptop in running Windows 10 and old hard drive is on Windows XP Pro.

Am I missing something? or do I need something else for this task?

Any help appreciated........................Cheers....Grizzly

 

[sanqhar]

If it is old there are probably “jumpers” or dip switches on the hd.

The hard drive settings may need to be changed. Google is your friend, something along these lines may help.

https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=981

I have been running a Mac for years so my memory is a bit hazy. The word “slave” comes to mind. Perhaps someone else will chime in.

Tom

 

[Andi_archer]

Which version of Windows are you using on the laptop, you may need to go into drive management to either get permission to access it or see whats wrong?

 

[Grizzly]

Laptop is running Windows 10.

I'm only using a simple Sata cable with dual usb plugs - but when HDD connected to laptop via this cable the drive doesn't spin up - which i think it should.

In Settings "storage" my partitioned laptop HDD is there. If I look in Settings "devices" under other devices I have "USD to Serial-ATA bridge" - if I click this the only option offered is to remove device.

Maybe the dual USB doesn't have sufficient power to power the drive?
Maybe the HDD is NOT ok - although shop said it seems ok?
Maybe I'll give up soon

Cheers.....................Grizzly

 

[Andi_archer]

Hmm it should spin up and read it fine have you another sata connector to try?
Try wiggling it to ensure its fitted all the way in

 

[Grizzly]

Hi Andi,
Only got one cable - and it's a cheap one from China I'll try and borrow another one and try that.

Thank for your help guys....................Grizzly

 

[ianf]

It’s probably not able to get enough power from 1 or 2 USB ports to spin up.

Maplins do a usb sata dock with a beefy power adapter

 

[Andi_archer]

One USB [500mA] should be more than enough see my set up above. You can get the lead from ebay for a couple of quid

 

[arealhuman]

I've always found those types of cables notoriously unreliable. Get a powered HHD caddy, slot in your old drive and you should be able to read the files on the drive immediately once your OS sees the drive. Regarding slave/master switch settings, it shouldn't matter (on the caddy I have it doesn't) but if you can find the settings for your specific drive, I'd say start with that on slave. Hope that's of some use.

 

[Grizzly]

Thanks for input guys - I'll try another dock - maybe powered? - and see what happens. The cable I have was only a few quid on Fleabay from China.

Cheers..........................Grizzly

 

[SOAA]

One USB [500mA] should be more than enough see my set up above. You can get the lead from ebay for a couple of quid

With an old 3.5" desktop based hard drive, as is the case here, it is entirely possible that one USB port would not be enough to power it. I would have thought two would have been OK, but I suppose it is still questionable. Some drives can require quite a substantial (relative to what can be supplied over USB) kick of power to bring them to life.

Thanks for input guys - I'll try another dock - maybe powered? - and see what happens. The cable I have was only a few quid on Fleabay from China.

Again, because you are trying to power up a 3.5" hard drive, yes I would totally recommend that you find some sort of a mains powered caddy to put it in


Also, as you've mentioned your old drive is SATA then you don't need to worry about any master / slave jumper settings, they were for the older PATA drives

 

[leedude03]

as above i doubt you will power a 3.5 hdd from a laptop usb or any usb for that matter, you need a powered caddy,

 

[deksawyer]

As stated, 3.5" drives require more than 5 volts to spin up, 12v I think - a usb adapter isn't going to power it.

You could power it using the PSU from the case...

D.

 

[Grizzly]

Update

Ok,
Just to let those who replied know how things turned out.
I visited Maplins and bought a Winstars Communicator C1 docking station - £19.99. This worked perfectly - HDD spun up no problem and all accessible from my laptop using the USB cable

Many thanks to all for your help and suggestions

Cheers.........................Grizzly

 

[repomanbe]

And if the HD is 10 years old buy another one and copy all your files to it.

 

[UturnTony]

Ok,
Just to let those who replied know how things turned out.
I visited Maplins and bought a Winstars Communicator C1 docking station - £19.99. This worked perfectly - HDD spun up no problem and all accessible from my laptop using the USB cable

Many thanks to all for your help and suggestions

Cheers.........................Grizzly

I have an earlier model of that i bought off here a few years ago. I have two HD's from previous computers sitting in it
and use them for backing stuff up plus they are brilliant for cloning old to new drives if you buy a new one. Excellent kit.