Reading 2.5 notebook disk in 3.5 desktop machine?

[punchykool]

I've got a corrupt IBM Travelstar DJSA-220 20GB hard disk from a notebook machine. It's 2.5" in size.

I've got a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter.
I've acquired the correct jumper setting from IBM to make this disk a slave.
I've connected this disk to the desktop machine using the adapter.
(And yes, I've ensured that the primary disk in that desktop machine is still intact.)
The desktop machine boots up normally.
But, the notebook 2.5" drive is not recognized in the 'Computer Management" console nor "My Computer".

The notebook disk was the main disk in the notebook machine, is NTFS, and is running Win XP Home.
I've tried connecting this to two desktop machines, both with NTFS - one with Win 2000 Pro, and the other with Win XP Pro.

The bottom line is that I cannot see this notebook disk, and hence cannot access its important files :-(.

Thanks a million for any help.
Cheers,

-paul

 

[stduc]

Does the BIOS see it? If an IDE drive is not 'seen' by the BIOS then neither will windows.

If the screen listing your drives and CD/DVD devices flashes by at the blink of an eye then try what I did when I had a problem. I filmed the BIOS part of the boot up sequence in movie mode on my digital camera. A couple of frames caught the info just dandy!

Have you plugged it into the same cable as the master drive as a slave? Or on its own cable to the second IDE connection on your mobo?

 

[G0AOZ]

Try plugging the notebook HDD into the secondary IDE interface, disconnecting any CD or DVD drives so it's the sole device.

Can you hear if the drive is spinning? You say the drive is corrupt, but did the notebook BIOS recognise the drive ok?

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[wolluf]

Would agree with Roger - in fact adapters I've got only allow the notebook drive to connect on its own. Would also remove any jumper setting to make it slave (are you sure there really is a jumper setting to make it slave - many notebook drives don't have such a setting).

 

[punchykool]

Yup, there are jumper settings required for this travelstar. I've actually tried master, slave, and cable select with no luck.

I've tried the util, GetDataBack-NTFS, and it does not pick up the disk either.

And yup, I've tried connecting it as the lone device on the prim and second channels with no luck.

The disk spins, I can hear, and feel it (while grounding myself).

It is not displayed in bios either.
Nor, does it show up here--> diskmgmt.msc

Setting the disk as master and the only drive in the box, yields only "Operating System not Found" sometime shortly after getting through the bios screen.

Any other ideas, aside from having a pro have a look at it?

Cheers,
-Paul

-paul

 

[G0AOZ]

I'd say you've tried most options now. Looks to me like the interface on the drive is kaput, so only a specialist company who can take these drives to pieces is likely to be in a position to extract data.

You said in your initial post "I've got a corrupt IBM Travelstar DJSA-220 20GB hard disk". Any known history? Was it working one day, died the next...?

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[punchykool]

Roger,

The notebook disk simply did not boot up one day.
It's one of our shop's notebooks, and it's never left the building, nor has it been dropped to my knowledge.
When booting up on that notebook machine, it gets through the boot up screen (Dell in my case), and then just blue screens. I turned off the unit manually. Each subsequent boot up, yields the same thing, no less no more.

Yeah, I need to gauge the value of getting a pro to dive into it...Sure appreicate this community's help by the way!!

-paul

 

[stduc]

How about putting the drive back in the laptop & letting SprinRite from grc.com have a look at it?

 

[punchykool]

Interesting...I'll post up results tomorrow.

-paul

 

[punchykool]

Well a success story of sorts...I was about to purchase SpinRite's product, when a pal had asked me to try another USB drive case...I tried a Travelstar USB 2.0 case, and presto, I was able to get at all of the data on that disk.
Recall that I have a Travelstar branded disk, so perhaps the PCB in this case could read my though-to-be defunct disk...
I had already spent time trying to other branded USB drive cases, with no luck.
Goes to show you, I guess, that not all hardware is created equal here - makes no sense, but I love the outcome...

perhaps this will help others,
-Paul

-paul