Recover data from Boot Drive via External Enclosure

[digitalcaptive]

Yesterday my old desktop pc died while I was using it. I think the motherboard fried, because I heard/saw a loud "spark". Anyway, after that I couldn't turn the computer back on. Not that I cared because I'm not interested in repairing it.

I just need some data off of the old pc's boot drive. Simple enough, I thought. Just switch the jumpers on the HDD, make it a slave, and connect it to an external usb and copy the data right?

PROBLEM. The drive will "mount", but when I try to access it as a USB Mass Storage Device, I will get a prompt that the drive needs to be formatted. When I run chkdsk from dos on the HDD, I get the following:

"The Type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is System.

and then a whole bunch of "corrupt attribute list entries", etc."

What's going on here? What can I do to get access to the data?

It's a Samsung drive in NTFS and the OS that I had it on it was Windows XP Home...

The computer that I've attached the drive as a external HDD is running Windows XP Pro (with its C drive using the FAT32).

Thanks,
DC

 

[acewarlock]

How could the C drive be FAT32. all the external HD I have installed, where set to MASTER not SLAVE.




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.

 

[wolluf]

As Acewarlock says, usually set drives to master for use in enclosure. It might not make any difference - but worth trying. Then try running chkdsk /f on it - you can obviously access it via command prompt.

The filestore type of the host system (fat32) is immaterial.

 

[acewarlock]

The filestore type of the host system (fat32) is immaterial"

I don't think so, XP fat32?. can a fat32 system read a NTSC file?




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.

 

[vacunita]

The file system of the operating system does not in any way limit the Operating System's ability to read other file systems.

XP can read, write and be installed on both NTFS and FAT32 regardless of what it is installed on.

Anyway, yeah drives in enclosures are usually set to master.

If it asks to be formatted when attempting to open it, then it most likely sustained a damage to the file system table or the partition table. In which case a Data recovery app would be the next step.

Try GetDataBack or Filerecovery Pro, as they seem to be the most effective at this sort of thing.












----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[acewarlock]

And your telling me fat32 can read NTFS?




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.

 

[Freestone]

That is NOT what vacunita is saying. It is the Operating System that determines what can be read or written, not what file system it is installed on.

 

[vacunita]

That is NOT what vacunita is saying. It is the Operating System that determines what can be read or written, not what file system it is installed on.

Exactly.

File Systems don't read other file system. Operating systems do regardless of what they are installed on.

A Crude example yes, but it should illustrate what we mean:

You are Standing on a Carpeted floor. Does that prevent you from looking at a Wooden floor, or even placing something on the wooden floor? no because you aren't limited by the floor you are standing on. Same thing with Operating Systems. They "stand" on a File System but the file system does not limit them in any way to view or modify other file systems.
Its just where they "stand", but is not a part of them.


----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[acewarlock]

What I was saying was how can WIN XP be installed on a FAT 32.

"The computer that I've attached the drive as a external HDD is running Windows XP Pro (with its C drive using the FAT32)."

I though WIN XP could only run in NTFS.





This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.

 

[Freestone]

Why can't XP be installed on a FAT32 formatted drive?

 

[acewarlock]

I though when you did the install XP changed the format to NTFS, thats what it did to mine. I went from WIN98 to XP PRO.




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.

 

[Freestone]

During an XP install, one is usually presented with an opportunity to not format, format as FAT32 or format as NTFS. It sounds as if your XP install performed a Convert command.

Whatever the case may have been, XP will install and run on a FAT32 or NTFS partition.

 

[acewarlock]

Thanks




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.