Using Old Boot drive as external HD ??

[meetn2veg]

This will be very easy for someone else, but I'm finding it confusing.

My current situation requires that I need to use a loaned PC with all its existing s/w etc, but need to access all my data which is contained on 3 hard drives taken out of my previous HP.

Drives D:\ and E:\ work fine using an external HD case. However, I'm having probs with the old C:\ drive. In an external HD case, the jumpers need to be set so the HD is a MASTER rather than a SLAVE. On power-up, it sounds like it's trying to boot up! But it obviously can't as it's an external HD.

Any ideas as to how I can prevent old C:\ from booting so I can get at my data???

Many thanks in advance.....
R.

 

[meetn2veg]

ASG0856 - Thanks for your input. I haven't tried your suggestion but I doubt that it would work as the C:/ drive doesn't get passed the 'clicking' noise (presumably it's searching for data) and the PC doesn't even recognise it either as an external 'Removable Storage Disk' or as an internal IDE drive. I therefore can't change it's drive letter!

When I did have it plugged in to the IDE cable, I tried setting it to Slave, then Master, then Cable Select (what does this one mean???) and in all cases it sounded like it was searching. But the PC didn't boot correctly - it just got stuck when trying to detect the drives. Not sure if this symptom helps anyone further?!?

 

[ASG0856]

I believe Cable Select is when two drives on an IDE cable are defined as Master and Slave by which plug they are connected to. A Master dtive would be on the Mid Plug, and the Slave on the End Plug. It sounds like the drive has completely died. I had a similar issue on my desktop recently. I swapped my Slave and Masters round after the computer completely froze. After the rebuild and complete install of Xp Pro to SP2, fully updated, I plugged the old drive in as Slave. At Boot up, nothing happened after the POST. A look in the BIOS showed no hard drives at all. I then disconnected the Slave, booted up again, and everything was fine.

 

[vacunita]

If the Drive is making clicking sounds, then its most certainly dying. A Functional Drive should make nothing more than a mild humming noise when you press your ear to it.

If its clicking you can either attempt to replace the controller board with a known working one of exact make model and part number. Or take it to a Recovery Pro. if your data is worth it.

----------------------------------
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.

 

[tomaso11]

Hi, I think its Master on the end and slave in the middle actually! Cable select requires a cable select cable I believe one wire is terminated just short of the plug or crossed. Getting right back to basics what actually lead to your situation? Given you have the contents of your pc but not the actual machine was it involved in some sort physical damage? Finally on reading through your original post I notice you said the drives come out of an HP. I have an idea that some of those of a particular age had a partition on the "C" drive which acted as a bios could this be the case with your machine?

Thomas

 

[Freestone]

Cable Select: Master or Slave assignment is determined by position on the IDE cable. Master at the end, Slave on the middle. When using Cable Select and more than one drive exists on the cable, BOTH drives must be jumpered for Cable Select.

You certainly can have more than one drive with a primary partition in a system, and, in fact, choose which to boot from through newer BIOS (Boot Order is the usual nomenclature). The presence of more than one bootable drive, and the suggestion of special software, called overlay software, should not prevent a system from booting to the point to where the system recognizes what IDE devices are installed.

The drive, for whatever reason, has a physical failure to where it won't initialize. The constant clicking noise is a symptom of this failure. This condition is usually the end of a drive's life with recovery possible usually only through specialists (read $$$). Maybe the old freezer trick may help, but this really must be used as the very last recourse, and not at all if you want recovery through a recovery company.