Can't access old IDE Hard Drive.

[WasTech]

I have an older 20 GB HD WD 205BA ( that I can't access thru WinXP Pro. It says it has bad sectors, it might. I havn't used it for over a year so maybe it went bad. The problem is I need some of the files off of it. I used it with this same computer before. It runs, BIOS sees it, XP did Chk Dsk, XP sees it in D Mangr. I can see it in Dsk Mangr. I just can't see it in My Computer. Dev Mangr prop says it's working.

My comp has A8V-X ASUS MB. Main HD is 640GB SATA. I have the WD in question in IDE 1 and setup as slave. Comp was giving problems just booting this it took awhile n when it came up to windows I noticed it to be sluggish. So what can I do to access this HD? Heres a pic of how it shows up in Dsk Mangr. It's 19.11GB disk 1 with the no go red mark on it. IOt says unallocated but I know it should have files n folders on it. Thanks

 

[MindoverMaster]

Try booting up with a Linux Boot CD, Ubuntu is amoungst the most common. See if you can detect any data on there. Linux can see more partitions than XP can.

 

[-RockMan-]

Try what mind said, if that does not work, your last only hope is this:.

1.Get a external hdd drive kit IDE version they can be found in computer shops and mostly radio shack for under 16.00 bucks.

2.Get a good laptop or netbook hook up the external drive kit with hdd inside of it to the laptop or desktop.

3.Download recuva software from Recuva - Undelete, Unerase, File and Disk Recovery - Free Download

4.Windows XP-Windows 7 permisision to access the almost dead hdd.

5.If you can access the hdd, very quickly use recuva, the reason why I say quickly because you never know if the hdd may be failing and getting ready to die.

6.Since it's your hdd, and you know where everything is have recuva pull off the files that you want and transfer it to a memory card or usb flash drive.
I don't recommend you transfer to your main hdd on your pc because the hdd thats in the kit maybe very slow and crippled.

If you can manage to pull that off your golden, let us know if you can do that and report back here.

 

[WasTech]

Hey thanks for info guys but while I was waiting to hear back from somebody I rebooted. It took awhile again this time it came up and XP recognized it so got my files and all good now. Thanks again for your help.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Then it's just dying a slow death.

 

[Slaymate]

Back-up your data while you have the opportunity

 

[TheMajor]

Right click it in diskmgmt --> 'initialize disk'.
If your partitions are still invisible, download Testdisk and use it to restore the partitions.