Confused: Do I need external power or recovery software???

[Ready4Launch]

Like many others, I'm trying to take my HGST 2.5" SATA HDD 7200rpm 5V 800mA 320GB and get the files from it using an external enclosure. It was Windows 7, and my desktop is Windows 8.1.

The enclosure is an INSIGNIA USB 3.0, and I've plugged it into both of my 2.0 & 3.0 connections on my desktop. Every time I connect it, it recognizes it as Drive F: but it says that it needs reformatting. I can sense the drive spinning. Disk management shows the drive as RAW file system, Healthy, 298GB, (Active, Primary Partition), 100% free.

I've read some threads where that forced a user down the path of recovery software. But, yet, others needed an external power supply? How do I know if I've got enough power and just that's the problem? (Without having to purchase for connectors!)

Or, do I have enough information to tell me that I'm going to need to do some kind of recovery. I have no clue how to go about that.

The files from this drive could make or break me -- very important. Help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Ready4Launch.

Basically 2.5" HDDs should have no issues with being powered via a USB port (all external portable drives are 2.5" and are powered by a single USB port). If the drive spins and is recognized by the computer, it means that it doesn't have issues with the supplied power.

What was the initial cause for you to get here? Was there an issue with the HDD or something else happened?

I'd suggest that you try connecting the drive internally via a standard SATA connection, to see if the same thing happens. If you still can't open it and recover your data, you could try accessing the drive via Ubuntu Live USB (this is basically a bootable, freeware, portable version of Linux), to see if the partitions are properly recognized and if you can get to your files.
Another option would be data recovery software (like you've already mentioned): http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1644496/lost-data-recovery.html and http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD

 

[Ready4Launch]

Hey there, Ready4Launch.

Basically 2.5" HDDs should have no issues with being powered via a USB port (all external portable drives are 2.5" and are powered by a single USB port). If the drive spins and is recognized by the computer, it means that it doesn't have issues with the supplied power.

What was the initial cause for you to get here? Was there an issue with the HDD or something else happened?

I'd suggest that you try connecting the drive internally via a standard SATA connection, to see if the same thing happens. If you still can't open it and recover your data, you could try accessing the drive via Ubuntu Live USB (this is basically a bootable, freeware, portable version of Linux), to see if the partitions are properly recognized and if you can get to your files.
Another option would be data recovery software (like you've already mentioned): http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1644496/lost-data-recovery.html and http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD

So, I plugged the drive into my tower. It recognized the drive, but didn't ask to boot from it, which it was the boot disc before for my laptop. Disc manager shows exactly the same thing. RAW, healthy, 298GB or thereabouts. Drive letter E: instead of F: now. Can't read it and wants to format.

Initial cause for me to get here? Nothing that was mis-functioning. I no longer possess the laptop, but I kept the HDD. I'm going to Google the Ubuntu Live USB, because I have no idea what that is or how it works. And, if it does work, then what I do after that, I've no idea.

I hope I can continue to get some answers from folks here.

 

[Ready4Launch]

So, I was finally able to boot from Ubuntu, even though it took forever how just to get it onto the flash. But, now that I'm in Ubuntu, I have no idea how to know if the partitions are properly recognized. It recognizes one partition. What does the below tell me?

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[Ready4Launch]

Let's try this since tinypic didn't accept the .png file.

 

[Ready4Launch]

I downloaded and tried to run Recuva. When I select the drive, it states that it doesn't recognize the system file type. Nothing happening. What now?

 

[Ready4Launch]

Is DennisD from this thread

http://forum.piriform.com/?showtopic=39615

making sense? The next step?

 

[Ready4Launch]

TestDisk did not find anything. I know for a fact there's nothing wrong with the drive. Does encryption software inhibit searching the partitions? It was an encrypted drive.

Also, I don't understand why I can't select the drive to be the bootable device. It was the bootable drive for the laptop, but when I go into BIOS, it doesn't give me the option.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Unfortunately you can't boot to Windows with a drive from a different computer with pre-installed Windows. Your OS has been configured with the hardware of the computer it was installed on. Basically you might get away with booting with the same drive and a different computer only if the motherboards are a pretty similar model or exactly the same.
Seems like Ubuntu can't recognize the partition as well. This is not unexpected if the drive is encrypted. If you've used encryption on this drive, you might have to use the same software in order to get the data out of it again. It might be a good idea to contact the software developer's customer support and ask for assistance, to see if the guys there can help with recovering the data from the encrypted drive.

You could try the suggestions from the other forum, but I really doubt that this would help if the drive has been encrypted

 

[BadAsAl]

GetDataBack Simple free might let you see if it can see the data.
When you are booted into Ubuntu, you should be able to click on the drive on the left side of the screen and it should open an explorer type window. Do you see any folders/files when you do that?