Hard Drive not showing in windows enviroment

[deadsearolls]

So Im in the process of fixing a co-workers ancient computer that has an 80gb HDD that doesnt appear to work anymore. Now when I initially stuck it in my rig, windows recognized it and I could view its files but when I tried moving them, explorer would simply crash. So after restart the drive now will not appear at all in the windows environment. And yes, Ive gone to computer, manage, Map drives blah blah blah but the drive isnt showing up. Its not faulty wiring, ive tried it in 3 other computers all with the same problem...


BIOS on my windows 7 rig can see that the drive is plugged in and working but windows is like lol nope, not there.
I currently have it plugged in the original computer with a brand new HDD that I bought for it just so I could at least get my Co-Workers computer back to working condition but she has loads of old Photoshop things and family stuff that she really needs.

So what I am asking is, does anyone know of a program that can recover drives that windows cant see? Is there something I can do to remove/recover the files. Is there any standalone system that I can buy? Some FBI stuff that they use when people smash their drives with hammers? Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[phil22]

All the data recovery software that's publicly available runs on Windows and requires that Windows can access the drive.

My guess is the drive has failed so file recovery is only possible by sending it to a data recovery service which is very expensive.

If you want confirmation that the drive has failed you can test it with the manufacturer's diagnostic software. The links are here: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

Your co-worker should have kept their data backed up because all hard drives fail eventually, it's inevitable.

 

[deadsearolls]

All the data recovery software that's publicly available runs on Windows and requires that Windows can access the drive.

My guess is the drive has failed so file recovery is only possible by sending it to a data recovery service which is very expensive.

If you want confirmation that the drive has failed you can test it with the manufacturer's diagnostic software. The links are here: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

Your co-worker should have kept their data backed up because all hard drives fail eventually, it's inevitable.

Thanks phil. I had a feeling that would be the answer. Ill see if shes up for paying the money

 

[deadsearolls]

Best answer selected by deadsearolls.