laptop hard drive issues

[Ronnie_33]

My laptop died and someone gave me another one; my son pulled the hard drive from the dead one to put in the other one someone gave me and it wouldn't work, now I can access anything from the original drive from the dead laptop. Any one know what to do?

 

[Get_Out]

What is the question I don't understand. Do you mean "I can't" Instead of "I can".

 

[Ronnie_33]

Sorry I mean I can't....I'm freaking out because of all the files on this drive...I really need it. Alot of engine schematics on here that I have designed.

 

[CelicaGT]

I'm assuming you swapped drives? Are you sure the old hard drive was not the source of failure? If you wish to try and recover your files you'll need to get your hands on an external USB enclosure for a 2.5" hard drive, Amazon or Newegg will have this. Install the drive in there, plug it in to the new laptop and see if everything is there. Alternatively you can connect your old hard disk to a desktop internally, if it is a SATA drive the connections are the same, just cables instead. In the future I would suggest keeping everything of value backed up on a secondary external disk to avoid data loss.

 

[Get_Out]

Well it is probably the HDD that has failed or the SATA port from the laptop broke. If it says no boot device found try getting a working drive a putting it in the new laptop to see if it is a SATA problem. If it is a SATA problem then get a new computer or use another computer. If the laptop detects the other drive than your drive is probably dead and I would recommend going to a DATA recovery center to get back your valuable information as a last resort.

 

[Ronnie_33]

Ok I'm on the new laptop and I now have the drive in an external enclosure again. Before my son stuck it in the other laptop, I made sure it was still working so I put it in the enclosure and it booted up fine/all files were accessable. (In hindsight I should have copied it all then). After he installed it into the laptop given to me, this new laptop is not seeing the drive. I went through disk management but nothing

 

[CelicaGT]

Ok I'm on the new laptop and I now have the drive in an external enclosure again. Before my son stuck it in the other laptop, I made sure it was still working so I put it in the enclosure and it booted up fine/all files were accessable. (In hindsight I should have copied it all then). After he installed it into the laptop given to me, this new laptop is not seeing the drive. I went through disk management but nothing

OK, so you DO have an enclosure. Where is this drive being installed? Are you replacing the NEW laptop HDD withe the OLD one? Are you attempting to access the drive from the enclosure? Please clarify what configuration is NOT working.

 

[Ronnie_33]

Ok not replacing the drive in this new laptop...just need the files from old drive for my shop. This is a very old enclosure and may end up being the issue. When I plug it in I feel it spin up but laptop is not showing anything.

 

[CelicaGT]

Ok not replacing the drive in this new laptop...just need the files from old drive for my shop. This is a very old enclosure and may end up being the issue. When I plug it in I feel it spin up but laptop is not showing anything.

Hmmm, is this enclosure powered? Or does it draw from the USB port?

 

[Ronnie_33]

Draws power from usb...going to pick another one that's powered later in the evening

 

[CelicaGT]

Draws power from usb...going to pick another one that's powered later in the evening

Probably a good place to start, some older HDD's pull enough current at startup they even exceed high output USB port's output.