Question Trying to view files on old IDE drive

[i6pwr]

I have an old IDE harddrive that I'm fairly confident was not erased.

I have a IDE to USB adapter for my windows PC and I could see the drive, but is labeled as "unallocated".

Does this mean the drive is empty, or the PC just can't see the files. The drive didn't show up right away when connected, had to fiddle with device manager.

 

[dwd999]

Does your adapter include its own power supply? Perhaps the drive isn't getting enough power to be properly recognized by your computer.

 

[TerryLaze]

Could be a driver issue, or a compatibility problem, if it is a really old drive a modern adaptor might not pick it up correctly. Or it could just be that the drive went kaput in the last years.

Was it even a windows or at least DOS drive? A drive for another OS will not show up under windows.

 

[i6pwr]

Sorry, I left out some info....Yes, the adapter has a power supply and the drive spins up, I also tried connecting to the PC when the drive was spinning up.

I tried master, slave, pretty much any jumper configuration.

This is what I get, I'm unable to change that status.

 

[i6pwr]

Was it even a windows or at least DOS drive? A drive for another OS will not show up under windows

Not sure, was from the wifey's old pc and she doesn't remember if it was Windows. This drive is from around 1995-1997.

This is the adapter I'm using.

https://vantecusa.com/products_detail.php?p_id=90&p_name=IDE/SATA

 

[TerryLaze]

HDDGURU: HDD Raw Copy Tool

This freeware HDD Raw Copy utility duplicates almost any media and creates sector-by-sector images (raw or compressed) for restoration at a later time. Tool supports SATA, IDE, SAS, SCSI, SSD hard disk drives. Will also work with any USB and FIREWIRE external drive enclosures as well as SD, MMC...

hddguru.com

Get hdd raw copy and copy that 1.5Gb to your main drive, IMPORTANT from source (your old drive) to FILE

DO NOT CHOOSE A REAL DRIVE AS TARGET it will wipe it and destroy your files.
Make a backup copy of that file just to be save.

Then get hxd and open the file with it

HxD - Freeware Hex Editor and Disk Editor | mh-nexus

If it is still intact then this page will tell you how to find out the system ID , it has a long list of many IDs towards the end of the page.

https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/488296/Partition-Tables-Explained


Depending on what it is you can then open the file up in a virtual machine with the according OS installed.

 

[i6pwr]

Get hdd raw copy and copy that 1.5Gb to your main drive

Thanks, I will try, does it have to be the main drive or any spare drive?

 

[TerryLaze]

Thanks, I will try, does it have to be the main drive or any spare drive?

You can copy it wherever you want to, whatever drive shows up under windows and allows you to write on.