Windows 7 won't recognize IDE hard drive

[Genralkidd]

I have an old Western Digital hard drive (WDC AC28 50F) that came from a very old Windows 95 PC I had. There are some very important old files I'd like to retrieve from it but I am unable to. I can still boot into the OS most of the time, but the files are too big to backup onto floppy disks and there's not enough space on the computer for me to install CD burners & burning software. I've tried compression, but the files remain too big. There's no Ethernet port on this computer, only a dialup modem but I don't think there are any dialup options for Windows 95 anymore, nor any filesharing sites that are compatible with Internet Explorer 5...

I tried using an Apricorn universal hard drive adapter to plug this IDE drive into my Windows 7 computer via USB. However, while Windows 7 does see the hard drive in device manager, I can't access the hard drive. I tried to initialize it in Disk Manager, but it keeps giving me an I/O Error. EaseUS partition manager sees the hard drive as blank and unallocated even though that's not true.

Is there anything I can do to retrieve my files off this hard drive? I'd preferably like to create a virtual image of this hard drive so I can continue to run this system in a virtual machine, but if that's too difficult to do, then is there any way to just simply retrieve the individual files I need. Thanks!

 

[fzabkar]

"Initialisation" is data destructive. It zeros the partition table.

You could use floppy diskettes, if you split the compressed files into 1.44MB segments. WinRAR allows you to do this. The segments can then be reconstructed on the destination machine.

You could use Dialup Networking to email the files to yourself and then retrieve them on a second machine.

Another way is to use a LapLink cable on the serial or parallel port. Windows 95 also ships with "Direct Cable Connection" which can make use of the serial or parallel ports.

 

[Genralkidd]

"Initialisation" is data destructive. It zeros the partition table.

You could use floppy diskettes, if you split the compressed files into 1.44MB segments. WinRAR allows you to do this. The segments can then be reconstructed on the destination machine.

You could use Dialup Networking to email the files to yourself and then retrieve them on a second machine.

Another way is to use a LapLink cable on the serial or parallel port. Windows 95 also ships with "Direct Cable Connection" which can make use of the serial or parallel ports.

Is "Direct Cable Connection" compatible with Windows 7 or 8 though? If I remember correctly, it stopped being shipped after Windows 98.

Also, is there no other way to read the HDD directly and create an image of it? Does this have something to do with setting the drive to Master or Slave?

 

[fzabkar]

Try Kermit:
http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95.html

"Internet and serial communications for Microsoft Windows® 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT (4.0 and later), Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7"

As for your drive, many people report difficulties with early IDE drives and USB enclosures. The following resource has two jumper settings (Single or Master) that you could try.

http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/hard-drives-hdd/western-digital/AC-2635-CAVIAR-639MB-3-5-SL-ATA2-FAST.html

 

[Genralkidd]

Try Kermit:
http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95.html

"Internet and serial communications for Microsoft Windows® 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT (4.0 and later), Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7"

As for your drive, many people report difficulties with early IDE drives and USB enclosures. The following resource has two jumper settings (Single or Master) that you could try.

http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/hard-drives-hdd/western-digital/AC-2635-CAVIAR-639MB-3-5-SL-ATA2-FAST.html

Thanks! I'll try changing the jumper settings to Slave. If I have an older computer which has spare IDE ports on the motherboard, would that technically eliminate any possible issues that exist with USB enclosures? I happen to have an old pre-SATA PC running Windows 8 Pro that's being used for server purposes.

Lol, we have the most advanced technology today (USB 3.0, SATA, Wi-Fi, etc), yet I can't use any of those to transfer 850 MB worth of data off an old computer. Thank goodness for Microsoft's insistence of legacy support in modern day hardware and software.

 

[fzabkar]

I'm wondering how you managed to install Win95 on your old machine if you don't have any optical drives. Otherwise, if you do have a CD-ROM, then simply remove it and replace it with a second, later model IDE drive.

The other thing I don't understand is why you can't install a NIC. Don't you have any spare slots?

 

[Genralkidd]

I'm wondering how you managed to install Win95 on your old machine if you don't have any optical drives. Otherwise, if you do have a CD-ROM, then simply remove it and replace it with a second, later model IDE drive.

The other thing I don't understand is why you can't install a NIC. Don't you have any spare slots?

Well, if I remember correctly, the computer came with Windows 95 pre-installed, but it does have a CD-ROM drive. I can't replace it with a CD Burner though because there's not enough space left on the HDD to install CD burning software.

There are slots available, but I don't have any cards that are compatible with Windows 95 and most sellers on eBay don't specify whether their cards are Windows 95 compatible. I'd rather not do a trial and error with cards on Ebay.

 

[Paperdoc]

Here's a MAYBE. If you are dealing with an old HDD of a size around 900 MB to 1.0 GB, it is possible that the auto-detect functions of a modern external enclosure do not detect its parameters properly. Thus the enclosure cannot read it correctly.

Every HDD of that old type ought to have on it a list of three parameters - C, H, S - Cylinders, Heads and Sectors. Some also list things like a PreComp value and Landing Zone. If you cannot find such a label on the drive unit, try searching for the info at the manufacturer's website in their Tech Support section. I know of no way to enter these items into the "brains" of an external enclosure. However, the BIOS on most mobos will allow you to enter manually the HDD parameters for a drive connected to it.

If you do connect that older HDD to a different computer that also has a way to transmit the data to your desired destination, FIRST write down what the drive label says. THEN try these three ways in order.
1. On the first HDD screen where the drives are listed and configured, set the drive's Type to "Auto" (the default setting) and see if the BIOS can figure it all out for you. Save and Exit and check whether the HDD is visible and usable in Windows. Try ONLY to READ files from it at first. If you cannot, do NOT attempt to write anything!

2. If that does not work, reboot back into BIOS Setup, and go to the HDD configuration screen. Set the HDD Type to 47 (I think that's the last type number). In this mode you are allowed to enter manually the parameters. Enter the ones needed, using what was printed on the HDD. When you're done, the Size entry should automatically update to show the correct size of your drive. Now Save and Exit to reboot. See if the drive shows up now in Windows. See if you can READ ONLY all the files. If you have any difficulty, do NOT write to it!

3. If that does not work or you cannot find parameters for your HDD, reboot into BIOS Setup again. On the opening screen, see if there is a listing for a Automatic Disk Detection utility. Some BIOS's have them and they can do a more thorough job of finding the correct set of HDD parameters. Sometimes it will find more than one possible set for a given HDD. Copy down whatever it says for the particular HDD you're working with. Now go back to the HDD configuration screen and set the HDD Type to 47. Enter manually the parameters from the detection utility (one set only, if more than one was presented). Save and Exit, and try to read the HDD again. Again, do NOT write to it! If you still cannot read all its files, shut down. IF there was a second set of parameters from the detection utility, try them. If not, quit now while the HDD has not been altered in any way.

 

[Genralkidd]

Ok, I got the hard drive to read via a direct IDE connection on some old hardware running Windows 8 Pro. Unfortunately, I did compress the hard drive at one point using DriveSpace, therefore all that shows up in Windows 8 is the "Host for C" drive which only contains a few system files required by DriveSpace. The actual contents of the drive cannot be read by Windows 8. I don't think there exists a modern version of DriveSpace which could uncompress the hard drive.

Fortunately, I was able to create an image of the hard drive though and I did manage to get it to boot in VMware. However, it's missing so many drivers and has trouble installing most of them too. Plus, VMware tools won't work properly either. So alas, I'm unable to get networking or any other means of filesharing to work at the moment despite being in a virtual machine and having access to a lot more resources now.

 

[bas94041]

Seems you now need to boot the HD into Win95 and decompress the drive onto a larger IDE hard drive.
You've tied yourself into knots for for some classic porn...

 

[Genralkidd]

Seems you now need to boot the HD into Win95 and decompress the drive onto a larger IDE hard drive.
You've tied yourself into knots for for some classic porn...

Ha ha I made the decision to compress the drive at the time because I never imagined mass storage would ever become like the way it is today. Plus. I was only like 4 years old at the time and I thought there was no way to overcome the limitations of the hard drive size so I just went with compression in order to make some more room. I've tried decompressing the drive in the virtual machine using the same tools, however I need to free up 40 MB in order for there to be enough space left for the decompression. 40 MB was quite a lot back then and I'm having difficulties finding 40 MB worth of non-essential files/programs to remove. I'm also unable to expand the virtual hard drive's space using VMware.

If I were to clone the physical HDD onto a larger IDE HDD, despite the compression, would everything still work properly? And what would happen to the new free space? Windows 95 doesn't have a partition manager like Windows Vista & later do. The extra space would most likely remain as unpartitioned.

Or am I completely approaching this wrong way? If I have a spare blank IDE HDD, if I plug that into the original PC, is Windows 95 capable of detecting that extra drive and mounting it as secondary storage where I could copy everything to it, remove the hard drive, and plug it into another computer to transfer the files like a flash drive? As you can see, I didn't plan very far ahead into the future with this computer when I was 4 years old. There was no such thing as Cloud storage or USB Mass Storage back then.

 

[bas94041]

Why not decompress the compressed data from the Win95 volume. I would simply attach an empty IDE drive as a slave and then from Win95 simply copy the needed contents to the new drive. This drive will now contain uncompressed data that you can read from other OS. The problem is that no modern OS will read the drivespace volume.

 

[Genralkidd]

Why not decompress the compressed data from the Win95 volume. I would simply attach an empty IDE drive as a slave and then from Win95 simply copy the needed contents to the new drive. This drive will now contain uncompressed data that you can read from other OS. The problem is that no modern OS will read the drivespace volume.

Yeah I'll give that a try when I get the chance to. I feel like this hard drive is about to fail any day now. It was manufactured in 1994. It's been almost 20 years... Anyways, while retrieving the files is my first priority, I'd still like to preserve this system and keep it running somehow, even if it has to be in a virtual machine.

Actually, I just realized that the only spare IDE hard drives I have lying around are all 40 GB are larger. Plus, Windows 8 won't let me format them to FAT. I'm pretty sure FAT is limited to drives around 8 GB anyways. Unfortunately, my version of Windows 95 came before the versions where FAT32 support was introduced. Therefore, even if I could format these to FAT32, Windows 95 won't recognize them. Is there any way to format this HDD to FAT or perhaps just create a small FAT partition that Windows 95 can recognize like how the Xbox 360 formats flash drives?