Laptop HD to Desktop PC Help!!

Hello

I have a faulty laptop harddrive that I would like to get some data from, is it possible to hook it up to a desktop PC and get the info from it? or would a HD enclosure work?

I have it hooked up at the moment and can't seem to see the C: drive of the laptop hd....it can see the recovery and HP tools partionions, just not the C: part of it.

Do I have to put it on as a slave drive? if so..how?

Its a Samsung Model # 320II

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks

 

If you can see the HP partitions you have it hooked up ok.

Take a look at it with Partition Wizard. Does it see the C: partition? If it does can you rightclick the C: partition in the graph and select Explore to see file names?

 

Thanks for the quick reply!!

Yep it sees file names. How do I recover them? with this program or another?

 

In Windows Disk Mangement how is the missing C: partition described? As unallocated or NTFS or what exactly does it say about it?

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I'm trying to think of the best way. I've had luck using partition wizard to just recover the partition and found it immediately available in Windows.

That would be Partition Recovery from the left hand menu.
Choose Full Disc.
Choose Quick Scan.
When the scan finishes check all the boxes in the window.
Click Finish.
(If no drive letter for the recovered partition)Then in the Graph right click the partition and choose assign a drive letter.
Then click the Apply button at the top of the main window.
Windows should now see the drive.

Another option would be to use the Minitool Data Recovery but this will be very slow (several hours).

I think seeing if PWizard can quickly recover the partition is worth trying.

 

it says its a ntfs

heres a snapshot of it....its the D:

 

Thank you so much for your help....greatly appreciated....going to go with the Minitool data one as I would rather just save the files i want, just going to let it run over night.

i'll let you know how i make out tomorrow.

Another question though....do you happen to know of any formatting programs that i can use to wipe the HD right clean after im finished with it? I have to send the HD back to HP so I'd rather have absolutely nothing on it. don't want them to be able to see what i had on it, as there are some personal things on there.

Thanks again

 

Actually it is the E: drive that you want to recover. D: is only 199mb so it is probably a boot partition for Vista or Win7.

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Assuming it is E: that we want to recover it is already seen by Windows but it can't see any files so I think using PW partition recovery should work.

Try partition recovery and do the full disc and quick scan. When the scan finishes it will show you a list of partitions. In that list the E: partition should have some used space rather than being empty like Disk Management shows. If it is showing as having used space enough to be the files you want then check all the boxes in the window and click Finish.

That should take you back to the graph view. If the recovered partition already has a drive letter then just hit the Apply button. [I'm unsure if the Apply button is necessary so if it is greyed out then just close PW and see if Windows sees the files]

 

I can't tell you the best HD eraser. Active kill disk or Dban are often mentioned.

Since your personal data is only on E: and or D: you could use CCleaner and under the tools menu is a Wiper function. You select the partition you want to wipe and then how many passes you want to make in overwriting. One to 3 passes is plenty for your needs. Just make sure you select the correct partitions since you will be running it from a machine with two HDs.

 

I have recovered everything I need with the mini tool....took about 3 hours but I didn't mind.
Thanks for the help!!!!

Now as for the formatting with CCleaner. When I try to erase it, I get an error... Data error (cyclic redundancy check) So I think I'll use either the Active kill disk or DBan.

Thanks again

 

I think either of those programs will work, I just haven't used them.

The cyclic redundancy check is probably due to a problem with the HD. If you have a problem with those programs you could use PW to delete the existing large partition on that drive and then create a new one and (fully not quick) format it. Then use CCleaner to try to wipe it. It may be able to do it after a creation and new initial formatting.