[Mecha124]

Hi i just read the other topic about doing a hard drive transfer. I too have an old hard drive from a dead computer i would like to get info off of. It is a 40G hd running xp, I did intall it on my new computer also running xp, as a slave and it wanted me to format the drive, without doing that i could not find it anywhere on the system. How do i get the info without fomatting the old drive, i am missing a years worth of my life on this bugger and it is driving me nuts.
Thanks Michele

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More than likely you have lost the partition information on that drive. That is why windows wants to format it. There are a couple of methods to get the data off the drive. One way is to use a Knoppix Live cd. Heres a website on doing this. I have had to use this one time but you will notice that knoppix is already up to a 5.0 version. The newer versions will still do the same as the old version stated in the website.

http://www.shockfami...cedric/knoppix/

Something else you can try is this freeware recovery software. Caveat Emptor here as i have not found a suitable problem computer to try it on.

http://www.smartpcto...ery/index1.html

Good luck to you.

SRX660

[SRX660]

More than likely you have lost the partition information on that drive. That is why windows wants to format it. There are a couple of methods to get the data off the drive. One way is to use a Knoppix Live cd. Heres a website on doing this. I have had to use this one time but you will notice that knoppix is already up to a 5.0 version. The newer versions will still do the same as the old version stated in the website.

http://www.shockfami...cedric/knoppix/

Something else you can try is this freeware recovery software. Caveat Emptor here as i have not found a suitable problem computer to try it on.

http://www.smartpcto...ery/index1.html

Good luck to you.

SRX660

[Mecha124]

OKay, Thanks for the info. I have looked at both of the things you told me to and i am still not sure what to do. The computer makes a sound when turned on, but all the screen says is no sgnal check all connections. So even it i do get one of the programs to help me get my old stuff out, i won't be able to see it running. Like i said before i can put the hard drive into my new computer, would i then run the program in the new computer to get the info. I am a little confused, sorry to be a pain in the butt. Thanks again for the response.
Michele

[SRX660]

If you can make a Knoppix bootable cdrom you can see if it will boot up and show anything at all on the old hard drive. If it cannot even see the drive the drive is dead anyway. Even with a error meassage about the file systemon the old drive from the Knoppix OS you may be able to see the files on the old hard drive and perhaps copy them over to your new drive.

Yes you will do both suggestions on your new computer as it makes it easier to do.

SRX660

[chrismikehead]

I am working on a PC for someone, where Norton GoBack has created a "permanent loop" situation. GoBack always comes up at bootup, safe mode bombs out, can't do a thing. I have used a spare drive to get XP up and running, and added in old drive as slave in order to copy files. However, XP doesn't give the old drive a letter. I can use the disk manager to see the drive, but I can't do anything to it but delete the partition. Is there any way to change this, or am I looking to use the same software mentioned previously?

Chris