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PC locks up when using Sabrent HD Enclosure.

I have a bad HD that is recognized by the BIOS when I boot from it but it won't load the OS. I want to pull the data from it to another drive. if I slave it is not recognized so I tried using an external enclosure. I bought a Sabrent ECS-STU35K and hooked the IDE drive to it. When I plug the USB into my PC or Laptop, they both freeze when I go to Windows Explore, My Computer or Disk Manager to try and see the drive. As soon as I unplug the USB, the windows load immediately.

Any idea why? Do I need special drivers? My PC is XP Home and my laptop is Vista Ult 64. The drive says it works w/ XP and Vista but I can't get it to.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks.

Anwar Saiah

What are the details of your HD!?
W.D. Seagate HITACHI ..?
Did you try to set it's jumpers as slave when you wanted to connect it as a slave?
Why do u want to retreive the data? Are you trying to transfer the system to another HD or just back up
documents and so?

I think USB is stuck because HD is bad. I think you should try retreiving data from DOS
or use ghost startup disk.

vsllc

ASKER

It's a Western Digital. The jumpers were set as slave. I need the data files that are on the drive. All I want to do is get the files, I don't need the OS. I have another working OS.

How would I retrieve it from DOS? I just downloaded Knoppix to boot from. I'm hoping if I set bad HD as primary and boot off Knoppix CD I'll be able to get the data. Is this the same as you were suggesting with ghost startup disk?

vsllc

ASKER

OK. I put another drive in the ext device and it worked w/o issue. So the question is, if I can see the bad HD when I try to boot from it but not when I slave or connect through ext device, what is the best option to try and get to this data?

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Anwar Saiah

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dbrunton

If you put in a USB enclosure it should be as Master.

If your computer boots with the drive as slave and the BIOS sees it then try the following.

Try GetDataBack http://www.runtime.org/ Free to try. If it sees the missing files you pay for full functionality.

Also look at PCInspector http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm and Recuva http://www.recuva.com/

Both are free.

I'd try GetDataBack. If it sees your files then try the free ones. If they work you save money.

vsllc

ASKER

In the enclosure it is set as Master. Unfortunately BIOS does not see it as a slave only when it is primary.

I have other HD's I can slave. Is it possible to use an external USB with DOS option or no?

SOLUTION

dbrunton

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vsllc

ASKER

The CD hookup booted and showed the bad HD. Unfortunately, the disk can't be read. I tried a series of data retrieval programs and all came up blank or errored when trying to read the disk. I'm throwing in the towel on this one. Thanks for the help.