Ancient harddrive (1998) recovery possible?

[neolithic3]

I use this. The SATA power cable is a piece (doesn't have the orange wire, which nearly every SATA device needs nowadays). but for IDE drives it works great.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-2-0-to-IDE-SATA-S-ATA-2-5-3-5-HD-HDD-Adapter-Cable-/180550148600?pt=US_Drive_Cables_dapters&hash=item2a09a0a1f8

I bought one of those today and tried it. It didn't work. I dont think that the harddrive even started spinning, and my computer couldn't recogize it as a drive. I tried another one (a newer SATA drive) and it worked.

[flibberdipper]

I bought one of those today and tried it. It didn't work. I dont think that the harddrive even started spinning, and my computer couldn't recogize it as a drive. I tried another one (a newer SATA drive) and it worked.

Did it have a seperate brick for power? If it did, try it with a Molex connector in your computer.

[Calavera]

I see you're kind of ignoring the ribbon cable method - I know it's a hassle but it worked for me so why not?

If it's not even spinning then there's definitely something wrong with the power delivery, make sure the molex gets power, if it works on another drive (that same molex) then I think you should bring it to a professional, it'd be your only option.

[neolithic3]

I see you're kind of ignoring the ribbon cable method - I know it's a hassle but it worked for me so why not?

If it's not even spinning then there's definitely something wrong with the power delivery, make sure the molex gets power, if it works on another drive (that same molex) then I think you should bring it to a professional, it'd be your only option.

Sorry, I'm not meaning to ignore your suggestion. But to be honest, I am fairly clueless with computers so the thought of getting into the case and trying to use a cable that I don't even know if I have and plug it into whatever it needs to get plugged into freaks me out. It's not that I would find it a hassle so much as I literally have almost no idea what to do (and I just bought a brand new PC and am scared of screwing it up somehow). That's really why I tried the method I did - it seemed simple and impossible to foul up.

[emachado99]

Well I am not gonna jump to a conclusion but if nothing is really working for you, and the drive is from 1998 I think it may be safe to say the drive might be dead... I am not 100% sure but thats what it sounds like to me.

[Panda689]

Sorry, I'm not meaning to ignore your suggestion. But to be honest, I am fairly clueless with computers so the thought of getting into the case and trying to use a cable that I don't even know if I have and plug it into whatever it needs to get plugged into freaks me out. It's not that I would find it a hassle so much as I literally have almost no idea what to do (and I just bought a brand new PC and am scared of screwing it up somehow). That's really why I tried the method I did - it seemed simple and impossible to foul up.

Don't worry about it I'd love to see a Z87 mobo with a IDE connections on it. The drive is most likely dead and will have to be taken too a data recovery service to get those photos back.

 

Couple dumb question though. Did you make sure the 4pin molex plug was plugged in. If it was, was it seated all the way?

[neolithic3]

Don't worry about it I'd love to see a Z87 mobo with a IDE connections on it. The drive is most likely dead and will have to be taken too a data recovery service to get those photos back.

 

Couple dumb question though. Did you make sure the 4pin molex plug was plugged in. If it was, was it seated all the way?

Yes, I plugged it in as far as it could go. I found it to be a really really tight fit, I had to push it very hard to get it in, but I think it was in all the way. I have a bad feeling the drive is probably dead, so I guess I will check into some recovery options and see if it is worth whatever they charge.

 

Thanks a lot everyone for the information and advice

[Calavera]

Yes, I plugged it in as far as it could go. I found it to be a really really tight fit, I had to push it very hard to get it in, but I think it was in all the way. I have a bad feeling the drive is probably dead, so I guess I will check into some recovery options and see if it is worth whatever they charge.

 

Thanks a lot everyone for the information and advice

The ribbon cable method is really easy, just like you plug in the 24 pin power cable into the motherboard, only this is very old and you're not familiar with it.

[Tr3vor]

You might have what is called "stiction", where the heads become adhered to the platters. Try forcefully rotating the drive along the same axis the discs would spin and then try to power it on.

 

It is very odd for an old drive that has been sitting there doing nothing to just not start up.

 

Does it make any noise whatsoever when powered on? If it does spin up at all, check the jumpers and make sure that the drive is set to "master" and not "slave". 

[neolithic3]

You might have what is called "stiction", where the heads become adhered to the platters. Try forcefully rotating the drive along the same axis the discs would spin and then try to power it on.

 

It is very odd for an old drive that has been sitting there doing nothing to just not start up.

 

Does it make any noise whatsoever when powered on? If it does spin up at all, check the jumpers and make sure that the drive is set to "master" and not "slave". 

Hi Trevor,

 

It doesn't seem to make any noise at all when plugged in to the contraption I bought in order to try and trsnfer the data to my new PC. I feel like it maybe made a small "click" type sound the very first time I plugged it in and then nothing. I'm a noob - based on the photos I posted at the start of this thread, where would I do those things (the setting a jumper and the rotating)?

[Tr3vor]

Hi Trevor,

 

It doesn't seem to make any noise at all when plugged in to the contraption I bought in order to try and trsnfer the data to my new PC. I feel like it maybe made a small "click" type sound the very first time I plugged it in and then nothing. I'm a noob - based on the photos I posted at the start of this thread, where would I do those things (the setting a jumper and the rotating)?

 

I'm also pretty sure that USB won't be able to output the necessary power to spin up older hard drives. Have you connected the hard drive to the power supply inside your computer? Have you tried to plug in just the power and not the IDE connector? maybe there is something wrong with the ide connector that prevents it from starting. also when powering the drive on, make sure there is no metal or carpet or anything on the underside of the drive, the exposed PCB is vulnerable to anything conductive really. 

 

From the perspective from the 2nd picture you posted, remove the horizontal jumper, that doesn't need to be there. I have quite a few of these old Maxtors and that jumper doesn't do anything, and might be a problem. The only one you need to worry about is the vertical jumper on the very left. With the jumper in place it makes the drive "master", which is what you want, so leave that one there.

 

if you can't think of anything else to do you could try the forcefully rotating thing to see if the drive suffers from stiction. From the perspecive of your first photo, you would rotate it clockwise and counter clockwise with a bit of force to try and free the read/write heads from the platters inside the drive.

 

Hope this helps.