PC not booting with old IDE(non-boot) drive attached

[Frazman00]

Hi,

I purchased an IDE to SATA adapter today to access files etc from an OLD PC's HDD (Model: Hitachi HDS728080PLAT20 from 2005). ADAPTER: https://www.jaycar.com.au/ide-to-sata-hdd-upgrade-panel/p/XC4970

I attached the drive no worries, turned on the PC and went straight into the BIOS. 

The old HDD showed up, alongside my usual storage drive (I have a 960EVO NVMe OS drive, and seagate HDD storage drive).

However, when exiting the bios to go into windows, it was taking ages, with the windows boot loading circle going around and around with no avail. I proceeded to shutdown the PC using the case power button and remove the old HDD. I then booted the PC and except for a 'windows did not shutdown properly' message (which is obviously to be expected when turning off PC during boot / loading) it booted fine.

So obviously the old HDD (which was an OS drive, with windows XP on) is interfering with loading windows. 

 

ANY IDEAS?

 

TLDR; added old drive to new PC to get old files off, PC wont load windows when old drive is connected (windows loading circle goes on forever)

 

Cheers.

[AskTJ]

Take it to a drive specialist. You might damage the drive using that adapter. Also, some adapters can be really crappy so that can be the cause.

[Frazman00]

8 minutes ago, AskTJ said:

Take it to a drive specialist. You might damage the drive using that adapter. Also, some adapters can be really crappy so that can be the cause.

The adapter wasn't a super cheap one off ebay or anything, it was bought in person here: https://www.jaycar.com.au/ide-to-sata-hdd-upgrade-panel/p/XC4970

 

EDIT: accidentally said drive, meant adapter ^

[Radium_Angel]

18 minutes ago, Frazman00 said:

Hi,

I purchased an IDE to SATA adapter today to access files etc from an OLD PC's HDD (Model: Hitachi HDS728080PLAT20 from 2005). ADAPTER: https://www.jaycar.com.au/ide-to-sata-hdd-upgrade-panel/p/XC4970

I attached the drive no worries, turned on the PC and went straight into the BIOS. 

The old HDD showed up, alongside my usual storage drive (I have a 960EVO NVMe OS drive, and seagate HDD storage drive).

However, when exiting the bios to go into windows, it was taking ages, with the windows boot loading circle going around and around with no avail. I proceeded to shutdown the PC using the case power button and remove the old HDD. I then booted the PC and except for a 'windows did not shutdown properly' message (which is obviously to be expected when turning off PC during boot / loading) it booted fine.

So obviously the old HDD (which was an OS drive, with windows XP on) is interfering with loading windows. 

 

ANY IDEAS?

 

TLDR; added old drive to new PC to get old files off, PC wont load windows when old drive is connected (windows loading circle goes on forever)

 

Cheers.

If the old drive is suspect in health, Windows will do that as it tries to scan the drive for contents, etc.

The adaptor isn't at fault, the IDE drive most likely is (I did data recovery for a living, this was a common issue)

[Frazman00]

18 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

If the old drive is suspect in health, Windows will do that as it tries to scan the drive for contents, etc.

The adaptor isn't at fault, the IDE drive most likely is (I did data recovery for a living, this was a common issue)

Well, the health of the drive was a worry, as it was pulled from a build that had it's PSU's 'voltage switch' accidentally switched when still on at the wall (woops) many years ago (which made the PSU pop/spark and rendered it dead). However, I've heard that HDD's are one of the more hardy components and likely to survive such a thing.

So, If the drive's health is the reason, why would it show up in the bios?

Also, I just tried booting again, but this time using boot options (F12) and selecting my NVMe drive. It said Automatic Repair and started to do it's thing, but then bluescreened on me (didn't have time to capture error code).

What would you suggest to do??

 

P.S. Under the drive in the bios, it said that hot swapping was not supported on the drive (unsurprisingly), so I couldn't boot up normally into windows and then plug the HDD in like i would a USB or something, right? 

 

EDIT: Also, the HDD's jumper was set to MASTER already. I kept it at this, because I know that people have had issues when their IDE HDD is set to slave when using such an adapter... could this be the cause of the problem? should it be set to slave because it's not the boot drive?

 

[VivekK]

set the highest drive priority for your NVMe and lowest for your old drive from your BIOS 

[Tabs]

13 minutes ago, Frazman00 said:

Well, the health of the drive was a worry, as it was pulled from a build that had it's PSU's 'voltage switch' accidentally switched when still on at the wall (woops) many years ago (which made the PSU pop/spark and rendered it dead). However, I've heard that HDD's are one of the more hardy components and likely to survive such a thing.

So, If the drive's health is the reason, why would it show up in the bios?

Also, I just tried booting again, but this time using boot options (F12) and selecting my NVMe drive. It said Automatic Repair and started to do it's thing, but then bluescreened on me (didn't have time to capture error code).

What would you suggest to do??

 

P.S. Under the drive in the bios, it said that hot swapping was not supported on the drive (unsurprisingly), so I couldn't boot up normally into windows and then plug the HDD in like i would a USB or something, right? 

 

 

This is why I always recommend people use USB to Sata and USB to IDE adapters for trying to pull data off a presumed-working drive. That way you can connect it when the machine is running and you don't have to mess with internal headers or potentially bootlock your system when an old disk is installed. 

 

For what it's worth, the problem you're experiencing is because you're running a new platform. In order for the drive to be accessible, you'll need to be running your machine in Legacy mode. Legacy mode won't work with your 960 (or any nvme drive), and it also won't allow your current AHCI-based install to work if you change it now.

 

Your machine is fundamentally incompatible with an IDE disk without major reconfiguration. 

[userzero]

Yes check boot priority.

 

In future try to use external USB caddy's and adapters rather than putting it inside your own PC. It makes life so much easier when you work with a lot of hard drives.

[Frazman00]

8 minutes ago, VivekK said:

set the highest drive priority for your NVMe and lowest for your old drive from your BIOS 

6 minutes ago, userzero said:

Yes check boot priority.

 

In future try to use external USB caddy's and adapters rather than putting it inside your own PC. It makes life so much easier when you work with a lot of hard drives.

My 960EVO is the only boot option, so would the PC not just interpret the old HDD as a storage/data drive, as it does my seagate one? 

(Also, the reason I chose an internal adapter over a USB one was the transfer speed and the fact that I would have to open my PC to give the IDE drive molex power anyway, as the ones I could find locally didnt have external power sources).

[userzero]

Transfer speed of IDE is going to be bad no matter what way you plumb it so it doesn't make any sense, IMO of course, to mount it internally.

 

Every IDE specific USB adapter includes a main adapter. You do not need to open your PC.

 

Anyway, you'd have better chances of the drive popping up if you had it mounted in a powered caddy. Shame IDE isn't hot swap or i'd say plug it in when you're on your desktop.

[Frazman00]

12 minutes ago, Tabs said:

 

This is why I always recommend people use USB to Sata and USB to IDE adapters for trying to pull data off a presumed-working drive. That way you can connect it when the machine is running and you don't have to mess with internal headers or potentially bootlock your system when an old disk is installed. 

 

For what it's worth, the problem you're experiencing is because you're running a new platform. In order for the drive to be accessible, you'll need to be running your machine in Legacy mode. Legacy mode won't work with your 960 (or any nvme drive), and it also won't allow your current AHCI-based install to work if you change it now.

 

Your machine is fundamentally incompatible with an IDE disk without major reconfiguration. 

So does this mean that I am definitely unable to see the data on my old HDD on my machine?

I thought that as the adapter converts IDE to (AHCI compatable) SATA, that I would be able to plug it in and view it in windows explorer?

[userzero]

Yes, in a caddy it will work. I sling hundreds of IDE and SATA drives in my caddy's every day

[Frazman00]

5 minutes ago, userzero said:

Transfer speed of IDE is going to be bad no matter what way you plumb it so it doesn't make any sense, IMO of course, to mount it internally.

 

Every IDE specific USB adapter includes a main adapter. You do not need to open your PC.

 

Anyway, you'd have better chances of the drive popping up if you had it mounted in a powered caddy. Shame IDE isn't hot swap or i'd say plug it in when you're on your desktop.

Oh, I see... I was mislead regarding the transfer speed. See related: 

 

4 minutes ago, userzero said:

Yes, in a caddy it will work. I sling hundreds of IDE and SATA drives in my caddy's every day

But is it possible for it to work using my current adapter? I only need it to work one time, just to get old pictures etc off of of it, then it's getting scrapped.

I'd rather find a way to get this one to work than buying another usb one, just to use it once.

[userzero]

Yes but you'll still need to provide power to the IDE drive remember.

[Frazman00]

1 minute ago, userzero said:

Yes but you'll still need to provide power to the IDE drive remember.

I don't understand what you mean. The IDE drive does already have power? I have my current adapter hooked up to the PSU with SATA power, and the adapter is connected to the IDE drive using a molex female. The driving is spinning up fine when i turn the PC on. See adapter: https://www.jaycar.com.au/ide-to-sata-hdd-upgrade-panel/p/XC4970

[userzero]

5 minutes ago, Frazman00 said:

I don't understand what you mean. The IDE drive does already have power? I have my current adapter hooked up to the PSU with SATA power, and the adapter is connected to the IDE drive using a molex female. The driving is spinning up fine when i turn the PC on. See adapter: https://www.jaycar.com.au/ide-to-sata-hdd-upgrade-panel/p/XC4970

It has power if it's connected to your PSU yes. But using that adapter externally, as I presumed you referred to, would still mean providing power to the IDE drive.

 

It's going to be a Frankenstein job but yes, if you already have the drive powered up, and the adapter connected, then you'd just need a USB>SATA cable. They are a few pounds/dollars on Amazon and are a great investment for future. In fact, do yourself a favour and buy a powered multi caddy USB 3.0 thing that can accommodate multiple drives and connectors. Then never worry about opening your PC again  

[Frazman00]

33 minutes ago, userzero said:

It has power if it's connected to your PSU yes. But using that adapter externally, as I presumed you referred to, would still mean providing power to the IDE drive.

 

It's going to be a Frankenstein job but yes, if you already have the drive powered up, and the adapter connected, then you'd just need a USB>SATA cable. They are a few pounds/dollars on Amazon and are a great investment for future. In fact, do yourself a favour and buy a powered multi caddy USB 3.0 thing that can accommodate multiple drives and connectors. Then never worry about opening your PC again  

OK i'll keep that in mind... 

So are you saying that there's NO WAY I can get the drive working with the adapter plugged directly into the motherboard? ...

 

P.S. Also, the SATA Mode selection in the bios is set to Intel RST Premium with Intel Optane acceleration, and not AHCI... Could this be the issue?? I thought of changing it to AHCI to try, however I also have a seagate HDD and dont want to risk damaging it if i use the AHCI mode when it's always been used in the aforementioned RST mode... What do u think? Seems a bad idea tbh but i was just considering posibilities.

[userzero]

You won't change any data by changing SATA mode selection so yes try it. You can always put it back, don't be scared.

 

I cannot say for sure why it isn't working internally, I'm telling you the correct practice to access hard drives externally.

[Frazman00]

1 hour ago, userzero said:

You won't change any data by changing SATA mode selection so yes try it. You can always put it back, don't be scared.

 

I cannot say for sure why it isn't working internally, I'm telling you the correct practice to access hard drives externally.

I just changed the sata mode selection under peripherals in the BIOS and now the pc isn't booting!

Even when the old drive isn't connected! The 'automatic repair' and diagnosing PC ended in a 'your pc didn't shutdown correctly' so i restarted with the onscreen prompt and it bluescreened saying something along the lines of 'incomplete boot drive' ... this was after changing it back from ahci ( which didnt work with the old drive, so i changed it back) to Intel rapid storage technology...

I'm worried that changing the Sata mode and then back has done something to my OS drive??? It's not booting! Help!

[userzero]

Nah. It may have highlighted an already existing boot sector problem but it won't have changed anything, I told you that.

 

Try putting it back to how it was originally, boot up, keep tapping F8, select last known good configuration. If that fails then you can try a startup repair or whatever.

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, Frazman00 said:

I just changed the sata mode selection under peripherals in the BIOS and now the pc isn't booting!

Even when the old drive isn't connected! The 'automatic repair' and diagnosing PC ended in a 'your pc didn't shutdown correctly' so i restarted with the onscreen prompt and it bluescreened saying something along the lines of 'incomplete boot drive' ... this was after changing it back from ahci ( which didnt work with the old drive, so i changed it back) to Intel rapid storage technology...

I'm worried that changing the Sata mode and then back has done something to my OS drive??? It's not booting! Help!

No damage done, Windows was looking to boot via configuration "X" and you gave it "Y" so it died on you.

Set it back to "X", you'll be fine

[Radium_Angel]

4 hours ago, Frazman00 said:

Well, the health of the drive was a worry, as it was pulled from a build that had it's PSU's 'voltage switch' accidentally switched when still on at the wall (woops) many years ago (which made the PSU pop/spark and rendered it dead). However, I've heard that HDD's are one of the more hardy components and likely to survive such a thing.

So, If the drive's health is the reason, why would it show up in the bios?

Also, I just tried booting again, but this time using boot options (F12) and selecting my NVMe drive. It said Automatic Repair and started to do it's thing, but then bluescreened on me (didn't have time to capture error code).

What would you suggest to do??

 

P.S. Under the drive in the bios, it said that hot swapping was not supported on the drive (unsurprisingly), so I couldn't boot up normally into windows and then plug the HDD in like i would a USB or something, right? 

 

EDIT: Also, the HDD's jumper was set to MASTER already. I kept it at this, because I know that people have had issues when their IDE HDD is set to slave when using such an adapter... could this be the cause of the problem? should it be set to slave because it's not the boot drive?

 

Also, if you can, try setting the IDE drive (it's a jumper on the drive itself) to "Cable Select"

I have an external drive bay, attached via USB, and any time I add an IDE drive to it, they must be in Cable Select configuration or the system won't see them

[Frazman00]

12 hours ago, userzero said:

Nah. It may have highlighted an already existing boot sector problem but it won't have changed anything, I told you that.

 

Try putting it back to how it was originally, boot up, keep tapping F8, select last known good configuration. If that fails then you can try a startup repair or whatever.

OK. When i tried to boot in ahci(to see if that worked with the old drive) it did it's usual perpetual loading circle, so i shutdown using the case power button, changed it back to intel RST then all this started happening... 

 

Spamming F8 didn't do anything...

 

i tried picking the boot drive in 'save and exit' in bios. It started to do automatic repair/diagnosis, but it didnt boot, giving me the attached error. 

 

ANY IDEAS?? 

 

Went into advanced settings and booted in safe mode - safe mode worked! Horay!

So there must be an issue with the normal boot, as @userzero suggested. What should i do to fix usual boot? 

A system restore perhaps??

(Just checked - Latest restore point is only 2 days ago, so i'd be fine with that if it would help...)

 

EDIT: after shutting down in safe mode, the PC booted normally! I then shut it down and tried again and it worked! The issue seems to have resolved itself once i booted in safemode  So I think it's all god now!

 

Thank you very much for all the help, it is greatly appreciated!