Using a Hard Drive Enclosure for Data Recovery
Info Level: Intermediate Presenter: Eli the Computer Guy Length of Class: 20 Minutes Tracks Data Recovery Prerequisites Computer Anatomy Introduction to Data Recovery Understanding of Windows Permissions and How to Take Ownership of Files and Folders is Recommended Purpose of Class This class teaches students how to use an External Hard Drive Enclosure to recover data from dead computers. Whether you have a laptop computer with a bad motherboard, or an old computer with so many viruses that you can no longer use it, this class will show you how to easily get the data you need. Topics Covered Types of Hard Drive Enclosure Connecting Internal Hard Drives to a PC using a Hard Drive Enclosure Class Notes Hard Drive Enclosures 4 Types — Desktop/ Laptop IDE/ SATA You can use a Desktop SATA Enclosure for a Laptop SATA Hard Drive Brand doesn’t matter… They are all pretty shoddy Recommendations Don’t use a Hard Drive Enclosure if you need to run a scan of the hard drive You may need to take Ownership of the files and folders on the hard drive to be able to access them.
January 24th, 2012 at 5:01 am
@hwarris1 Try to use Recuva (It’s free) to try to recover your data.
January 24th, 2012 at 5:37 am
Thanks for this awsome detail lesson. I have one question? I have WD External HDD kind like you showed in the video and the usb connecter on it broke to fix the problem I bought a new enclosure and tried connecting to my lapto where it was connected before it doesn’t show up on my computer. It showes on my Storage>Disk Management console as unallocated space without a dirve letter. I don’t have any option but to format to use the drive. I am trying to recover my old data….Please reply.
January 24th, 2012 at 6:11 am
Thank you Eli…….. you saved me over $70……..my local comuter shop was goin to charge me over $100 to recover my files.. so thanks again
January 24th, 2012 at 6:16 am
Boss beard!
January 24th, 2012 at 6:30 am
Eli if you see this I wanna build a computer for recording voice for a studio….people told me to get a lot of RAM but that’s it…what do you think
January 24th, 2012 at 7:07 am
Thank you Eli
January 24th, 2012 at 7:31 am
Hi Eli. Please respond. I’m thinking of removing a hard drive from my old desktop. So, like what you said, by putting that hard drive into the hard drive enclosure, it can become an external hard drive? I’m new so pardon my noob question.
January 24th, 2012 at 8:03 am
thanks man you helped alot
January 24th, 2012 at 8:32 am
Great advice. This method worked for two of my hard drives. However, I have two others that were stagnant. I could see them in the device manager but I couldn’t get drive letters for them or I would get a drive letter but when I clicked on it I just get the hourglass. I am using a Windows XP machine but I believe the two hard drives I am trying to access may have been used on Windows 98 machines. Do you think that has anything to do with my problem?
January 24th, 2012 at 8:56 am
awesome video!
I had to remove my hard disk from my old netbook and i put it into an external enclosure.
i can open up the drive but it doesn’t show all of the files(my pictures,my documents)
If i take ownership of the drive will it then show the rest of the files??
January 24th, 2012 at 9:09 am
I followed these steps to recover the data from my laptop drive using a docking station instead. The drive shows up but my computer is telling me to format the disk before I can use it. Will this erase the data from my laptop drive? Is there a way around this?
January 24th, 2012 at 9:21 am
@moonatics SOunds like your hard drive has physical problems… Most likely the circuit board is going. In my shop I would put it on a data recovery device called a Ninja and move the data bit for bit to a stable hard drive. My thing cost about $1400, but if you want to play with linux a tool called DD would do the trick
January 24th, 2012 at 10:17 am
Thanks for the help. I put my BSOD laptop drive into an enclosure, but when it is plugged into a healthy PC it still blue screens when it tries to recognize the drive. I cannot see the drive in My Computer. Is there anything I can do to see if the data is recoverable?
January 24th, 2012 at 11:15 am
Thanks for the help. I put my BSOD laptop drive into an enclosure, but when it is plugged into a healthy PC it still blue screens when it tries to recognize the drive. Is there anything I can do to see if the data is recoverable?
January 24th, 2012 at 11:55 am
@Selka92 it should work
January 24th, 2012 at 12:26 pm
what if my hp windows 7 laptop does not want to start up and i use an enclosure for recovery, would I be able to transfer my data to a windows xp?
January 24th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
@mariotwalker42 You can definitely clone a drive using an enclosure. Just remember to use Imaging or other software that allows you to do cloning. If you try to just copy/paste your drive you won’t be able to boot off of it.
January 24th, 2012 at 1:34 pm
what about cloning the drive?
January 24th, 2012 at 2:34 pm
@mariotwalker42 Nope… You can only transfer data… Things like pictures, movies and documents. Programs require Registry entries and other things that cannot easily be moved from one computer to another…. unless you have a Mac…
January 24th, 2012 at 2:43 pm
can I get my programs off this way?
January 24th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
awesome! , answered all my questions in order and clear….how this video has only 350 hits blows my mind…. keep it up
January 24th, 2012 at 3:49 pm
You don’t normally get a choice. Laptop hard drive enclosures do not require additional power, but desktop ones do need to be plugged into a wall outlet.
January 24th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
ac adapter vs no ac adapter for enclosers?
January 24th, 2012 at 4:46 pm
it sas access is denied wath do i do