Suggestion for Hard Drive crash data recovery

[NightHawk]

Back in June 2008 I had a computer crash, whereby my Windows Operating System would not load, not even into 'Safe Mode'. 

The full topic can be read here - http://www.flowergenie.co.uk/ideas/forum/index.php/topic,641.0.html

At this time I was given a suggestion by Eric (Palustris) and George (ideasguy) on the Forum, to use a gadget called an 'Icy Box', which enables you to externally attach a hard drive to your PC to access files.

The item in question is also known as a Hard Drive Enclosure, and is just an empty case.  You need to make sure it is compatible with your existing Hard Drive.  In my instance it is a 3.5 inch IDE.  There are many other versions available.

You put your 'problem' hard drive inside it, where there is an interface connector cable and a power cable, replicating the connection the drive would have inside your PC.
A power adaptor is usually supplied along with a USB cable.  Once connected to your working PC, this then works as an external Hard Drive, and can be accessed through Windows Explorer.

You can also use the HDD Enclosure to put a new Hard Drive inside and use this as an additional storage device.

Anyway, I was not able to purchase an 'Icy Box' model as my local computer store did not have one in stock.  I had a choice of several other makes though, and ended up with one called 'Hiyatek', priced at £29.99.  Comes with power adaptor and USB cable.

I fit my 'crashed' hard drive inside it, connected it all up, and attached it to my Desktop PC.  Within seconds I had accessed all the files on my old drive.  My problem appears to have mainly been a corrupted Operating System, as opposed to physical damage to the drive itself.  This method bypasses the Operating System installed on the old drive which is why you can just view the stored files that were on it.

I was extremely pleased I decided to give this bit of equipment a try, because after looking through the files, I found some documents that I had not backed up before the crash occurred. 

I thought I was pretty much up-to-date with computer technology, but I had to confess that I had not heard of this item before.

My thanks go to Eric and George for making this suggestion. 

It is something to consider if this happens to you.  This is the easiest solution of attaching an external hard drive to your PC.

Laurie.

[Palustris]

Brilliant. I am so pleased for you. AND the nice thing is, you now have a spare hard drive storage facility. I use it to keep all my photos on.

[NightHawk]

Thanks for that Eric.

George uses his to store photos on as well.

It's such an easy system to use, when you can just drag and drop files you want to backup straight onto the spare drive. 

Let's hope more people read this and see the advantage of using something so simple.  I'm definitely a convert anyway. 

Laurie.