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Author Topic: Getting data off old hard drive  (Read 3317 times)

Iain

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Getting data off old hard drive
« on: March 24, 2007, 06:36:33 PM »
Never tell people of your computing successes.

I've been handed an old hard drive by my father, he wants some of the contents. It's a Western Digital Caviar 31600 and is dated June '96. I've got no idea when it last ran, it had Win 95 on it.

I looked up the jumper settings online, I've got it set up as a slave to the main hard drive's master. Trouble is, if the thing is plugged in during boot up, nothing happens, computer doesn't start although the drive makes encouraging noises. I've tried getting the data using a linux livecd with the main hard drive unplugged, didn't boot, got a hard drive error. Tried plugging it in after successful boot, not recognised.

Ideas?
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RocketMan

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2007, 06:46:35 PM »
Try it as a master or slave on the secondary IDE channel. (That is, assuming you have a secondary IDE channel.  Most motherboards do, but a few do not.)
If you set it as a master, remove anything else on the secondary channel.
I suspect the presence of another bootable partition is confusing things.  Putting it on the secondary IDE channel should fix that.
Make sure that the BIOS is set to look only at the primary IDE channel during the boot sequence.
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JimMarch

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2007, 07:17:41 PM »
Worst case, get an external drive chassis that turns IDE/ATA type hard disks into USB, then plug it in externally.

I do that all the time. 

You can either buy a USB chassis with no drive, or get a USB drive, open it up and swap the guts out.  The drive should be set to "plain master".

I have a 160gig "Simpletech" drive that I use as backup, paid $100 about eight months ago:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822154318

I've had good luck getting (so far) two other drives to work in it long enough to suck data off for people.  Voided the warrantee opening it up of course but it was easy and everything went back together very smoothly.  The rest of the time it's my backup drive, works fine for that too Smiley.

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lee n. field

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2007, 03:55:34 AM »
Get an external IDE to USB enclosure.  Install the old drive in that.  See if it will mount.

Debian (and probably other Linuces) has a variant of dd called rdd that I have used to good effect to full data off unmountable partitions on failing drives.  http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/rdd.

Did one better than that Friday.  I got data off the first hard disk I ever bought, a Connor 40MB SCSI drive I bought in 1992.  It was partitioned with a proprietary variant of the Atari ST's partitioning scheme, and formatted with the ST's version of FAT.  When I started I couldn't even see the partitions.

Quote
f you set it as a master, remove anything else on the secondary channel.

Those old Western Digital drives were touchy about the jumpering.  If you'd jumper it master without a slave it wouldn't work. 
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Iain

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2007, 05:16:55 AM »
Thanks for the ideas so far.

Here's what I've achieved. Removed all optical drives and plugged each drive into different ide cables, jumper settings so that XP drive was master and old drive was slave. Boot up recognised it as

Primary master - XP drive
Primary slave - none
Secondary master - none
Secondary slave - old drive

It really tried to boot, but it hung before it got to any XP related screens. I'm now in a Ubuntu livecd, which hasn't recognised it either (initial attempt at livecd was with puppy)

fdisk -l doesn't recognise it
dmesg gives me a lot

Code:
[17179636.648000] hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found
[17179636.648000] hub 4-0:1.0: 6 ports detected
[17179636.680000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
[17179637.396000] hdb: command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
[17179637.396000] hdb: command error: error=0x50 { LastFailedSense=0x05 }
[17179637.396000] ide: failed opcode was: unknown
[17179637.396000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 1430336
[17179637.548000] hdb: command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
[17179637.548000] hdb: command error: error=0x50 { LastFailedSense=0x05 }
[17179637.548000] ide: failed opcode was: unknown
[17179637.548000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 1430336
[17179637.624000] usb 4-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
[17179637.700000] hdb: command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
[17179637.700000] hdb: command error: error=0x50 { LastFailedSense=0x05 }
[17179637.700000] ide: failed opcode was: unknown
[17179637.700000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 1430336
[17179637.768000] SCSI subsystem initialized
[17179637.772000] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[17179637.860000] hdb: command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
[17179637.860000] hdb: command error: error=0x50 { LastFailedSense=0x05 }
[17179637.860000] ide: failed opcode was: unknown
[17179637.860000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 1430336
[17179637.940000] scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[17179637.940000] usb-storage: device found at 2
[17179637.940000] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[17179637.940000] usbcore: registered new driver usb-storage
[17179637.940000] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[17179638.004000] hdb: command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
[17179638.004000] hdb: command error: error=0x50 { LastFailedSense=0x05 }
[17179638.004000] ide: failed opcode was: unknown
[17179638.004000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 1430336
[17179638.172000] hdb: command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
[17179638.172000] hdb: command error: error=0x50 { LastFailedSense=0x05 }
[17179638.172000] ide: failed opcode was: unknown
[17179638.172000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 1430336
[17179638.296000] usb 2-2: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2[17179638.472000] usbcore: registered new driver hiddev
[17179638.492000] input: PS/2+USB Mouse as /class/input/input1
[17179638.492000] input: USB HID v1.00 Mouse [PS/2+USB Mouse] on usb-0000:00:10.1-2
[17179638.492000] usbcore: registered new driver usbhid
[17179638.492000] drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: v2.6:USB HID core driver
[17179638.496000] ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 3
[17179638.520000] ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
[17179638.556000] loop: loaded (max 8 devices)
[17179638.576000] Registering unionfs 1.1.2
[17179638.628000] squashfs: version 3.0prerelease (2006/1/24) Phillip Lougher
[17179642.940000]   Vendor: Mass      Model: Storage           Rev: 0.00
[17179642.940000]   Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
[17179642.948000] Driver 'sd' needs updating - please use bus_type methods
[17179642.952000] SCSI device sda: 989184 512-byte hdwr sectors (506 MB)
[17179642.952000] usb-storage: device scan complete
[17179642.952000] sda: Write Protect is off
[17179642.952000] sda: Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
[17179642.952000] sda: assuming drive cache: write through
[17179642.964000] sd 0:0:0:0: ioctl_internal_command return code = 8000002
[17179642.964000]    : Current: sense key: No Sense
[17179642.964000]     Additional sense: No additional sense information
[17179642.964000] SCSI device sda: 989184 512-byte hdwr sectors (506 MB)
[17179642.964000] sda: Write Protect is off
[17179642.964000] sda: Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
[17179642.964000] sda: assuming drive cache: write through
[17179642.964000]  sda: sda1
[17179642.968000] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sda
[17179642.980000] sd 0:0:0:0: ioctl_internal_command return code = 8000002
[17179642.980000]    : Current: sense key: No Sense
[17179642.980000]     Additional sense: No additional sense information
[17179654.668000] sd 0:0:0:0: ioctl_internal_command return code = 8000002
[17179654.668000]    : Current: sense key: No Sense
[17179654.668000]     Additional sense: No additional sense information
[17179670.488000] via-rhine.c:v1.10-LK1.2.0-2.6 June-10-2004 Written by Donald Becker
[17179670.492000] **** SET: Misaligned resource pointer: ed321aa2 Type 07 Len 0
[17179670.492000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [ALKD] BIOS reported IRQ 0, using IRQ 23
[17179670.492000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [ALKD] enabled at IRQ 23
[17179670.492000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:12.0[A] -> Link [ALKD] -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 185
[17179670.496000] eth0: VIA Rhine II at 0x1ec00, 00:0a:e6:d0:82:d5, IRQ 185.
[17179670.496000] eth0: MII PHY found at address 1, status 0x786d advertising 01e1 Link 45e1.
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3172992
[17179691.824000] printk: 67 messages suppressed.
[17179691.824000] Buffer I/O error on device hdd, logical block 396624
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3172992
[17179691.824000] Buffer I/O error on device hdd, logical block 396624
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3173176
[17179691.824000] Buffer I/O error on device hdd, logical block 396647
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3173176
[17179691.824000] Buffer I/O error on device hdd, logical block 396647
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3173176
[17179691.824000] Buffer I/O error on device hdd, logical block 396647
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3173176
[17179691.824000] Buffer I/O error on device hdd, logical block 396647
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3173176
[17179691.824000] Buffer I/O error on device hdd, logical block 396647
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3173176
[17179691.824000] Buffer I/O error on device hdd, logical block 396647
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3173120
[17179691.824000] Buffer I/O error on device hdd, logical block 396640
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3173120
[17179691.824000] Buffer I/O error on device hdd, logical block 396640
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3173168
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3173168
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 8
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 16
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 24
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 32
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 40
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 48
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 56
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 64
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 72
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 80
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 88
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 96
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 104
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 112
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 120
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 128
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 136
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 144
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 152
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 160
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 168
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 176
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 184
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 192
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 200
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 208
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 216
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 224
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 232
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 240
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 248
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 256
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179691.824000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 0
[17179692.384000] ts: Compaq touchscreen protocol output
[17179692.528000] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
[17179692.852000] sd 0:0:0:0: ioctl_internal_command return code = 8000002
[17179692.852000]    : Current: sense key: No Sense
[17179692.852000]     Additional sense: No additional sense information
[17179693.560000] eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x45E1
[17179694.640000] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[17179694.888000] pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5
[17179695.148000] shpchp: Standard Hot Plug PCI Controller Driver version: 0.4
[17179695.376000] irda_init()
[17179695.376000] NET: Registered protocol family 23
[17179696.032000] Linux agpgart interface v0.101 (c) Dave Jones
[17179696.720000] agpgart: Detected VIA PM266/KM266 chipset
[17179696.824000] agpgart: AGP aperture is 128M @ 0xd0000000
[17179696.932000] input: PC Speaker as /class/input/input2
[17179696.940000] **** SET: Misaligned resource pointer: e8eed5c2 Type 07 Len 0
[17179696.940000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [ALKC] BIOS reported IRQ 0, using IRQ 22
[17179696.940000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [ALKC] enabled at IRQ 22
[17179696.940000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:11.5[C] -> Link [ALKC] -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 193
[17179696.940000] PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:11.5 to 64
[17179697.044000] Real Time Clock Driver v1.12
[17179697.104000] Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
[17179697.144000] FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
[17179697.212000] parport: PnPBIOS parport detected.
[17179697.212000] parport0: PC-style at 0x378 (0x778), irq 7, dma 3 [PCSPP,TRISTATE,COMPAT,ECP,DMA]
[17179699.164000] md: md driver 0.90.3 MAX_MD_DEVS=256, MD_SB_DISKS=27
[17179699.164000] md: bitmap version 4.39
[17179699.372000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3172992
[17179699.372000] printk: 59 messages suppressed.
[17179699.372000] Buffer I/O error on device hdd, logical block 396624
[17179699.372000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 3172992
[17179699.396000] sd 0:0:0:0: ioctl_internal_command return code = 8000002
[17179699.396000]    : Current: sense key: No Sense
[17179699.396000]     Additional sense: No additional sense information
[17179699.408000] sd 0:0:0:0: ioctl_internal_command return code = 8000002
[17179699.408000]    : Current: sense key: No Sense
[17179699.408000]     Additional sense: No additional sense information
[

*I've cut this down, exceeded 20,000 character post limit.
/code]

I'm not sure if any of that is relevant, I'm a total novice really.

External USB enclosure it may have to be.
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Ben

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2007, 06:17:52 AM »
I third the external USB if you can beg borrow or steal an enclosure, and plug into your Linux box. I just had a buddy ask me to fix a "broken disk". His disk was unrecognizeable on both Mac and PC, but when I stuck it in the enclosure and mounted in Linux, everything showed up and I was able to transfer to PC over my network and recover all data.

Oh- given that it's Win95: If you have any old DOS boot floppy disks laying around, you might try and plug the drive into primary IDE and boot DOS from the floppy. I once got data off an old disk that way as well. Extremely time consuming, but might work.

Something to keep in mind is that if it's an old disk your dad just had laying around, there could be physical damage, so no matter what you do, it may not mount.
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Thor

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2007, 06:38:41 AM »
Most Motherboards are set to auto detect a hdd. However, it may not be detected simply because you need to detect it in the bios. I've seen that before. Try detecting the hdd in the bios and if it detects it there, then continue the boot process.
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lee n. field

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2007, 08:56:35 AM »
Quote
hdb: command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
[17179637.396000] hdb: command error: error=0x50 { LastFailedSense=0x05 }
[17179637.396000] ide: failed opcode was: unknown
[17179637.396000] end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 1430336
[17179637.548000] hdb: command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
[17179637.548000] hdb: command error: error=0x50 { LastFailedSense=0x05 }

Not looking good. 

Though ... /dev/hdb is the slave drive on the primary ide controller, and you say you've got it as slave on the secondary.  Hmmm.   
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Brian Williams

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #8 on: March 25, 2007, 09:05:54 AM »
Your screwed, you plugged a drive in after the computer was powered up, it probably hosed the electronics in the drive and might have hosed the drive controller in the computer.
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Vodka7

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #9 on: March 25, 2007, 01:33:48 PM »
Quote from: Brian Williams on March 25, 2007, 08:05:54 AM
Your screwed, you plugged a drive in after the computer was powered up, it probably hosed the electronics in the drive and might have hosed the drive controller in the computer.

LOL, I did that once.  Was working on two computers at the same time, had a total brain fart and thought the one to my left, instead of the one to my right, was powered off.  Plugged in the IDE cable, no problem.  Plugged in the power cable, BZZZZZT.  Big arcing blue sparks all over the motherboard.  Everything shut down.

I said a silent prayer to the saint of electrical components, and sat there for a few minutes staring at the mobo contemplating exactly how pricey my stupidity was going to be.

Ended up though, somehow I got lucky.  When I finally worked up enough nerve to flick the power back on, it booted up fine, HD and all.
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Iain

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #10 on: March 25, 2007, 01:41:23 PM »
The computer is fine, I may have destroyed the old drive, but it doesn't really matter in the end. Apparently it was just some old addresses, Christmas card lists etc that he has happily done without since the computer stopped working five years ago. Like I said, don't tell people of your minor and probably flukey computer successes, they send you on wild goose chases. It might have been the hard drive that stopped working back then for all I know.

Learned some stuff in the process though.
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RocketMan

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #11 on: March 25, 2007, 01:44:56 PM »
Iain, try setting it as a single drive on the secondary, not a "master".  If you have nothing else on the secondary channel, single is good.  Master with nothing else on the channel can cornfuz things.
And like was said by others, do not plug or unplug the drive on an IDE channel with power on the system.  Power everything down.
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Iain

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #12 on: March 25, 2007, 02:03:59 PM »
Yeah, that's what I learned.

Tried your suggestion, XP drive as master on primary, old drive as master on secondary. I was hopeful for a second, it recognised it, no hard drive error message. It even got as far as the XP loading screen, but it hung there. Old drive was constantly trying to access. Thanks for the advice, best result so far.
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JimMarch

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #13 on: March 25, 2007, 03:56:45 PM »
Yeah, I was gonna say, each IDE chain (primary and secondary) has to have at least a master.

I would strongly recommend the USB drive enclosure gag.  Here's why: XP will look at USB drives MUCH later in the boot cycle, and will treat the drive fundamentally differently.
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lee n. field

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #14 on: March 25, 2007, 06:09:31 PM »
Quote
Apparently it was just some old addresses, Christmas card lists etc that he has happily done without since the computer stopped working five years ago.

Given it's age it's probably in PFS Windowworks format, which you will never find disks for.
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Thor

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #15 on: March 25, 2007, 06:18:33 PM »
I'm sure I have some 95 vintage windows Works disks around, someplace......
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Leon

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #16 on: March 25, 2007, 07:17:40 PM »
Note: I'm hardly a computer expert, and am providing only basic information.

Iain: I do not know how to interpret the errors you listed, but I would recommend you verify the following:

1. Ensure that the master drive is set up on the end of the IDE cable and the slave on an intermediate connection location.
2. If the slave setup does not work, you may want to set the jumpers to Cable Select mode (the computer recognizes the master/slave drive based on its physical position on the IDE cable)
3. Set up the old hard drive as the Primary Slave rather than Secondary. Either enter all relevant information (cylinders, heads, etc.) or set the options to Auto-Detect. The drive may not be recognized because there is no Secondary Master.

I realize this is hardly advanced knowledge, but I haven't pursued computer interests in a long time. Hopefully things will work out, since I understand professional data-mining is quite expensive.
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RocketMan

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #17 on: March 25, 2007, 09:42:27 PM »
Iain,

If it suddenly becomes a more serious and important project for your Dad, let us know.  There is a software package that runs less than a c-note, written in assembler and runs under DOS, that addresses the drive at a very low level.  It may be able to get stuff off that otherwise would remain unreadable.  I've read some good things about it.
Otherwise, it sounds like you've done about all you can under Windows without some special tools.
Good luck.

Corrected some lousy typing.
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lee n. field

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Re: Getting data off old hard drive
« Reply #18 on: March 26, 2007, 03:35:00 AM »
Quote
1. Ensure that the master drive is set up on the end of the IDE cable and the slave on an intermediate connection location.

Not at all necessary.
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