Results 1 to 15 of 15

Thread: Data recovery.

  1. #1
    Senior Member docusk's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Reading England
    Posts
    880

    Data recovery.

    A friend has asked me to check with you if there is any way he (we) can recover data from the Hard Disk from his Compaq laptop.
    I got the drive out and I have a little gadget/adaptor which is designed to read 2.5" drives into an ordinary IDE bay. I put the drive into an external box in place of the normal IDE drive that lives there, and all seemed OK except that there were 2 pins in the 2.5" drive connection that were left over.
    Is there another way of connecting the laptop drive? His wedding and honeymoon photos are on that drive!
    I could plug the IDE end of the adaptor into a spare IDE connection on another PC because the way I've just tried - external drive - didn't work. The platters sounded as if they were spinning and the green light came on in the housing but the PC didn't pick up anything from the USB connection.
    Failing that, what can he do about data recovery?
    Not my usual cry for help but he's cut up about losing his photos, understandably.
    Cheers and happy 09/09/09
    docusk
    Refurbished Computer.
    Gigabyte EP32-DS3L MOBO; 4Gb SDRAM; Intel EP8200 Core2Duo 2.6 CPU; HIPER PSU; Arctic Cool Freezer7Pro cooler; CD-R/RW; 2 X Western Digital 500 Gb SATA HDD plus Seagate 250 Gb HDD plus usual items. Windows 7 home premium.

  2. #2
    Administrator Steve R Jones's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 1999
    Location
    Largo, FL.
    Posts
    5,275
    there were 2 pins in the 2.5" drive connection that were left over
    You should double check that. There shouldn't be any pins left over.
    "Vegetarians live up to nine years longer than the rest of us...Nine horrible, worthless, baconless years."

  3. #3
    Senior Member docusk's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Reading England
    Posts
    880
    Steve,
    Here are some pics of the adapter. I have used it before with no spare pins so maybe Compaq use different config.
    What am I looking for in MS Knowledge base?
    docusk

    Hope the attachments came up OK.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Refurbished Computer.
    Gigabyte EP32-DS3L MOBO; 4Gb SDRAM; Intel EP8200 Core2Duo 2.6 CPU; HIPER PSU; Arctic Cool Freezer7Pro cooler; CD-R/RW; 2 X Western Digital 500 Gb SATA HDD plus Seagate 250 Gb HDD plus usual items. Windows 7 home premium.

  4. #4
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 1999
    Location
    Schuylkill Haven, PA 1797
    Posts
    12,786
    Those two end rows of pins are used by some laptops to set master/slave/CS just like they do in a desktop system.

    They will not be needed in your system.

  5. #5
    Senior Member docusk's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Reading England
    Posts
    880
    Thanks Sterling. Always in the right spot at the right time!
    Nighty night.
    docusk
    Refurbished Computer.
    Gigabyte EP32-DS3L MOBO; 4Gb SDRAM; Intel EP8200 Core2Duo 2.6 CPU; HIPER PSU; Arctic Cool Freezer7Pro cooler; CD-R/RW; 2 X Western Digital 500 Gb SATA HDD plus Seagate 250 Gb HDD plus usual items. Windows 7 home premium.

  6. #6
    Senior Member docusk's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Reading England
    Posts
    880
    Still no luck. I could hear the disk runnning in the external drive but it wasn't picked up in My Computer. I then found an old Dell latitude languishing in the cupboard and stuffed the hard drive into that only to find that the thing had been so long out of use that I was asked for a password to open it up. Never even knew there was one! So that little ploy didn't work.
    Can anyone tell me if there's a jumper like there is in a PC which removes the password somewhere inside a laptop. (bet you say no) and then I can try to get the photos off.
    I've told him that you guys are the absolute bees knees.
    docusk
    Refurbished Computer.
    Gigabyte EP32-DS3L MOBO; 4Gb SDRAM; Intel EP8200 Core2Duo 2.6 CPU; HIPER PSU; Arctic Cool Freezer7Pro cooler; CD-R/RW; 2 X Western Digital 500 Gb SATA HDD plus Seagate 250 Gb HDD plus usual items. Windows 7 home premium.

  7. #7
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 1999
    Location
    Schuylkill Haven, PA 1797
    Posts
    12,786
    Is it a BIOS password or a hard drive password?

    What model number Dell laptop is it?

    Does it have a floppy drive or a CDROM drive?

  8. #8
    Senior Member docusk's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Reading England
    Posts
    880
    I don't know what the p/w is. The machine is a Latitude CPi running (I think ) XP pro.
    It has both CD & FDD, CD is always in there but the FDD needs to be docked in place of the CD.
    I'm just wondering, in among my dusty old CD s I have something called "Password recovery bootable CD" and another - possibly the same content - "Password recovery boot CD plus contents for a floppy in the same CD and can be transferred."
    How can I find which type of p/word it needs?
    Thanks docusk
    Refurbished Computer.
    Gigabyte EP32-DS3L MOBO; 4Gb SDRAM; Intel EP8200 Core2Duo 2.6 CPU; HIPER PSU; Arctic Cool Freezer7Pro cooler; CD-R/RW; 2 X Western Digital 500 Gb SATA HDD plus Seagate 250 Gb HDD plus usual items. Windows 7 home premium.

  9. #9
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 1999
    Location
    Schuylkill Haven, PA 1797
    Posts
    12,786
    Most programs like you mentioned is for recovering passwords for Windows, not BIOS passwords.

    Toshiba Tecra laptops had a very nice feature where you could buy/make a loop back plug for the parallel printer port that you plugged in and turned the laptop on. The plug would instantly reset the BIOS to factory defaults and erase any passwords.

    You can try pulling the laptop battery out and leaving it sit for a few days (assuming the CMOS battery is low in voltage. That may drain the CMOS battery enough to reset the BIOS.

  10. #10
    Senior Member docusk's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Reading England
    Posts
    880
    Hi Sterling,

    Might I find how to do it for the Tecra you mention by googling. Sounds as if that might be an option. I'll also pull the battery though I think it's been dead for years, I never used it as a batt. operated set but downstairs plugged into the mains just to catch e-mails from my large extended family so likely that won't work.

    docusk
    Refurbished Computer.
    Gigabyte EP32-DS3L MOBO; 4Gb SDRAM; Intel EP8200 Core2Duo 2.6 CPU; HIPER PSU; Arctic Cool Freezer7Pro cooler; CD-R/RW; 2 X Western Digital 500 Gb SATA HDD plus Seagate 250 Gb HDD plus usual items. Windows 7 home premium.

  11. #11
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 1999
    Location
    Schuylkill Haven, PA 1797
    Posts
    12,786
    Quote Originally Posted by docusk View Post
    Hi Sterling,

    Might I find how to do it for the Tecra you mention by googling. Sounds as if that might be an option. I'll also pull the battery though I think it's been dead for years, I never used it as a batt. operated set but downstairs plugged into the mains just to catch e-mails from my large extended family so likely that won't work.

    docusk
    Search ebay for "Tecra Password" and you should find dozens of sellers of the premade Tecra Password clearing tool I bought.

    It only works on Toshiba laptops though.

  12. #12
    Member Falcon51's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Winston Salem, NC
    Posts
    104
    Quote Originally Posted by docusk View Post
    A friend has asked me to check with you if there is any way he (we) can recover data from the Hard Disk from his Compaq laptop.
    I got the drive out and I have a little gadget/adaptor which is designed to read 2.5" drives into an ordinary IDE bay. I put the drive into an external box in place of the normal IDE drive that lives there, and all seemed OK except that there were 2 pins in the 2.5" drive connection that were left over.
    Is there another way of connecting the laptop drive? His wedding and honeymoon photos are on that drive!
    I could plug the IDE end of the adaptor into a spare IDE connection on another PC because the way I've just tried - external drive - didn't work. The platters sounded as if they were spinning and the green light came on in the housing but the PC didn't pick up anything from the USB connection.
    Failing that, what can he do about data recovery?
    Not my usual cry for help but he's cut up about losing his photos, understandably.
    Cheers and happy 09/09/09
    docusk
    I use this cool little adapter I got on AMAZON for like $9.00 has all sorts of adapters for different type drives.
    I've used it many times to retrive data off laptop drives.
    Plugs into a USB port.
    Heres the link:
    http://www.amazon.com/SATA-Hard-Driv...0041971&sr=8-3

    Last edited by Falcon51; 12-05-2009 at 03:40 PM.
    <>< Rob ><>

  13. #13
    Senior Member docusk's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Reading England
    Posts
    880
    Hi Rob. OK for that. It might not work as his PC/Laptop don't have SATA drives, just plain old bog standard IDE s. An ide model might be something like the one I already have BUT. it might have the hole unblocked.
    Thanks.

    docusk
    Refurbished Computer.
    Gigabyte EP32-DS3L MOBO; 4Gb SDRAM; Intel EP8200 Core2Duo 2.6 CPU; HIPER PSU; Arctic Cool Freezer7Pro cooler; CD-R/RW; 2 X Western Digital 500 Gb SATA HDD plus Seagate 250 Gb HDD plus usual items. Windows 7 home premium.

  14. #14
    Member Falcon51's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Winston Salem, NC
    Posts
    104
    Quote Originally Posted by docusk View Post
    Hi Rob. OK for that. It might not work as his PC/Laptop don't have SATA drives, just plain old bog standard IDE s. An ide model might be something like the one I already have BUT. it might have the hole unblocked.
    Thanks.

    docusk
    It has connections for both IDE and SATA.
    <>< Rob ><>

  15. #15
    Senior Member docusk's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Reading England
    Posts
    880
    OK Rob. Got that and I'll let you know what happens.
    docusk
    Refurbished Computer.
    Gigabyte EP32-DS3L MOBO; 4Gb SDRAM; Intel EP8200 Core2Duo 2.6 CPU; HIPER PSU; Arctic Cool Freezer7Pro cooler; CD-R/RW; 2 X Western Digital 500 Gb SATA HDD plus Seagate 250 Gb HDD plus usual items. Windows 7 home premium.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •