Internal HDD to External HDD

I have a Laptop HDD which i suspect to be faulty/ failing which i have been advised to remove and put into an enclosure so that i can connect it to another machine to test it. I have got the enclosure, removed and fitted the HDD and plugged it into a desktop PC. Whilst the OS on the Desktop seemed to recognise the new external device and install drivers for it (also appears in device manager in control panel), when i go into My Computer to access the HDD there is no icon for it (like i get with other external devices). I dont know if this is just a sign the HDD is no good or that I have done something wrong (or not done something).

I need some advice on how to go about accessing the HDD as an external device and how to test it as such for faults etc.

Thanks

NB The drive is a Seagate SATA drive if it helps

I know the following suggestion contradicts what you have already been advised to do, but it will give you a greater chance of success ... and is easier.

I suggest the following as the best way to move forward from here:

• Fit the hard drive back into the laptop where it came from.
  This removes two potential problems:
  
  • Using Windows.
  • Using the SATA-USB adapter.
• Create a bootable CD (UBCD) which will not only provide you with an operating system and a means to access the hard drive and your files if that is possible, but also several tools that will allow you to test the hard drive.

============================

Please do the following on a working computer:

• You will need a new blank writable CD.
• Download UBCD and burn to a CD: If you do not already have a suitable burning program for writing .ISO images to disc ...
  
  • Download and install ImgBurn.
  • Ensure that you UN-check the box agreeing to install the Ask toolbar during the installation.
  • Place a new (blank) CD disc in the drive tray.
  • Choose Write image file to disc.
    
    • Under Source, click on the Browse button: Navigate to and select the .ISO file that you wish to burn.
    • Place a check-mark in the box beside Verify.
  • Click
• When the CD has been burned and verified as successful, it will be bootable.

Boot the ailing computer with the UBCD.

• (You may have to configure the Boot Menu or BIOS Setup Menu to boot first from the optical/CD/DVD drive.)
• At the first menu screen, select Parted Magic and press <ENTER>.
  Use Default settings ...
• At the Parted Magic Desktop, double-click File Manager.
  A new window will open.
• In the left window pane, click on the folder that represents your Windows system drive where your files will be located.
  Do you see the files? If so, that is good! Please let us know if this allows you to see/access all your folders and files.
  If not, then go to step 3 below and test the hard drive.
• If there are files on the hard drive that you wish to retrieve/backup, then copy them to a USB drive/flashdrive now.
• Shut down Parted Magic.
  
• Start button (in lower left corner of the screen) > Logout > Shutdown the computer.

Run Seagate's diagnostic utility to test the hard drive.

Boot with the UBCD again and at the first screen select HDD and press <ENTER>.

• Arrow-down to Diagnosis and press <ENTER>.
• Arrow-down the screen all the way to the next page and highlight SeaTools for DOS V2.23 and press <ENTER>.
• Click OK (the mouse should be working now).
• When the tool has finished scanning for hard drives, do you see the HDD details (Model/Serial numbers) in the box under Drive List?
  If so, that is good!
  If not, then you have a problem: Let us know about it.
• On the menu at the top of the window, click on Basic Tests > Short test and allow the test to complete.
  
  • Then run the Long test, which will take a considerably longer time to complete.
• Click on Exit to close SeaTools and shut down the computer.

Please let us know the result of running the two tests.

Thanks for the reply.

I have to apologise now for being a bit hasty in my original post. When i looked at the HDD and enclosure again i found i had not fitted the drive properly into the enclosure. I had opened one side panel of the enlcosure and put the drive in, thinking it was connected up inside. On opening the enlosure up again to remove the drive i saw what the problem was and put it together properly this time. On connecting it again to the PC it read fine, i could access both the main OS part of the drive and the recovery partition like an external HDD. I have since tried booting the Desktop PC from the drive to see what happened. It failed to boot the machine even after running startup repair (already tried when in the orignal machine). No real surprise there.

Still confused. If the drive has failed why i can read from the disk but not boot from it?

Will now read reply and take any relevant advice/steps given.

Tried downloading Ultimate Boot CD. Wanted to put it onto a USB stick rather than a CD (unable to boot using CD on problem PC). Followed steps in UBCD Wiki but neither method would work. RMPrepUSB Utility wasnt downloaded with ISO. Any ideas how i might get UBCD on USB otherwise? Could i just copy the CD onto the stick?

unable to boot using CD on problem PC

Why is that? What is the problem?

Re: the need to use a bootable USB device rather than a CD
I will follow up on that ... but it will have to be later in my day.

Could i just copy the CD onto the stick?

No: That will not be bootable.

Let's use UNetbootin to load the UBCD .ISO file to the flashdrive which will then be bootable.

• Note: I have just tested the following and confirmed that it works successfully without issue.

Download the UBCD .ISO file to your working computer (if not already done).

I suggest that before you get started with UNetbootin that you perform a quick format of the flashdrive with the Windows GUI version of fat32format.

• Click to download guiformat.exe

Download the UNetbootin application for Windows.

• Direct download: Download (for Windows)

Use the directions part way down the UNetbootin web page under the heading Installing Other Distributions Using UNetbootin:

Installing Other Distributions Using UNetbootin

• Download and run UNetbootin, then select the "Diskimage" option and supply it with an ISO (CD image).

I tried extracting the ISO file to the USB stick using 7-Zip. Then tried booting from the stick. Seemed to work OK. Any problems and i will try your method.
Thanks

Not convinced the Ultimate Boot CD is appropriate for my machine. i have been told elsewhere that it is not suitable for Windows7 64 bit and i am wondering if it is unsuitable for 32 bit systems as well. i accidentally ran it on a 64 bit system and it messed it up. Keep getting the Windows Boot Manager appear on start up now and cant seem to get rid of it!

You wrote: "i have been told elsewhere that it is not suitable for Windows7 64 bit"
That is nonsense: When booting from the UBCD and intending to use the HDD diagnostics or PartedMagic, whether an OS is present at all on the HDD, or which OS it might be has no relevance.

You wrote: "i accidentally ran it on a 64 bit system and it messed it up. Keep getting the Windows Boot Manager appear on start up now"
I am sorry, but I have no idea what you might have done or what you might be doing.

• What do you mean: "I ... ran it ..."? What exactly are you talking about?
  It seems that you now have a new problem with another/different computer: I suggest starting a new topic to deal with that issue, so as not to confuse this one.

As I understand it, this topic is dealing with a laptop which will not boot into Windows.

• It has been suggested that you return the hard drive back to the laptop (original configuration) and then test the hard drive.
• However, very little progress has been made and I am having trouble knowing how I might help you without any idea of what you might be doing.

Sorry for delay replying.

Re; UBCD. I made both Cd and USB (stick) versions. Having not at that point replaced the HDD in the laptop i checked the USB version on a desktop PC to check whether it had been created sucesfully (there having benn some doubt about using it on a USB stick). I must have accidentaly told it to recover the desktop PC it was on. I did stop it before it went too far and the system seemed unaffected, except now each time i boot up the machine i get the Windows boot manager screen up, giving me the chouce to load windows normally or run recovery. as there is nothing wrong with windows on this machine there is no point running recovery but i have to tell it to run windows nornally each time, which is fine but a bit of a pain. Cant work out how to stop this screen appearing each time and return the machine to normal.

It is at this point i was advised on another forum that the UBCD was unsuitable for my needs. This may be an error.

To date i havent done any more with the laptop so cant give any more information. I will in due course replace the HDD (after rescuing data) and try the UBCD just to see what it come sup with . Will report back when this is done. I am sure though the drive is U/S and am looking into replacements.

FYI. I may also have a problem with the optical drive. Bootable disks dont want to run at present (hence wanting USB version of UBCD). Until the HDD problem is sorted i wont be able to tell whats wrong.

While i appreciate your help and advice, i must ask you to be patient. I am short of free time at the moment to deal with thise matters.