Circa 1999 , Western Digital HD Model : AC313500 - 00DW , Serial # WT668 007 2292
13.5 giga . P- ATA , not SATA.
This hard drive was 99% filled .
It is my belief that it was also loaded with malware.
My feeble attempt to cure involved deleting as much as I could , run defrag, then try to fix malware.
When I tried to delete printer, I could not delete printer .
In response , I changed registry ( a permission perhaps ?? do not recall details ) .
Then tried unsuccessfully to do "WinXP REPAIR /INSTALL" from original WinXP disc.
Failure to complete installation as it sees no Devices at all in Device manager.
The 13.5 giga is now in my hand .
Question :
Is it possible to place the 13.5 giga HD into an external drive container
and then attach it via USB to a WinXP system to fix the messed up HD ?
Will I be able to access the external HD contents and take steps to get old data ?
If so, what recommendation can you offer regarding an external HD case/ box/container?
The 13.5 HD will end up in trash once the data is obtained .
Will a PC running WinXP be able to look into this messed up disk ?
Do I need to protect the main PC from Malware ? How ?
I am very new to this subject matter .
Kindly use small words , minimum techno talk . Thank you .