Contact Forum Editor

Send an email to our Forum Editor:

PLEASE NOTE: Your name is used only to let the Forum Editor know who sent the message. Both your name and email address will not be used for any other purpose.

Tech Helproom

It's free to register, to post a question or to start / join a discussion

View Forum Rules | Contact Forum Editor

 

Accessing my old internal hard drive

kidwispa

Likes # 0

Posted January 9, 2013 at 11:10AM

Hi all,

I've been trying to find an answer for this problem online but not being particularly tech savvy I'm at a bit of a loss. My pc stopped working about a year ago - it would load up to the Windows XP screen, then reboot, and would keep doing this until I switched it off with the power button. I've just bought a (Windows 8) and would like to retrieve the files from my pc if possible.

I've taken the hard drive out of my old pc and put it into a StarTech enclosure but when I attach it to my laptop it shows up under disk management as "Dynamic - Invalid".

I've tried to look up what I can do on google and it was suggested that I use a program like partition wizard to convert the hard drive from a dynamic drive to a basic drive, however I can't do this as it says the drive is unallocated????

Can anyone help as I really need to get access to this hard drive (I do music production in my spare time and it has over 5 years of samples, tracks, etc I haven't backed up - schoolboy error I know!!!)

Thanks in advance for any help offered!

:)

Like this post
Chronos the 2nd

Likes # 0

Posted January 9, 2013 at 11:36AM

Have a look here. You can find HxD here. Or if you prefer this.

It is so simple and relatively cheap to back up, either to the cloud with the likes of Dropbox or Skydive, or you can you an external hard-drive or a NAS drive or be a belt and braces guy and use both NAS and Dropbox,which I do. Hopefully you are now backing up your important data.

Like this post
kidwispa

Likes # 0

Posted January 9, 2013 at 7:30PM

Thanks for the reply however i'm still at a loss - in disk management the drive shows as Dynamic Disk - Invalid, and I can't assign a letter to it in order to access it in HxD!! I've tried going into the command prompt, and doing the following:

  1. Diskpart
  2. List Disk
  3. Select Disk 1
  4. List Partition
  5. Select Partition 2

Then it comes up with the following message - "Virtual Disk Service Error: This operation is not allowed on an invalid disk. The disk may be invalid because it is corrupted or failing, or it may be invalid because it is OFFLINE"

Any ideas?

:(

Like this post
Fruit Bat /\0/\

Likes # 0

Posted January 9, 2013 at 7:43PM

Like this post
kidwispa

Likes # 0

Posted January 9, 2013 at 8:15PM

Thanks for the link, however I followed the youtube video but the drive did not show up in hxd????

:(

Like this post
woodchip

Likes # 0

Posted January 9, 2013 at 8:26PM

Dynamic means that the drive as been setup using Disc Overlay Software, Your Best bet would be to reinstall it in the Old PC and get it started so you can get the files off it

Read This

Like this post
kidwispa

Likes # 0

Posted January 9, 2013 at 9:08PM

Unfortunately this isn't an option as I no longer have the pc (just the hard drive left!) Is there any way I can do it without?

:)

Like this post
Fruit Bat /\0/\

Likes # 0

Posted January 9, 2013 at 9:52PM

What do you have showing in HxD?

Disk 1

Disk 2

Like this post
BRYNIT

Likes # 0

Posted January 9, 2013 at 10:48PM

After a little search I found a little information on dynamic disks CLICK HERE this indicates that you can only access a dynamic disk with Windows XP Pro, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003.

You could try Convert Dynamic Disk back to Basic Disk without data loss I don't know if it will work.

Like this post
BRYNIT

Likes # 0

Posted January 9, 2013 at 10:53PM

Must read links first as I just realised Fruit Bat /\0/\ gave you the same info on converting the drive via the Youtub vid.

Like this post
kidwispa

Likes # 0

Posted January 10, 2013 at 8:41AM

Thanks for all the responses - my brother has the same pc that I used to have running xp so I'll try the above solutions on his and let you know if it all works ok.

Thanks again!

:)

Like this post

Reply to this topic

This thread has been locked.



Check out PC Advisor's other tech forums

Send to a friend

Email this article to a friend or colleague:

PLEASE NOTE: Your name is used only to let the recipient know who sent the story. Both your name and the recipient's name and address will not be used for any other purpose.