Member Avatar for yvonne.lundeandreassen.9

I have kept the old hard drive and wonder how I can retrieve my photos.
I did buy a SATA cable but not quite sure how to use it.
Any Ideas ?

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Dani AI

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A few safe, practical next steps to get those photos off the old drive — Vista is already confirmed (thanks ), and the earlier replies from and point in the right directions. Start non-destructively: connect the drive (USB adapter or inside the PC), but don’t begin any repairs or initializations until you can see what Windows reports.

After connecting, open Disk Management (Start → type diskmgmt.msc → Enter). If partitions and a drive letter appear, copy photos immediately to another disk. If the partition is visible but has no letter, right‑click the partition → Change Drive Letter and Paths → Add. If Disk Management prompts to “Initialize the disk,” do NOT initialize if you expect existing data — that can overwrite partition info. If the disk appears as “Foreign” or “Offline,” avoid hasty changes; use “Import Foreign Disks” only if you know it’s a dynamic disk from another machine.

If Windows refuses access because of permissions, take ownership from an elevated command prompt (Run as administrator):

takeown /f X:\ /r /d y
icacls X:\ /grant Administrators:F /t

Replace X: with the drive letter. After taking ownership you should be able to copy files. If the partition table or filesystem looks damaged but the drive is detectable, use read‑only recovery first — tools like TestDisk/PhotoRec or booting a Linux live USB and mounting the drive read‑only let you copy files without writing to the damaged disk. Avoid repair utilities that write to the disk until you’ve made a backup image.

If the drive isn’t detected at all, check power and cables, try different ports or another machine, and listen for spin/click noises. If it won’t spin or clicks repeatedly, stop powering it and consider a professional recovery service — continued power cycles can make mechanical failures worse. Thanks to and for the practical adapter/connection suggestions earlier.

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Member Avatar for rubberman

Well, what you need to do depends upon whether you are running Linux (or other *nix), or Windows. If Windows, it will find and mount the file system automatically, as drive E: or something. If linux, you will probably need to manually mount it on your file system. So, let us know what operating system you are running, and we can better help you.

Member Avatar for Slavi

Did you try to connect it?

Member Avatar for yvonne.lundeandreassen.9

Thanks Slavi,
no I haven't yet connected it to the Dell as
I left this at a friends place.
Will have a try as soon as I collect it.

Member Avatar for LaxLoafer

Use a USB to IDE/SATA cable, such as this:

This one supports 2.5 and 3.5 inch IDE drives (PATA), SATA devices, and includes a separate power supply. Once connected it's no more difficult than using a USB thumb drive.

For more info try searching the web for USB to IDE/SATA cables....

Alternatively, to make use of the SATA cable you have already...

Start by opening your computer case and invalidating your warranty. Rummage a round for a spare SATA slot, taking care not to dislodge anything too important, and plug-in the SATA cable.

Attach the other end to the hard drive, assuming it has a SATA interface. If the drive is more than ten years old it'll probably have a PATA interface. Unfortunately PATA and SATA are totally incompatible no matter how far you bend pins.

The drive will also need power. Computer manufacturers know just how useful a spare power connector can be for users looking to upgrade their systems instead of purchasing new ones, so you might just get lucky. If not purchase a power cable splitter, or borrow the one from the CD/DVD drive.

On booting the system you may need to change the SATA configuration or BIOS settings to specify a drive letter for the disk. Choose a letter that is higher than any current drives. Refrain from changing the boot order.

Oh, and don't forget to switch your computer off before trying the above. Perhaps I should have mentioned that first.

Edited by pritaeas because: It's late :-s
Member Avatar for yvonne.lundeandreassen.9

Thanks...Gulp !.... as an (ancient) dummie I'll have to print and read this carefully.
However the offending machine is currently sat
sulking at a friends place. So shall try your advice when I collect it.

Member Avatar for LaxLoafer

Something went missing from my last post...

Use a USB to IDE/SATA cable, such as this:

This one supports 2.5 and 3.5 inch IDE drives (PATA), SATA devices, and includes a separate power supply. Once connected it's no more difficult than using a USB thumb drive.

Edited by LaxLoafer
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