laptop hdd data recovery help

catoutthebag

A few weeks back I accidently stepped on the keyboard of my win8 lenovo laptop which I only bought last year.
This seems to have !!!!ed the hdd as I couldn't access the start page after the laptop went through various stages of repair and recovery
Lenovo were willing to replace the hdd.

However there's lots of data on it thst is not backed up which I really need.

I bought a cheap caddy abs removed my sea gate hdd (I'm not very laptop technical or computer savvy) and plugged thr caddy with old hdd into my old hp laptop which has win vista or xp.

I opened the hdd and there was a folded with my name as I'm the sole user. I clicked it and there were a couple messages about it being protected or needing password. I clicked continue a couple times and its not asked me for my win8 password.

It's been about 10 minutes and the green bar is still loading while I keep my fingers crossed that it will open the folder.

Why is it taking so long to open?
Will it ask for my password in the end?
Do I need win8 on this laptop to perform this task?
If all the files are corrupt is there any free data recovery software I can use or do anything else?

Thanks

JJ_Egan

Recuva free may be able to access and save your files .

catoutthebag

When my laptop broke it was taking hours for the repair etc process.

I've been sat for half an hour waiting for my username folder to open. Is it basically because the hdd is damaged?

Should I sit and wait or try that recuva software mentioned?

I mean. ..If my lenovo couldn't start then my hdd won't work in a caddy?

catoutthebag

Downloaded recova and didn't seem to open

Just scanning with undelete 360

Deru

Did you have any luck?

Can you open other folders okay? Sounds like permissions problems.

Could try setting ownership first. Do the following (copied from MS site)

1. Right-click the file that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
3. Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
4. In the Name list, click Administrator, or click the Administrators group, and then click OK.
   
   The administrator or the administrators group now owns the file.

catoutthebag

Undelete 360 didn't work...think it was buggy.

Went for 'mini tool partition recovery'...A quick scan revealed all the files on my old hdd...as far as I could see.

There was no 'recovery' button...just a 'close' button...wonder if I need to do a full scan...This was late last night. Feeling a bit more hopeful.

catoutthebag

Deru wrote: »

Did you have any luck?

Can you open other folders okay? Sounds like permissions problems.

Could try setting ownership first. Do the following (copied from MS site)

Where abouts could I do that...when I initially see my name folder? Will give it a go too thanks

prost

I don't understand what you've done. Did you remove the drive from the lenovo and try to boot to it using the old laptop? What caddy are you using?

You should boot into the lenovo drive by connecting it to your old laptop (change the BIOS settings to do so). You could then copy the files to another drive. (If this is a hard drive you would need to partition this drive first using free partitioning software. You could partition it to FAT32 or NTFS. After partitioning you should format it unless it's done automatically.)

You need somewhere to copy your files to but here's some software that can recover lost files
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/best-free-recovery-software-1141256

googler

OK, so you've got the HDD in a caddy, connected via USB to an older laptop which is running Vista or XP.

You should be able to see the drive as a removable device in My Computer.

Are you then trying to 'open' it with Windows Explorer, by double-clicking on it, or right-clicking then selecting Open?

catoutthebag

googler wrote: »

OK, so you've got the HDD in a caddy, connected via USB to an older laptop which is running Vista or XP.

You should be able to see the drive as a removable device in My Computer.

Are you then trying to 'open' it with Windows Explorer, by double-clicking on it, or right-clicking then selecting Open?

Yes pretty sure that's the first thing I tried late at night. I got the whole protected message as above and it was taking hours to open probably because it was damaged just as it was taking my lenovo hours to do anything like start with the faulty hdd inside.

catoutthebag

prost wrote: »

I don't understand what you've done. Did you remove the drive from the lenovo and try to boot to it using the old laptop? What caddy are you using?

You should boot into the lenovo drive by connecting it to your old laptop (change the BIOS settings to do so). You could then copy the files to another drive. (If this is a hard drive you would need to partition this drive first using free partitioning software. You could partition it to FAT32 or NTFS. After partitioning you should format it unless it's done automatically.)

You need somewhere to copy your files to but here's some software that can recover lost files
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/best-free-recovery-software-1141256

I don't understand bios, fat32 or any of your other terms.

I removed the hdd from lenovo. Inserted it into a caddy (can't remember the name - I'm not around it), connected caddy to old laptop via USB. Tried to open the folders contained within it...but appeared to be taking hours probably due to being faulty. So that's why I'm currently trialing various recovery programmes thst I've downloaded onto my old laptop.

Any other suggestions?