recovering data from old laptop's hard drive, via USB

refgoddess
refgoddess Member Posts: 1 New User
edited October 2023 in 2020 Archives
Hi, I have a new Acer Swift3 laptop.  I have data on a hard drive from a Dell Inspire Laptop.  I cannot access that data via the USB and SSD cable.  The Acer recognizes the device but will not let me add it.  When I go to Disk Management, the options for downloading are greyed out.  I obviously don't want to reformat the hard drive:  that will destroy the data I'm trying to recover.  What options do I have?  I would also like to use the hard drive for external backup.

Answers

  • Cheayol
    Cheayol Member Posts: 6 New User
    Hello, maybe you can try pro hard drive recovery tools to retrieve your data from the old laptop's hard drive.
    Data recovery tools can scan and recover all kinds of data from hard drives.
    Have a try. Good luck.
  • Cheayol
    Cheayol Member Posts: 6 New User
    Hello, maybe you can try pro hard drive recovery tools to retrieve your data from the old laptop's hard drive.
    Data recovery tools can scan and recover all kinds of data from hard drives.
    Have a try. Good luck.
  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,159 Trailblazer
    edited October 2019
    Firstly, what OP are you using and is this Dell HDD in FAT32? Because, FAT32 does not support handling large files (over 4GB) with FAT32 inscription and format you will not be able to add this to your NTFS system. See this guide ''Convert FAT32 to NTFS Without Formatting or Losing Data at 'https://www.tweakandtrick.com/2012/02/convert-fat32-to-ntfs-file-system.html'
  • JoeAlbano
    JoeAlbano Member Posts: 2 New User
    I help someone here with a similar problem not long ago.

    Try shutting down and disconnecting the drive. Boot back up and log back into Windows. Once in Windows, shut down again. Reconnect the drive and start back up again.

    Sometimes I've seen Windows screw up and not assign a drive letter when it detects the new drive. Doing this occasionally prods Windows into detecting it properly the second time.

    If that doesn't work, if you right-click on the partition in question, see if it gives you the option of assigning a drive letter.

    I would try the first option first though.

    However, if the issue still exists after assigning a drive letter, you can retrieve lost data from the hard disk and then format the device. There are many more free programs most are a cut down version of a commercial package. A few recover a limited number of files for free or show you what could be recovered if you Pay for a license. How successful they will depend on how much has been written to the drive since formatting

    I've recently used iBoysoft Data Recovery to recover data from my formatted SD card. I could see all the names of files & folders. But it can only recover 1gb of data. I think this tutorial will be helpful.

    Depending on the value of data ask for professional help or carry on recovery your self