Need help finding an external drive enclosure
Oct 15, 2007 | 9:23 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,540
Need help finding an external drive enclosure
Something happened to my laptop. While I was surfing, Vista produced a BSoD and when I tried to restart the laptop it just hung. I've gotten as far as getting to the Fujitsu start-up menu by pulling the battery and leaving it unpowered for 3 minutes. But for some reason there is a BIOS password and I did not set one. Naturally Vista won't boot or allow me to boot from a CD either. I have a feeling the laptop will need to be sent back to Fujitsu.
Before this happens I need to copy all the information off the hard drive, just in case. From the Fujitsu website I pulled the following specs on the laptop:
LifeBook P7230 Notebook
Hard drive: 80 GB (4200 rpm) P-ATA Ultra DMA 100; shock-mounted, and protected by intelligent shock sensor technology, 2.5"
Here are the specs (I think) for the drive from the Fujitsu website:
Interface: ATA-7
Do I simply need any generic enclosure that supports PATA and 2.5" drives?
Before this happens I need to copy all the information off the hard drive, just in case. From the Fujitsu website I pulled the following specs on the laptop:
LifeBook P7230 Notebook
Hard drive: 80 GB (4200 rpm) P-ATA Ultra DMA 100; shock-mounted, and protected by intelligent shock sensor technology, 2.5"
Here are the specs (I think) for the drive from the Fujitsu website:
Interface: ATA-7
Do I simply need any generic enclosure that supports PATA and 2.5" drives?
Oct 16, 2007 | 4:48 am
#4
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: on the Llano Estacado
Posts: 2,652
You can also get an IDE-USB cable. Lots of companies make them, here's a versatile one that handles 3.5", 2.5", and SATA drives. The cables are not as good as the enclosure if you want a permanent external drive, but they are great if you regularly connect lots of hard drives to your computer.
Oct 16, 2007 | 8:51 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,540
You can also get an IDE-USB cable. Lots of companies make them, here's a versatile one that handles 3.5", 2.5", and SATA drives. The cables are not as good as the enclosure if you want a permanent external drive, but they are great if you regularly connect lots of hard drives to your computer.
Nov 14, 2007 | 2:19 am
#6
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 1
If nothing helps you then you should try Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software. It is a file and partition recovery utility which recovers data from formatted hard drive or data lost due to software malfunction, viruses or even sabotage. This recovery software has helped me out.
A free demo version can be downloaded from: http://www.stellarinfo.com/partition-recovery.htm
If the demo shows you the preview of the recovered data then get the full version to save it.
A free demo version can be downloaded from: http://www.stellarinfo.com/partition-recovery.htm
If the demo shows you the preview of the recovered data then get the full version to save it.
Nov 15, 2007 | 5:05 am
#7
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,481
You can also get an IDE-USB cable. Lots of companies make them, here's a versatile one that handles 3.5", 2.5", and SATA drives. The cables are not as good as the enclosure if you want a permanent external drive, but they are great if you regularly connect lots of hard drives to your computer.
Thanks for the link!
Edit: Never mind ... just saw the power supply in the pictures.
Nov 15, 2007 | 7:26 am
#8
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: A Southern locale that ain't the South.
Programs: Bah, HUMBUG!
Posts: 8,014
THAT'S NOT A 2.5" DRIVE!!! It's a 1.8". Don't take the thing apart for no good reason! Here's the enclosure you need. Microcenter IS NOT going to carry one of these (I don't think).
I just got a few of these in and they work great... I had an iPod drive I'd swapped out with a larger model and put the old drive in here. No issues and I can read it just fine.
http://www.cubeternet.com/servlet/StoreFront
The P7230 has a 50 pin ATA interface so this is the housing you want. Honestly they're all so cheap I ordered one of each to have 'em on hand just in case.
[EDIT: Duh... no doubt the OP knows this by now considering the original post was in October.]
I just got a few of these in and they work great... I had an iPod drive I'd swapped out with a larger model and put the old drive in here. No issues and I can read it just fine.
http://www.cubeternet.com/servlet/StoreFront
The P7230 has a 50 pin ATA interface so this is the housing you want. Honestly they're all so cheap I ordered one of each to have 'em on hand just in case.
[EDIT: Duh... no doubt the OP knows this by now considering the original post was in October.]
Nov 15, 2007 | 7:28 am
#9
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: A Southern locale that ain't the South.
Programs: Bah, HUMBUG!
Posts: 8,014
If nothing helps you then you should try Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software. It is a file and partition recovery utility which recovers data from formatted hard drive or data lost due to software malfunction, viruses or even sabotage. This recovery software has helped me out.
A free demo version can be downloaded from: http://www.stellarinfo.com/partition-recovery.htm
If the demo shows you the preview of the recovered data then get the full version to save it.
A free demo version can be downloaded from: http://www.stellarinfo.com/partition-recovery.htm
If the demo shows you the preview of the recovered data then get the full version to save it.
Nov 15, 2007 | 10:27 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Between AUS, EWR, and YTO In a little twisty maze of airline seats, all alike.. but I wanna go home with the armadillo
Programs: CO, NW, & UA forum moderator emeritus. Eurobonus Millionaire
Posts: 38,683
You can also get an IDE-USB cable. Lots of companies make them, here's a versatile one that handles 3.5", 2.5", and SATA drives. The cables are not as good as the enclosure if you want a permanent external drive, but they are great if you regularly connect lots of hard drives to your computer.