if I initialize the hard drive will I be able to see data?

[cteq1]

Hello

My sons laptop crashed and now it wont boot, problem is I think with hard drive, I bought sata to usb adaptor and I can not see the hard drive.

However I can see it in Manage/disk storage. but it says i need to initilize the drive. both desktop and laptop were Vista.

So if I initilize the drive, will I then be able to copy the data across to desktop and do factory restore on laptop?

The complete format recover is so slow (the hard drive is 200gb although 120gb free) in 10 hours it has done 1% at this rate it will take 1000 hours.

[GDH]

Hi,

Try running a "Fast Format Recover" with Recover My Files. In the drive selection window do you see it listed as a "physical" drive? What are the results of this search?

[cteq1]

When I do fast format the program freezes. I tried to reinstall couple of times but for some reason it doesnt like the fast search mode.

I see the drive as physical drive 1, under manage/disk storage. I didnt see any result on recover files.

So I am guessing if I do initialization all the data will be lost?

[GDH]

Initializing the drive should not erase the data. It should still be recoverable with a data recovery tool.

At the moment it seems that your drive cannot be corrected identified by Windows, so this may be your only option.

You should then be able to run a Complete Format Recover and find your data.

[cteq1]

Originally Posted by GDH

Initializing the drive should not erase the data. It should still be recoverable with a data recovery tool.

At the moment it seems that your drive cannot be corrected identified by Windows, so this may be your only option.

You should then be able to run a Complete Format Recover and find your data.

Thanks. I tried that and it gives me I/O error. I dont know if it is due to it connected via USB. So I am going to get sata cable and connect it to the desktop internally and then see what happens.