How to Get Files Off an Old Hard Drive?

“I recently opened an old family computer and took out the hard drive. The computer doesn’t work anymore, but I wanted to recover whatever photos/personal information stored in it. I want to know if there’s a way to recover the data from the old hard drive.”

– Reddit user

Similar to this, there are several cases posted on different forums where users asked for ways to recover files from old hard drives. Recovering files and other data from old hard drive is easy if it is accessible and in proper working condition. However, accessing the old hard drive and retrieving the data from it could be a little trickier, if it is faulty or not showing up on the system. In this post, we’ve mentioned ways to help you get files off an old hard drive.

How to Get Files Off an Old Hard Drive?

There are two scenarios to consider when recovering files from an old hard drive.

Scenario 1: Old hard drive is easily accessible

Method: Connect Hard Drive via USB Adapter Cable

Try connecting your old drive using a USB adapter cable to your system and check if you can access it. Also, make sure there is no read/write action enabled and the drive is free from any virus/malware. If it’s easily accessible, you can just copy-paste or transfer the data from old hard drive to another storage media.  

Scenario 2: Old hard drive is faulty   

If the old hard drive is not showing up or won’t turn on when connecting to the system, follow the below-given methods.

Method 1: Recover from Backup

Many people create backup of their system data on an external storage drive or on cloud. A few people also go with the ‘Backup’s Backup’ strategy, making at least three copies of their data. So, if you have a backup drive containing all your files, folders, documents, etc., you can easily retrieve data from it. Connect the backup drive to your system using a SATA/PATA cable or USB adapter cable and copy-paste or transfer the data. If you’ve backed up your data on cloud, you can restore the data from cloud storage.

Method 2: Use Hard Drive Recovery Software

If you don’t have the backup, you can use a powerful hard drive recovery software, such as Stellar Data Recovery Professional to recover the data from an old hard drive. Stellar Data Recovery is a DIY software that enables you to retrieve any file type and format from Windows systems and storage media drives, such as HDDs, SSD, USB drives, SD cards, and more. This software can help you get files off the old hard drive in two ways:

A. Clone your Old Hard Drive

There may be severe corruption or bad sectors on your old hard drive. In such a situation, it is suggested that you don’t perform data recovery directly on the corrupted or faulty hard drive. Create a clone of your faulty old drive instead. It’ll prevent further damage to the drive. Stellar Data Recovery Professional features a ‘Clone Disk’ utility that can help create a replica of your existing hard drive and prevent it from any potential damage. Using the software, you can clone your old hard drive. Once you’re done creating a clone of your old hard drive, disconnect it from your system. Next, connect the cloned disk to another system and transfer your data.

B. Create Bootable Recovery Drive

If you want to retrieve data from a non-booting system with an old hard drive, try bootable media recovery utility of Stellar Data Recovery Professional. The software also consists of ‘Create Recovery Drive’ feature that lets you build bootable media to recover data from unbootable Windows systems. To do so, you require:

• An external storage drive to store the recoverable data
• Bootable media drive

After that, you can perform bootable media recovery to get files off the old hard drive.

Method 3: Opt for Hard Drive Recovery Services

If your old drive is physically damaged, it is suggested you opt for a reliable data recovery services, such as Stellar Data Recovery Services. The experts at Stellar take extra care while dealing with physically damaged hard drives. They perform data recovery in state-of-the-art Class 100 Clean Room lab that provides a controlled-environment, having very low level of dust particles, chemical vapors, and other pollutants.

Wrapping Up

If your old hard drive is accessible, you can try connecting it via USB adapter cable to your system and retrieve files from it. However, if you can’t access your hard drive and the backup isn’t available, clone your hard drive or perform bootable media recovery to get files off an old hard drive using powerful data recovery software, such as Stellar Data Recovery Professional. It is an easy-to-use, DIY tool that can recover data from formatted, corrupted, damaged, or crashed Windows systems and storage media drives. In addition, if your hard drive is physically damaged, you can opt for hard drive data recovery services.

FAQ

A. How do I recover files from my laptop hard drive that won’t boot?

If your laptop can’t boot, this means the hard drive may be damaged. You can recover the files from the laptop hard drive that won’t boot by:

• Using Backup
• Using Data Recovery Software
• Pulling the hard drive out of laptop and connecting it to another laptop
• Opting for hard drive recovery services

Learn more…

B. Can you get files off a dead computer?

You can easily get files off a dead computer or laptop with the help of a powerful data recovery software, such as Stellar Data Recovery Professional. It is an easy-to-use software that can help you build a bootable media drive to recover files from non-booting, crashed, or even BSOD-affected systems.

C. How much does it cost to retrieve data from a hard drive?

If you don’t have a large data recovery requirement, you may try free data recovery software to restore up to 1 GB of data. Else, you can purchase the license key for its Professional version, available at $79.99/year.

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About The Author

Mansi Verma

Mansi is a seasoned tech enthusiast, holding over a decade of experience in writing blogs, articles, guides, press releases, and tips for different industries, including Data Recovery, IoT, Artificial Intelligence, and Robotics.