Dead (non-booting) HDD plugged into another PC as 2nd drive, hoping to scrape data but getting message "Unable to determine file system type"

[DGregory]

I have a Window 7 laptop that has some important data and hasn't been backed up in a while and just stopped booting (I know, I know, just a perfect storm of circumstances). I removed the HDD and plugged it into a working W10 Pro PC via SATA. I couldn't get Disk Management to see the drive, but I think Recuva might be seeing it as Local Drive (\\.\HarddiskVolume2). But when I try to run a scan I get the message

[\\.\HarddiskVolume2] Unable to determine file system type.

Any gurus out there have any advice on what I should do at this point?

Many thanks in advance!

Dan G

[Martin J]

I am getting a similar error message on one of my hard drives.  I would like to be able to scrape what data I can off of it.  Like Dan G., any inside information would be most welcome.

Martin J.

 

[konazxiii]

In my limited experience this is probably due to the drive loosing its partition(s) or partition table. I have limited success (but some still) by reformatting the partition back to its original format (usually NTFS for modern versions of Windows) and then running Recuva on it.

DM me if you would like to be pointed to some free, legal, non-maleware options readily found on the internet.

[DGregory]

Thanks konazxiii - that approach makes sense.

Just to close the thread, the data was a high priority so I looked at 3 pros:

https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com/ , https://www.stellarinfo.com/ and https://www.ontrack.com/

All came recommended (especially the first) and all seemed reputable. Price was also a factor, and the latter came in with the lowest quote range so I went with them. Their communication was a little patchy at times, but they got the job done as promised (I received an encrypted external USB drive with the needed data) and within my budget.

[konazxiii]

I'm glad you got it sorted out.