how do I recover data from a non responsive hard drive?

Hello,

I had a problem last week with my system, which I posted in this forum. Turns out one of my hard drives was the culprit.
I have (had) two internal hard drives on my desktop. I removed the faulty one, and my system now runs properly, but I need the data off of that faulty drive. (I need the data added since the last back up.)

I purchased a SATA to USB adapter kit, but of course it isn't that easy. The drive is not showing up in My Computer.

When I go to Disk Management, it is there... but I can't click on it. (Listed as Disk 1 Removable O: in screen cap)

Can anyone tell me (dumb it down, please) how I can recover my data?

(the drive in question is a Seagate that was partitioned into sections.)

thanks in advance

Here's the rule of thumb I've seen.

If the partition is seen and appears to be intact, try to recover the files with a file recovery application such as Recuva.

If the partition is not seen and appears to be gone or damaged, try to recover the partition first using a tool such as Partition Wizard. If that is successful, the files may then be visible and not need recovery.

I'm no expert on either application.

In any case, don't write anything new to the drive.

Hook the drive up in the normal manner and determine if you can see the partition. If no, try Partition Wizard. If yes, try Recuva.

Based on your picture, it looks like the partition is not seen.

You say this is an internal drive, so I'm not clear why you are using that cable instead of just connecting the drive internally.

Thanks for the info...

as to why I pulled the drive, it was causing my system to not work.

see the thread here... cannot access internal hard drives, I/O error

once I pulled the drive out, everything works perfectly. That's why I'm using the SATA to USB adapter

Hmm... I'm wondering why the E drive is marked active.

All those RAW partitions would lead me to try Partition Wizard, rather than a file recovery tool.

OK, I forgot to tell something.

After whatever you did taking it out of its original abode, the drive at present is shown as one with "no media"

So go back to your original configuration - that is restore it as a second drive in the desktop - and do Partition Wizard.

If during the boot process your system fumbles and tumbles, then run PW from a bootable CD or pendrive booting from it. ( For this you have to download the bootable CD version of PW and burn it to a CD or create a bootable pendrive using Rufus.)

Incidentally the bootable CD version of PW is Linux based and that goes with IC2's recommendation of using Linux in this situation but I wouldn't go whole-hog into data recovery mode using a Linux distro. That should come only after our efforts to resurrect the HDD and restore it to the original condition fails. ( without the need for a data recovery process that will require another empty hard drive to copy)

thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I'll plug the hard drive back into the tower and see what happens. Trying Partition Wizard with the dead drive hooked up via SATA to USB cables did nothing. PW couldn't even find the drive.

IF it has problems starting up again (I'm predicting it will) then I'll try one of the suggested courses of action.

I have NO idea how to use Ubuntu or the Linux / pen drive suggestions. I'm a hardware guy, NOT a software guy.

if anyone has the time to give me "step by step instructions for dummies" I'd be grateful.