Added HD, wondering where Recovery & Factory Image info went.

[OldGrumpyMarine]

Hello.  

On my 3rd HP, and wanted to recover any data from the last one.  However that drive is not compatable with this computer.  

While I wsa looking at it, I discovered a SATA drive under the old Maxtor, which was changed out 3 times under warranty. I had no idea (or forgot) that the 500GB SATA was in there.  Thing is it wasn't connected to anything!

Pulled it out and installed it in this machine, system recognied it, rebooted with no problems as usual.

It now shows up as drive "F" named HP.  The recovery drive (partition)  still shows as "D" .  The factory image "G", has the recovery folder,as does "D" however both folders appear to be empty.

Is this a case of hidden files?  Both show to have a lot of data in them, but files are not showing up.  The drive I put it, shows a lot of files that may have been transferred to it upon install, as they are dated around the same time I bought this box.

Just wondering if I'm losing my marbles, have really messed this thing up, or just what damage I may have done.

Thanks, it's a long read, sorry.

OGM

[A4Apollo]

Hi! @OldGrumpyMari, Welcome to HP forums.

I understand after replacing the hard drive recovery partition is not available.

Don't worry I'd like to help you out.

Did you make any hardware or software changes to your PC?

Did you replace the hard drive by yourself?

It looks to be a problem with the hard drive. 

You can order a replacement set of Recovery Discs using the link below - using these discs to reinstall the OS on the new HDD will also reload the original software, drivers and re-create the Recovery Partition on the new drive.

Please contact HP support and order a set of recovery discs.

Link to contact HP.

I'll watch your reply!

Take Care! 🙂

[OldGrumpyMarine]

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@A4Apollo wrote:

@hi! @OldGrumpyMari, Welcome to HP forums.

I understand after replacing the hard drive recovery partition is not available.

Don't worry I'd like to help you out.

Did you make any hardware or software changes to your PC?

Did you replace the hard drive by yourself?

It looks to be a problem with the hard drive. 

You can order a replacement set of Recovery Discs using the link below - using these discs to reinstall the OS on the new HDD will also reload the original software, drivers and re-create the Recovery Partition on the new drive.

Please contact HP support and order a set of recovery discs.

Link to contact HP.

I'll watch your reply!

Take Care! 🙂

---

MrRobot

Thank You for the reply, but perhaps I did not quite  explain properly, my actions.

I did not replace the original HD that came with this machine, just added the old SATA drive to it.  

The recovery partition, "D" will warn that the partition contains the system recovery files, and shows to have 1.36 GB free out of 11.1GB  Also the Factory Image drive, now changed to "G" shows 1.29 free of 9.57.

I believe the data on those is still there, however when I go into CMD DOS to view them, nothing shows up except on the new drive I installed. It looks like files from perhaps the recovery original partition were put on it during the install routine when the machine started up with it as new hardware.

Will try to get a screenshot of the Computer Shortcut screen, that may help solve the mystery.

OGM

[A4Apollo · Accepted solution]

@OldGrumpyMari, It's been great to hear from you again.

I appreciate your efforts for trying out the steps.

As you mentioned you installed an old hard drive to your PC and it is not listing the files in the recovery partition.

Since you are trying a different hard drive on a different PC. The system configuration files would recognize only the contents of the hard drive which was shipped.

The files in Recovery partition are hidden/locked/protected. Recovery is not done by opening the partition.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Take Care! 🙂

[wb2001]

Can I interject a question?  Is the following correct?

The new computer is 100% functional.

Your need is to read an older HD taken from an older machine. You only want the data files.

All you need to do is put the older drive into an external USB HD case.  Turn on the new machine, then connect the external HD.  You can then proceed to read/copy the data from the older drive.

[OldGrumpyMarine]

Almost. 🙂

Yes, the drive I installed was from an older HP, and the strange thing is I never knew it was in there! I had to replace the IDE drive that came with it, 3 times and ignored the other SATA one completely.

The SATA drive I pulled out of it the other day was fresh, never had any data on it that I knew of.

I believe the partitions on my original drive (this machine) ae still intact, it just shuffled them around when I installed the older drive (SATA and same manufacturer. Just half the size, 500GB v 1TB) and all is well.

Thank you for the help, I do have another question about hard drives, will start a new message heading for that one.

Have a great day, and thanks!!

OGM

[OldGrumpyMarine]

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@A4Apollo wrote:

@OldGrumpyMari, It's been great to hear from you again.

I appreciate your efforts for trying out the steps.

As you mentioned you installed an old hard drive to your PC and it is not listing the files in the recovery partition.

Since you are trying a different hard drive on a different PC. The system configuration files would recognize only the contents of the hard drive which was shipped.

The files in Recovery partition are hidden/locked/protected. Recovery is not done by opening the partition.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Take Care! 🙂

MrRobot,

Yeah I have convinced myself that is the case as well. adding a physical drive just bumped the partition designations.

Thanks for the help and time, appreciate it.

OGM

[OldGrumpyMarine]

Dean,

Just to let you know, I just ordered one of the kits for doing what you suggested (SATA/IDE to USB)  The cost is minimal, and I have other drives to try and recover as well.

Thanks for putting me on the trail on how to do that.

Appreciate it!

OGM