Windows 10: File finder: old laptop harddrive in caddy (8.1) plugged in Win 10

Hi there,

My old Win 8.1 laptop is kaput, but thankfully the harddrive shows up fine in a caddy plugged into the new Win 10 laptop. My problem: I can't find my files. There was a folder on the old laptop's desktop that had most of my junk in, but where that is now on the old harddrive is a mystery.

There's not much showing up in the old harddrive's admin/users folders.

Thanks in advance,
Darren.

:)

 

Adding Hardware In Laptop ASUS a43T

Hello,

I Need with my laptop using win 10/64

1. My Laptop using win 8.1/64 pro SSD in Primary and Drive Caddy with 500Gb replace the CDROM Drive the original . Works Well..

2. Download, Process, and Upgrade to Win 10/64 without Drive Caddy. Nothing problem

3. After Finish All Win 10 upgrade and Start using Win 10/64 Pro.

4. Now I inserted My Drive Caddy, WINDOWS CANNOT AUTOMATICALLY SEARCHING and INSTALLING FOR NEW HARDWARE

Nah, the problem is How Can I Install This Device (My Caddy Drive) like win 8.1 ?

5. Windows Is work Well, and all USB Flash Drive media storage can Read like usually New Hardware.

I am Using ASUS A43TA / K43TA AMD llano A6.

 

Lost access to HDD on upgrade to win10

Hi Karla,

Thank you for your reply. I did put the caddy in another laptop, booted WIN10 installation disk and guess what? It worked!

So I changed some settings in my Asus's Bios, putting my harddrives in IDE (instead of AHCI) mode, Windows 10 installer in MBR partitioning for BIOS / UEFI mode (using Rufus, since I don't really want to use several dvd disks) and bingo! Windows 10 could
see both disks just fine. Odd, since I swear I've tried that before...

I will play a bit more with my settings and installation types to get Windows working with AHCI disks. In the mean time, does anyone know what causes Win 10 to incorrectly read the second disk? IDE is more compatible, I know, but why would Win 8.1 read these
disks in AHCI mode just fine then?

 

Hi darrenhull. Welcome to the TenForums @darrenhull

Two quick things. Check that you are displaying hidden files in File Manager. User files aren't normally hidden but ....

Next open up disk management and have a look at the HDD. Is there a large partition that does not have a drive letter. Some devices came with HDD split into c: and d: drive and data was kept on d:.

If there is a large partition, Like 50GB or more, try assigning a drive letter and see what is on it.


Ken

 

Cheers, Ken.

Am still setting up the laptop, obviously, but hidden folders is on my list. Expect to see more of me having eschewed Win 10 since its launch *Wink -- early versions didn't like Adobe.

 

Try using a fast search tool like Everything by Void Tools (or Ultrasearch or Locate32) if you want to try find-as-you-type searches with reg ex format.

Also bear in mind there may be some damage - the disk or partitions or file system- if you've not checked, depending on e.g. the age and history of the disk.

 

Browse to C:\Users you should have an Administrators folder, and you should also have your old User name folder. Open this up and you should see the Desktop as well as other user folders. (ie) Pictures, Music, Documents etc

 

Found them!

For anyone else with a similar problem, and looking for folders that were on their old laptop desktop:

-Turn on 'show hidden folders'. I think this helped. I found my media in a non-hidden folder, but when I initially searched the folder with hidden folders turn off, there was nothing in it whatsoever (right-click properties said 0kb), but with hidden folders on, the folder displayed a mixture of hidden and non-hidden files

- Location was G: (caddy drive) > Users > [my username] > Desktop > [folder name]

Hurrah!

Being new to Win 10, any tips and tricks appreciated, especially ones that speed it up and disable any non-essential animations, pop-ups, novelty stuff.