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Laura in Windsor, Ontario Canada listens on AM800 CKLW “The Information Station” and asked: "I have a toshiba hard drive. it is probably over 10 years old and right now the files on the hard drive are inaccessible. I have tried to connect it and my HP laptop and it tells me maybe I don't have an internet connection, and I know I do. And when I plug it into my Mac, I just don't see it. I'm wondering, is there any way to get the information off the hard drive and transfer it to a new hard drive?"

 

Laura, it’s not looking great for the data on that drive.

You can try to repair the drive, sometimes that will fix issues preventing access.

On your Windows computer, you can right click on the drive, then click on properties, and under Tools you’ll find a driver checking tool. It may spot some fixable errors.

Since you also have a Mac, you can search for Disk Utility, on the left side you’ll probably see the drive, even if it’s not loaded (MacOS won’t show the drive if it can’t use it), there you should see options to scan and repair.

Both are long shots, mainly because of the age of the drive. It may be a logical error that is making it impossible for both operating systems to use the drive, but given how old it is, some part may have just gone bad.

If that’s the case, there are companies that can get the data for you, but it will cost you a lot of money. If these files are invaluable, it may be worth looking for a data recovery business near you, but if they’re files you can afford to lose, you’ll save a lot of money.

 

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