How to safely explore and old hdd I dont remember what is on it?

[pcuser]

HI
I have a elite desk 800 G1 ssf. and I have a orico hdd to usb enclosure to read.
i plan to do a image so i need space to try the image so I plan to use one of my 2 500 gb Hard disk Drive. Probably delete one of them but before i need to explore what i would want to keep from them

They are mine, I do really not remember what are on them . They probably came with past used pc I have bought but might also be a hdd from my previous build.

1)Since it might be a hdd received from a bought pc from unknown user( his os) i never used I need to be carefull because they might contain virus.
How to explore the hdd safely? Some people sell pc with malware or tracking stuff on the drives so i need to be cautions.

2)Since the hdd probably contains a windows of something that will want to boot do I need to take any precautions to protect my current pc ssd i m running?

3) On he picture we can see that folders in windows in general do not show the space used . If there is a open source freeware that allow me to see where the gb are on the disk rapidly since i will have to review what I keep (pict video) and what i delete and where to look) . And a open source freeware or way to see how much space the folder takes without having to click click proprieties every time.

4 )any other precaution i should take of usefull thing i could use?

5) from the enclosure hdd to usb is there a risk of conflict from the hdd wanting to boot and sudenly conflict between the 2 drives. I hope there are none . I will will want to know what OS is on the hdd. How to check this and the version of the os since it probably only be files visible .

Thanks!

 

[PHolder]

You know that old saying about moving, the same could apply here. You box stuff up, and only unbox what you need. If after a certain time you don't unbox something, you probably don't need it and might well just get rid of it.

 

[peterblaise]

I wrote the date on boxes and planned to throw them out if not
opened in a year.

13 years later, I KNOW the stuff is valuable, and will cling to them
forever.

Computer solution:

18 TB drives - formatted as 16,777,200 MB in Disk Management, the
largest drive size that still offers compression, and 379 GB little one
at the end.

Shockingly fast and cheap.

Throw nothing away.

Our time culling stuff, thinking it over, is more valuable that than the
cost of a simple BIG drive to bypass all the culling and thinking.

Let the computer find stuff for us.

Occasionally use deduping tools, but at least half of their results are
overwhelmingly complicated and unusable.

So I just throw nothing away.

 

[pcuser]

ok but I am also rearranging my stuff and want to know what is were. Plus i ll need the hdd to test a image i plan to do.
If anyone has tips to share on my questions let me know

 

[pcuser]

I took my chance and pluged it in the orico hdd to ssd. It is a 500 gb but it only shows 100 gb free from a 345 gb .
but it is a 500 gb. what could explain that ?

Could there be a hidden partition or just a partition I cant see since it is plugged in the orico hdd to usb?

how to verify what is on the 155 gb not showing? thanks
---
edit same thing on the other hdd, only 465 gb are show but i t is a 500gb too. How to see where and what is on the 35 gb left? thanks

 

[dg1261]

"Since the hdd probably contains a windows of something that will want to boot do I need to take any precautions to protect my current pc ssd i m running?"

"from the enclosure hdd to usb is there a risk of conflict from the hdd wanting to boot and sudenly conflict between the 2 drives."

No, not if you plug the USB enclosure in after the host computer is already booted. Do not plug in the USB enclosure before turning on the host computer. Get the host running first, then plug in the enclosure after the host is up and running.

After you plug in the enclosure, your host Windows will recognize it. Then check in Disk Management (see attached example), and look at the disk map schematics. Identify which map ("Disk x") represents the HDD in your Orico USB enclosure. The block on the left end of the map identifies the size of the HDD (under the word "Basic").

Beware: sizes are measured in binary GBs, whereas manufacturers like to use decimal GBs for marketing purposes. A 500 GB (decimal) HDD is really 465 GB (binary).

The right side of the map will show the partitions. If the disk has Windows on it, it almost certainly will have multiple other partitions. Some of those will exist only for the functioning of Windows and are not for the end user to store anything on, so those should not have any drive letter.

Since you are merely examining the disk for any files you may want to keep, you need only look at the partitions with drive letters. Partitions without a drive letter will not have any user files on them.

If you find the partition with Windows on it, explore through the \Users subfolder. By default, that's where Windows stores user "Documents", "Pictures", etc. It's possible a previous user may have changed the defaults, but start with \Users and see what's there.

 

[pcuser]

Hi
even when I am logged in with my account with admin rights , after pushing win key plus x and click disk management , i have a message showing You do not have acces right to logical disk manager on .. name of my pc session.
But via computer management i have access to the disk manager . weird

for one of the hdd now that i know that 465 is the total , it means there is nothing more to search.

For the other hdd where there was only 245 showed, see the pic , it says un allocated 220 gb.
my running ssd normal is C
So is unallocated a blank empty space with nothing possible stored on it?
is the unallocated considered a partition?

I plan to do test an image of my curent ssd on the hdd with macrium later. do I have to repartition, or wipe OR macrium will put the hdd back to factory before installing the image? Maybe i need to ?allocate the non allocated part to make it available to use?

Also if there is stuff to do to prepare the hdd to receive an macrium image would you happen to know?
thanks

 

[dg1261]

So is unallocated a blank empty space with nothing possible stored on it?

Correct. There is nothing there. It is not a partition.

As it is unallocated space, you can either create a new, 220 GB partition (that will get its own drive letter), or you can expand the existing 245 GB partition to encompass that space and become a single, larger partition. Either way, the unallocated space must become part of one or another partition before you can store anything on it.

Since you plan to test creating a Macrium image (rather than a clone), you should not have anything else to prepare (after recouping the unallocated space into a partition). Note that an image is merely a large file (or set of files), so they can be stored anywhere files can go. Since it's large, just make sure you have enough available space to store the image. Roughly, you can estimate you'll need at least 60% of the occupied space of your SSD. (By default, Macrium compresses the files it copies from your SSD so they occupy about 50-60% of their original size when copied into the image. Note: empty space on the partitions are skipped.)

Note that a clone is intended to be an exact copy of the source disk, so making a clone of your SSD will wipe the destination disk and, by default, create new partitions exactly like the original source and fill them with the same contents as your original SSD.

In contrast, an image is an interim step -- a very large file containing the contents of your source disk for safekeeping, and that image can be used at a later time if you need to recreate a clone of your original source onto a new disk (or overwrite your old disk).

 

[pcuser]

Correct. There is nothing there. It is not a partition.

As it is unallocated space, you can either create a new, 220 GB partition (that will get its own drive letter), or you can expand the existing 245 GB partition to encompass that space and become a single, larger partition. Either way, the unallocated space must become part of one or another partition before you can store anything on it.

Since you plan to test creating a Macrium image (rather than a clone), you should not have anything else to prepare (after recouping the unallocated space into a partition). Note that an image is merely a large file (or set of files), so they can be stored anywhere files can go. Since it's large, just make sure you have enough available space to store the image. Roughly, you can estimate you'll need at least 60% of the occupied space of your SSD. (By default, Macrium compresses the files it copies from your SSD so they occupy about 50-60% of their original size when copied into the image. Note: empty space on the partitions are skipped.)

Note that a clone is intended to be an exact copy of the source disk, so making a clone of your SSD will wipe the destination disk and, by default, create new partitions exactly like the original source and fill them with the same contents as your original SSD.

In contrast, an image is an interim step -- a very large file containing the contents of your source disk for safekeeping, and that image can be used at a later time if you need to recreate a clone of your original source onto a new disk (or overwrite your old disk).

Thanks for your answer
so how do I make it so that the 220 unallocated space becomes merged into the existing one ? can the computer management path do that?

 

[peterblaise]

Right click unallocated, delete it.

Then right-click allocated and enlarge it.

 

[pcuser]

hi i could not delete the unallocated. but i did delete the other section. not all the hdd is unallocated.
Can i install an image(from macrium) on an unallocated of do i need to create a new volume like these options if giving me choice for.?

 

[peterblaise]

I cannot re-teach myself your overall givens and goals.

What are your givens again?

What's your goal again?
Simplify, summarize, please.

 

[Tazz]

Can i install an image(from macrium) on an unallocated of do i need to create a new volume like these options if giving me choice for.?

I'm pretty sure that you can just point Macrium at the unallocated drive as the destination and Macrium will look after setting the partitions the same as the source. Depending on if you have the paid version, I think that you can adjust the size of the partitions before you begin the restore process.

Again I don't recall exactly how it works. It'll show you the source and destination layout before you commit to anything. Just try it and if it's not doing what you want it to do don't click on the "OK" button at the bottom.

 

[pcuser]

my plan: create a full image from disk 1 place it on disk 2seagate external usb 4tera, Unplug the current disk1 pc<s ssd. use the disk3 thumb drive to install the image from the disk2 seagate onto the disk 4old HDD (disk 4) and try to boot from the hdd
.


I run this from the MR on pc ssd by the way. with macrium free version 8

Disk 1 is the pc s ssd i want to create a full image of ,
Disk 2 is the seagate 4tera external usb storage . the image will go in partition Lnom and have sufficient space.
Disk 3 is the thumb drive sony 3.0 with rescue Mr already created.
Disk 4 It is an old HDD 7200rpm I will use to test if i can reactivate the image on it after the image will have be placed on the seagate. Atm it is inserted in a orico enclosure HDD to usb.

There is a mix of ntfs , fat 32 , GPT and mbr on those devices and the HDD i will use to test does not indicate those. It is unallocated i beleive.
- I dont have the xp to see if there is something to change . Is everything good to go?

- About the hdd unallocated do I need to created a partition empty on it before trying to install the image on it via the thumb? If yes how?

- When it will be time to try to install the image from seagate 4T onto the hdd and try to then boot from the hdd, can i do all this from the orico hdd to usb enclosure or should I rather plug the hdd DIRECTLY inside the computer box (via sata cables i beleive it is called)? If the only difference is time , what would be the approximate difference because opening the pc box and moving pieces is an extra step and a bit scary for me. If i can get away without doing the extra step i would do that even if it adds couple hours. Extra info about the enclosure, it is plugged in the pc with a usb cable with the other end being a squarish one. The color of the plastic of the usb end is white beige so not blue hence probably not usb3 , ihope not usb1.0 I dont know. If it makes a difference to plug the usb in the front vs the back usb port of the pc let me know I have the choice and the pc has 2 x usb3 port.

Thanks

 

[dg1261]

- About the hdd unallocated do I need to created a partition empty on it before trying to install the image on it via the thumb?

No, the Macrium target must be unallocated space. If there is an existing partition, either you or Macrium will need to delete it first. Macrium may offer to delete it, or you can delete it manually while working from the Macrium UI -- just right-click the target and select [Delete].

- When it will be time to try to install the image from seagate 4T onto the hdd and try to then boot from the hdd, can i do all this from the orico hdd to usb enclosure?

Sometimes it works, but restoring to a USB disk can be prone to failure. I have a video that may help if you'd like to better understand why: "Principles of Cloning and Imaging"

You're just experimenting, so I'll second Tazz's recommendation: Just try it. You aren't overwriting your SSD, so no harm done if it doesn't go as you expected. Just take a step back and try again.

There are two distinct and independent phases to your project: creating the image and restoring the image. Work on becoming familiar with creating the image first. Once you're comfortable with that, then turn your attention to familiarizing yourself with restoring an image.

 

[pcuser]

No, the Macrium target must be unallocated space. If there is an existing partition, either you or Macrium will need to delete it first. Macrium may offer to delete it, or you can delete it manually while working from the Macrium UI -- just right-click the target and select [Delete].




Sometimes it works, but restoring to a USB disk can be prone to failure. I have a video that may help if you'd like to better understand why: "Principles of Cloning and Imaging"

You're just experimenting, so I'll second Tazz's recommendation: Just try it. You aren't overwriting your SSD, so no harm done if it doesn't go as you expected. Just take a step back and try again.

There are two distinct and independent phases to your project: creating the image and restoring the image. Work on becoming familiar with creating the image first. Once you're comfortable with that, then turn your attention to familiarizing yourself with restoring an image.

Ok
when you say , the Macrium target must be unallocated space. If there is an existing partition, either you or Macrium will need to delete it first. Macrium may offer to delete it, or you can delete it manually while working from the Macrium UI -- just right-click the target and select [Delete].
,

does that mean that i will have to delete or change something to the seagate 4tera in order to store it there? or by syaing target you mean installation deployment ressucitation? thanks

 

[dg1261]

That was in reference to the restore process. When backing up to an image, the image will be stored somewhere ordinary files can be stored -- i.e., a partition with a formatted file system. When restoring from an image, the restore destination must be unallocated space.

 

[pcuser]

ok thanks