Category: Geeks r Us
Hello. I was unsure of whereto put this new topic because it is not directly related to computers. But since I've desided on this board. I have an old braille plus. Won't power on anymore. It's run its useful like. Though I have a feeling the hard drive is still in good shape. I have a few things on it that I'd really like to get back. So, now on to bisnus. I know I can get an inclosure for cheep. I'm sure that the drive is a 2.4 inch drive. Is this so? What file format is it? Can it still work with windows? More importently, has anyone else done this?
Thanks in advance for your help!
I am sure that the drive isn't a 2.4 inch drive; it may however be a 2.5 or 1.8 inch drive. Take the unit apart, get someone to read the model of the drive then post it here and I will advise you on what enclosure to get.
Note that some 1.8 inch drives are connected using ribbon cables which are very easily breakable if you are not used to taking these sort of things apart. Additionally, the pins that the ribbon connects to on the drive are also very delicate and whilst you should be able to source a replacement ribbon (assuming a standard pinout), bending the pins back into place on the drive will prove very problematic.
The file system may be a problem. I haven't used a braille plus, but AFAIK it runs Android, so hopefully the file system won't be anything overly exotic. In an ideal world the drive will be using FAT32 or exFAT, both of which Windows is able to cope with. If not, you will have to resort to a data recovery technique called file carving, where data recovery software scans the drive for known file headers and footers, then dumps the header, footer and everything between them into a file. This can work really well although it depends on how fragmented the drive is.
Good luck.
Oops. Writing from a laptop. Must have missed the 5 for a 4. I guess I should be more clear. The braille Plus is one of the original braille pluses. The icon braille plus mobile manager. I've not actually come across a 1.8 inch drive before. If it is, I'll be sure to be careful. Thanks again.
why couldn't you attach the drive to something like a USB to SATA adaptor? are you intending to get the info off of it and not use the drive anymore? or were you intending to actually use it for storage or something.
I am not sure about the connectors on the drive as I never had mine apart, however, I remember the data partition on the drive being formatted with fat 32. Assuming the data is not damaged, you should be able to get it off with almost any operating system. There is also a partition that contains the recovery image for the system on the drive. I can't remember if it is hidden or what file system it used if any at all. On a linux system, you could use lsblk in a terminal to determine what partition contains the fat 32 volume. I am not a windows/mac user so am not sure how you mount drives in these systems or how they play with drives that have hidden/unrecognizable partitions. Maybe someone with experience with these systems could provide more information. I wish you the best of luck getting your files back.