Reddit mentions of Cable Matters USB 3.0 Hard Drive Docking Station (USB to SATA Docking Station) with 10TB+ Drive Support for 2.5 Inch & 3.5 Inch HDD SSD - USB-C Cable Included for Thunderbolt 3 & USB-C Computer

You can get a hard drive reader. It plugs into a power source and your laptop /pc via usb. You can pop your old hard drive in that and take whatever files you'd like. Also, you can plug it into your ps4 if you get one with usb 3.0, and use your old hard drive as an external one. A solid hard drive reader with usb 3.0 will run you about 30 - 40 American dollars.

Edit: here's the one I have and it's currently on sale. Works great. I've been using it to have my old hard drives working as externals on my ps4.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0099TX7O4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_J2BOAbF2J6EC5

As others noted, yes, a relatively easy thing normally. There are a few possible difficulties however.

Low cost machines from Dell. HP, etc. tend to not anticipate an end user wanting to upgrade so the machine has just what it needs, nothing more. Sold with one drive? Then no room to mount a second drive, no additional power connectors for a second drive.

So, does the new machine have an open cage to mount the drive in? Does it have the needed SATA power connection and is it near where you'll mount the drive?

Additionally, when the machine boots will it see the OS on old drive and try to boot from it (which will fail)?

All of these issues can be bypassed by using a USB adapter such as this one on Amazon: [Vantec USB adapter](https://www.amazon.com/Vantec-CB-ISATAU2-Supports-2-5-Inch-5-25-Inch/dp/B000J01I1G/ref=sr_1_2?
ie=UTF8&qid=1502495463&sr=8-2&keywords=usb%2Bdrive%2Badapter&th=1) or, if you're going to keep it plugged in, a dock like this one: USB Docking Station.

With either of those there's no need to open the machine, just connect via USB.

Remember also that old machine is most certainly recoverable. If nothing else a fresh Win 10 install will have it working unless, unlikely but possible, you actually caused physical damage of some sort to the motherboard. If you want to get it running again post here and we can work on it.

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Docking-Station-Support/dp/B0099TX7O4

​

put it in this, plug it in via usb to another computer and read your old hard drive like a flash drive.......if then it cant be pulled off, you will need a forensics expert, and you will be looking at $200 per hour to get your stuff :) and, it might be worth it.

​

this (and many others like it) turns your hard drive in to a flash drive, and yes, sometimes it wont read corrupt files, in fact, sometimes, files are so corrupted as to never be read again.....hopefully not.

​

good luck OP there are tons of different versions of this device, and trying is a heck of a lot cheaper than paying someone to try.

​

Yeah, I moved MHW onto my 275GB SSD and it's made a HUGE difference.

I have one of those USB docking stations where you can plug in bare internal HDs or SSDs. I can also just swap any drive I want really easily. It's really nice since I have a bunch of cheap drives lying around and pulled them from my computers.

Just FYI, I have this Cable Matters USB docking station. Pretty cheap (around $20).

I was happy to see that it worked with my PS4 Pro.

You can disassemble it, and remove the hard drive, load it into either a 2.5" hard drive enclosure or a SATA dock. Then you can plug it into another computer as if it's a USB flash drive.

If you have had it less than a year, submit a request for repair, and don't tell Lenovo you dropped it. Since you don't have any cosmetic damage, they won't be able to tell you broke it, and it will appear as though the laptop is faulty. You'll probably still want to get the data from it before you attempt the repair process.

Or a $129 netbook style laptop + a $23 usb HD dock and a HD size of your choice. I just set the laptop to never sleep, and under power settings, advanced, set lidlock to not sleep when screen is shut when plugged in, and put it on a shelf out of the way.

This was my torrenting setup for nearly a decade until I built my server/nas setup a few years back.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0099TX7O4/ref=mp_s_a_1_15?qid=1449880332&sr=8-15-spons&pi=AC_SX118_SY170_QL70&keywords=Docking+station+sata&psc=1

example

I would always recommend fresh install. As for transferring data from an old drive you can buy a Cradle or or 2.5" external USB drive enclosure. Cradle will cost you about 20-40 on Amazon, enclosures are about 10.

Cradle - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0099TX7O4/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1473168141&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=hard%2Bdrive%2Bcradle&dpPl=1&dpID=41El4Mm9svL&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1

Enclosure - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1473168212&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=hard+drive+enclosure&dpPl=1&dpID=31D9U9rO8TL&ref=plSrch

Edit- added links

The pictures & documents still exist on the hard drive as-is, the only issue is that if you try to reinstall Windows on the drive you'll end up formatting (writing over,) all of the data on the drive.

If you have a secondary desktop PC, you can pull the hard drive out of the computer w/no OS & simply plug it into the other computer at which point you should be able to drag & drop any of the files you want off of it. You can also look into an external USB dock if you don't have a second PC w/available SATA connections, etc.

You can find sata enclosures really really cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-SuperSpeed-Docking-Station/dp/B0099TX7O4/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&qid=1426214802&sr=8-32&keywords=sata+enclosure


have one of these and i think i paid 10€ for it, i just randomly picked an amazon sale for it.

push drive in, and its an usb drive.

I have a TS-563 as well. I think I'd just populate all 4 bays of the TR-004 with 8TB drives.

You'd still have 2 USB ports on the TS free for a USB drive dock (like this) for your swapping needs.

You could get a dock like this that you can mount the drive and connect via usb to your current system. Check the connections on the drive to make sure they are SATA connections. https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Docking-Thunderbolt-compatible/dp/B0099TX7O4/ref=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1521510179&sr=1-10&keywords=sata+hdd+dock

Right on. After you pull that big ass drive from that iMac, you are going to need a hard drive adapter to interface with it. It's a SATA drive inside that iMAc. Next we need to buy a SATA to usb-c adapter Here.
I bet that drive isn't dead yet and it will mount (show up on your desktop) on your macbook pro. Then just navigate the folders and copy and paste.

Edit: and by the way, I can pull a hard drive from an imac in under 5 min. If you have the right tools, you can do it in 20-30 min.

Ok, I really like the advice of /u/zottelbeyer

, but I will try to give my own. Just remember: There is never enough storage space.

My current setup: TS-673 with 2x512GB M.2 SSD RAID 1 as system volume + 4x10TB HDD RAID 6 ad storage volume, with intention of expanding up to 6x10TB as I need more space. Synology DS218J with 1x10TB+1x3TB HDD JBOD used as backup unit.

First: I personally don't think I'd use RAID 10 when I can use RAID 6. RAID 6 offer better drive protection than RAID 10, so yes, I'd also switch to RAID 6.

Second: Backup in the same machine is not considered backup. There are tons of things that can destroy all drives in a case at same time. For example:

https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/dc8hda/nearly_lost_all_my_data/

So, The fact that you are backuping your main RAID 10 data into a different 8TB drive inside the same NAS means that you are in fact not performing any backup at all. One ransomware infection will destroy the totality of your data.

Ok, now, let's dive in.

Currently, the sweet spot of cost/storage are located in 8TB drives, but slowly switching to 10TB. Personally, I'd go with 10 or 12 TB drives. You can get 10TB WD red drives for 189€ (WD element drives shucked). With 5x10TB drives in RAID 6 you get 30TB (27.3 TB of usable space). If you use RAID 5 (more about that later), you can bump up to 40TB (36.4 TB of usable space). That is 5 times what you currently have, and without need to buy a new enclosure. That is leaving your 6th bay as offsite for the other user.

Right now, IMHO there is no reason to stick with lots and lots of low storage drive. Get fewer with higher capacity. Prices have dropped enough.

You have also to take into account that bay space is also an important issue. That makes in the end bigger drives more valuable that small drives.

You can start increasing your drive count slowly, and adding more drives as your space needs increase.

About backups: I really encourage you to move your backup outside your TVS-673. If you go the bigger drive route you will have 4TB drives spare (your current RAID array) that you can use to perform backup. I used this:

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Docking-Station-Support/dp/B0099TX7O4/

or a cheaper version:

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-SATA-USB-Cable-USB3S2SAT3CB/dp/B00HJZJI84/

Connect your drive, then you can create a backup job to store your important files on it, and then disconnect it and store it away. Repeat with each drive you want. Perform a new backup once a week. In case of NAS destroy, you have full backup available.

I personally prefer to use another cheap NAS to automatically perform backups, but that means spending some more money. About RAID 0 backups, it's not ideal, but it is doable. RAID is not backup, is intended to reduce downtime. Strictly speaking, you don't need RAID if you are willing to assume downtime while you restore from your backups. So, RAID 0 (or JBOD) is acceptable as backup plan. Yes, if one drive of your backup fails, you lose everything, but it is a backup. All you have to do is switch the failing drive and recreate the backup from scratch. Pretty straight forward and it doesn't risk your data. Since your main data is a RAID array, in case of failure of your backup RAID 0, you still have tolerance for at least another drive failure (RAID 5) or even two (RAID 6) in your main array.

• Main RAID 1, 5 or 6 + Backup RAID 0 or JBOD: Ok
  
• Main RAID 0, JBOD or non array + Backup RAID 1, 5 or 6: OK
  
• Main RAID 0, JBOD or non array + Backup RAID 0 or JBOD: NOPE
  
  Finally, if you decide to go "full datahoard mode" (rack server, +10 bays, ZFS or BTRFS , etc) then by all means, go to /r/DataHoarder and /r/homelab. Tons of useful advice there.
  
  In case you go this route, then yes, get a nice rack, set ZFS, and use your TVS-673 as an expensive backup NAS to keep your data safe. I personally use borg backup, but ZFS has a nice snapshot backup utility with incremental copy.
  
  Sorry for the wall of text. I think I addressed most of your concerns, right?

Some other people online say that it could be something you have plugged in that's fucking with windows. Shut it down completely and disconnect everything possible (usb dongles, mics, headsets, etc).

If that doesn't do it, my next step would be recover the data and reinstall windows. Get a hard drive dock, connect to another computer, back up important data, then reinstall windows 10 from scratch.

Ah I gotcha. Ok...so looks like your boot loader problem is worse than I imagine. It is as you say. Now it is time to focus on recovering your files. After the recovery, you can just nuke the whole drive and start fresh.

Alright, lets try option 1 which is also the "free" option because it doesn't cost any money to do this. Do you have a spare computer to use?

Because you will need a spare computer to make a bootable portable OS. The main goal is to basically load up that portable OS as your main OS and then access the drive and pull out any and all files that you wish to save.

I recommend using Sergei Strelec's Windows PE. Download that rar file on another computer. It should have an ISO file of Windows PE and some tools to mount it on a bootable USB drive. There are instructions in the package to help you out there. Here is a quick youtube video on how to make a bootable Sergei Strelec USB drive. Once you have the bootable USB drive mounted with Sergei Strelec's Windows PE. You will boot into it. The Windows PE will look like your typical Windows OS. Access your hard drive and begin pulling out all files you want to save and back them up to somewhere else.


--------------

Option 2: This option will cost some money because you will need to buy a physical hard drive dock like this one. You will remove your hard drive from your laptop and hook it up to the dock. The dock will turn your hard drive into an external USB hard drive and you simply plug it into another computer and begin pulling all of your files out.

Grab one of these if you plan to go into IT work; invaluable.

http://smile.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-SuperSpeed-Docking-Station/dp/B0099TX7O4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1410909013&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+3.0+hard+drive+dock

You can purchase a docking station/adapter depending on the SSD's interface. Examples {no endorsement(s) implied}:

• StarTech USB 3.0 to 2.5" SATA III Hard Drive Adapter Cable w/ UASP - SATA to USB 3.0 Converter for SSD/HDD - Hard Drive Adapter Cable
  
• Sintech M.2(NGFF) B-M KEY Dual Notch SATA SSD to USB 3.0 Adapter card
  
• Cable Matters USB 3.0 SATA Hard Drive Docking Station - Supports up to 6TB Drives
  
  Then it is pretty much plug and play, providing the formatting on the SSD is something that your OS recognizes.
  
  Generally speaking, you should be able to plug the old SSD back into your current system as another SATA device depending on how many you currently have connected/how many your mobo supports, but without your system spec info my statement may be fallacious.
  
  edit for linkage

I don't think the first solution will work if the macbook is broken (I could be wrong), and there are better options than gutting another Macbook. In case no one else chimes in, I'd recommend getting a hard drive dock. I know you probably don't want to have to buy anything else to solve this issue, but it may come in handy in the future.

Example: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0099TX7O4/ref=sxr_pa_click_within_right2?pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=2329824862&pf_rd_i=hard+drive+docks&pf_rd_r=0B38AH1ZBTKKZ45WV4FT&pf_rd_s=desktop-rhs-carousels&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-SuperSpeed-Docking-Station/dp/B0099TX7O4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1410062074&sr=1-1&keywords=desktop+hdd+dock

this is for the dock

Pickup a USB dock, hopefully all the drives are sata ?

I have a rosewill that does 2.5" and 3.5" sata drives.


EXAMPLE :

I should say, it should not damage your drive. If your laptop doesn't have a spot for a second drive, you can always get one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0099TX7O4

I use this. It is an external HD reader. This one is SATA. While its out of stock at Amazon, there are others at the bottom of the link that perform the same function.

Cable Matters USB 3.0 SATA Hard Drive Docking Station - Supports up to 6TB Drives https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0099TX7O4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_90joybRRNK63N

The most straightforward way is to purchase a harddrive dock. Something along the lines of...

http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters%C2%AE-SuperSpeed-Docking-Station/dp/B0099TX7O4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1451431531&sr=8-3&keywords=harddrive+dock

You can place the drive in it and connect it, via a USB cable, to a computer - the idea being to transfer what you need off of it to a folder on that computer.

 

Note that transferring pictures, documents, videos, etc is trivial but you will be unable to transfer programs. Those will not be as easy as dragging files from one folder to another.

You say you used an iMac to install El Cap on the hard drive and verified it works but I don't really understand what you mean. If you got the OS on there, it shouldn't be showing that black screen saying no bootable device because that's Windows talking, unless you only reformatted the OS X partition and the computer is still set to boot to the Windows partition by default. Hmm..

I would recommend booting the computer in target disk mode (hold "T" on startup) and connect it to another computer so you can format the drive completely to 1 partition and install OS X that way. However, if the computer keyboard isn't responding and external keyboards don't work either, then I'd say to remove the hard drive from the computer, mount it on a hard drive dock, connect it to a computer, and proceed to format and reinstall OS X that way. It seems really strange to me that the computer wouldn't respond to keystrokes AND external devices aren't being powered.

If you're able to install OS X on the hard drive it should at least be able to boot and you can see if the keyboard and/or USB ports still function correctly.

They're about the same actually, using this dock and a 1tb WD blue drive is about the same as this external one. Also the dock + HDD is a desktop drive so it runs at 7200 RPM, while the enclosed drive appears to be only 5400 RPM.

A clicking noise along with an inability to mount a drive usually indicates a mechanical failure within the hard drive. The beeping sound is an indication of failure in some brands of hard drive, but not all of them have this feature to the best of my knowledge.

The next step would be to check for prior disk errors in Event Viewer. Try following these steps:

1: Press the Windows key + R to open the "Run" window

2: Type in eventvwr

3: Make this Windows full screen

4: By pressing the small "+" expand the "Error" the "Warning" fields in the box under "Summery of Administrative events"

5: Look for ANY errors titled "NTFS" or "DISK"

A mechanical drive that is failing will (usually) generate these errors indicating that there is a serious problem with the drive. Please let me know if you find any of these errors and you may have your answer.
The next step would be to buy an external dock for your hard drive like THIS one and see if you can get the drive to mount when connected via USB this way. Would also be worth trying to plug it into another PC if you have one handy. Once again however, disconnecting and reconnecting your SATA power and data cables would be my very first move if you are comfortable doing it.

If you have an old computer at home that you don't use anymore, you can take the hard drive out of that and put it in one of these toasters https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Drive-Docking-Station/dp/B0099TX7O4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498598418&sr=8-1&keywords=hard+drive+toaster. That's what I did a couple years ago, and it's worked great.

Glad I could help! I doubt you will need 32 GB of RAM, but I have 32 G just for SnG. I almost never need the second 16 GB, it was a waste of money (so far).

I think you should wait until your new computer is up and running, then you can see what is on the old computer's drive by connecting it to your new computer.

USB 3.0 Hard Drive Docking Station

Since nobody else linked you, something like this.

The only thing that I am affraid is if one of the power supply (well the first one) might have caused this. On the other hand, the same power supply is also running the one that works. I even have tried it with a USB HDD docking station like this one (https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Docking-Station-Support/dp/B0099TX7O4) without success.

You'd need a USB or Thunderbolt SATA enclosure or dock and then the drive plugs into that and then you plug that into the laptop.


Like this http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-SuperSpeed-Docking-Station/dp/B0099TX7O4/

I would probably pull that drive out and just plug it into the computer you want to transfer files to as a backup as a secondary drive. If there's no space in your second computer or you're going to store the files on a laptop, try a dock like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Drive-Docking-Station/dp/B0099TX7O4/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1472841654&sr=8-7&keywords=external+usb+hard+drive+reader

Either way you'll be able to pull all of your files out and store them safely until you format the disk and can transfer them back.

Oh, USB 3.0 ones exist. I have one. Here's a cheap one.

Would you recommend something like this?

Amazon Thingy

EDIT - or something fancy like this is pretty neat, or is it gimmiky?