Can't mount old IDE hdd using an USB adapter

Question

I have an old IDE hard drive that has some data I must recover, so I bought an usb adapter to plug it to my new pc and copy everything.

But Windows installed the drivers when I plugged it in, but couldn't get it to initialise using the disk utilities from computer management.

So I tried on Ubuntu, and while it shows up with lsusb and also on the disk utility, I can't access it with gParted or mount it manually.

Now, there's any way to access the data without formatting?

And I don't think it's a problem with the hdd as well.

edit: the lsusb output:

Bus 002 Device 005: ID 05e3:0718 Genesys Logic, Inc. 
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 04f2:b1aa Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 045e:009d Microsoft Corp. Wireless Optical Desktop 3.0
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 03f0:231d Hewlett-Packard 
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:0158 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. USB 2.0 multicard reader
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

And the dmesg | grep sdc output:

[  120.588527] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk
[  409.551010] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk

I also tried to mount it with the following options (I don't know the file system):

Mounting as fat

sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdc /mnt/sdc -o iocharset=utf8,umask=000

Output:

mount: /dev/sdc: can't read superblock

Mounting as ntfs

sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/sdc /mnt/sdc -o nls=utf8,umask=0222

Output:

Failed to read bootsector (size=0)
Failed to mount '/dev/sdc': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sdc' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.
Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?

Solution

First things first (besides the select jumpers) - are you following the proper power-up sequence?

Connect the IDE-USB adapter to the HDD. Then apply power to the HDD; the HDD must be spinning and ready (heads unlocked) before you plug in the USB cable at the PC.

And be very careful to not jostle the drive while it is powered on!

Comments

[Joachim Isaksson]

What file system is the drive using?

[Yitzchak]

Stupid question, but are the master/slave pins on the drive set correctly?

[Rodrigo]

I said I don't know the file system of the driver. I don't have access to anything, but only the device is showing up, Ubuntu can't read even the size of the disk. The pins are set to the only slave option. The cat only outputs the native hard drive and its partitions.

[Rodrigo]

And Ubuntu's Disk Utility says that the device is not partitioned

[jdh]

With most USB driver adapters, the master/slave jumper should be set to CS (cable select). Some drives without CS, have the same effect by selecting Master. In all cases, using the Slave jumper setting would cause the drive not to be recognized.

[sawdust]

First things first (besides the select jumpers) - are you following the proper power-up sequence? Connect the IDE-USB adapter to the HDD. Then apply power to the HDD; the HDD must be spinning and ready (heads unlocked) before you plug in the USB cable at the PC. (And be very careful to not jostle the drive while it is powered on!)

[Rodrigo]

I actually was trying with the jumper on CS before noticing it, and then changed to slave. And about the power up sequence, I've tried a lot of combinations also

[Rodrigo]

I followed your power up sequence and it worked. Thanks! Write it down as an answer so I can accept it.

[andrej]

Problem is that under windows you can plug the usb adapter to PC and then connect it to disk and it works fine. I killed over 2 hrs finding the right kernel driver and it was THAT simple. Thank you very much!