> My Problem: My pc was unable to boot from an older Western
> Digital hard drive. I have replaced it and reloaded the OS,
> but I need some of the data on the old. <grin>

Get it from your backups.

> I've tried to switch it as a slave to the now current boot
> disk, but the system doesn't "see" it as a drive. Even tried
> a WD utility and it doesn't see it.

Does the BIOS see it?  Have you checked both ends of the
interface cable?  Have you tried the drive in master mode
on a different (I assume IDE) interface card?  Have you
checked +5V & +12V levels at the drive power connector?

> This happened suddenly. One Monday morning it would not
> boot. The drive does spin up.

It's a failure mode I've seen before.  Interface portion of
drive has failed while motor controller is working OK.  It
is probably just a failed drive.

> Anyone with some insight for me to try recovery myself??

If the motor spins up the platters and it sounds "normal",
then it might just be the electronics card.  Get another
identical model drive (that's working) and swap controller
cards between the two drives.  It will void any warranty
but you _might_ be able to recover your data.

Or contract with a data recovery company to try and get
back your data (but that's expensive).

                                                Lee Jones

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