Camcorder Hard Drive data recovery *adapter to use it on my PC?

[Freudian]

My friend has given me the task to recover the data on a Hard Drive from his fairly new (bought in 2006) digital camcorder.

The drive is:

Hitachi Travelstar 20gb 4200rpm
P/N: 08K1604

It is smaller than a laptop drive and much lighter.

The interface connection on it looks like it is a mini (thin) SATA connection.

I need someone to help me find a way to connect it to my PC so I can try and transfer the data from it. 3 hours of video from their vacation that they don't want to loose. Warranty proveded a new hard drive to be installed but they want the data off the drive.

Please post and PM if you can help me.

Andrew

[kaj27]

That's a tough one. Try email Hitachi to see if you can get the pin out for the drive. Then you may have to make or have a cable made.

If it is sata that is.

[kaj27]

Yeah I have one of those too. Got it for those drives we got Aaron ;)

But he said it's like a small SATA. Which is most likely proprietary and something that is only used for things like mp3 players and video recorders.

If you do a Google search of mini SATA you get a lot of misinformation. People seem to think that all SATA's are mini.

[SaskSask]

Hello Freudian,

Try here http://www.satagear.com/SATA_Adapters.html. Seems they have a lot of converters here. At least you can see what one you need and get someone to order it in locally.
Good Luck

I think one of them should do the trick?

[Freudian]

I have photos now. Here are the photos:

http://www.climbnb.mine.nu/temp/hdd1.jpg

http://www.climbnb.mine.nu/temp/hdd2.jpg

Maybe this will help. The connector is 40 pins and is about 1cm wide with extremely small pins. The white plastic part which is currently perpendicular to the black connector can also move down flat onto the connector.

[kaj27]

That is a IDE interface.

[Freudian]

Yes. That I pretty much figured after Seb suggested I count the pins on the interface.

It's some sort of ultra-mini IDE interface, though. I have a 2.5" Laptop mini-IDE to regular IDE adapter, but it is not going to work for this interface.

Any more ideas guys?

That is a IDE interface.

[SaskSask]

This looks like it might give you some chance of being able to work with it.
http://www.addonics.com/products/io/aks218ide.asp

"Support Hitachi 1.8" IDE hard drive*"

Also seems to be something here.
Hitachi 1.8 inch ZIF drives
Order code: ADAv4-18-HIT-ZIF
http://www.wiebetech.com/products/v4_adapters.php

[Freudian]

This is the drive I have:

Hitatchi Compact Travelstar C4K60-20 Slim 1.8" ZIF 4200rpm PATA/100 20gb

Price: $93.00 USD *estimate*

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/096F6F6F37C01A1286257061006DC2F0/$file/Travelstar_C4K60_Slim_datasheet_11-05.pdf

Here is the adapter:

WiebeTech v4 Adapter Hitachi 1.8inch ZIF

Price: 149.99 USD +shipping

http://www.wiebetech.com/slideshow.php?dir=/Combo_Adapters_v4/&sel=5

http://www.climbnb.mine.nu/temp/zif18adapter.jpg

So there is an adapter. It's rough to find, expensive to buy. I guess I'll have to call around all the computer stores in Saint John and see if anyone has one of these I could use for a few minutes to see if the data is recoverable. Buying the adapter would be rather expensive, esp. since there is no guarentee that the data on the drive is even recoverable.

If anyone knows where I can borrow or use one of these adapters in the Saint John area, after seeing the pix and information, please let me know.

Andrew


This looks like it might give you some chance of being able to work with it.
http://www.addonics.com/products/io/aks218ide.asp

"Support Hitachi 1.8" IDE hard drive*"

Also seems to be something here.
Hitachi 1.8 inch ZIF drives
Order code: ADAv4-18-HIT-ZIF
http://www.wiebetech.com/products/v4_adapters.php

[Freudian]

Here is one solution. It's not actually available yet, and its located in Europe.

http://www.span.com/catalog/images/products/i/ia18z.jpg
http://www.span.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=8932&c=102&t=side_right1

[SaskSask]

Holy Smokes!
$149US....wow

Freudian,

For 10 bucks on this page http://www.addonics.com/products/io/aks218ide.asp,
it would seem worth a shot trying it out. The way they describe it on the page it seems to me it would work.

[Freudian]

SaskSask,

That would be great, but its not the right adapter. It's not the ZIF which is NEW.

I wish :)

Holy Smokes!
$149US....wow

Freudian,

For 10 bucks on this page http://www.addonics.com/products/io/aks218ide.asp,
it would seem worth a shot trying it out. The way they describe it on the page it seems to me it would work.

[nbs]

Just checked www.span.com and it shows that adapter is available now. $44CDN + VAT.

[Freudian]

nbs,

Ah yes. It is 44 CDN + Value Added Tax. I was there and saw that before. It was listing as 44 pounds. I wonder why now it says canadian dollars. Anyhow, that is cheaper.

I wonder if my friend will want to spend that. That's certainly the cheapest route so far.

Thanks nbs. I had ignored that website because the price was in pounds.

Chers.

exact link to list showing that product:

http://www.span.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=28_1203

I figure someday someone else might want help with this and they might search and find this thread.

Andrew
Just checked www.span.com and it shows that adapter is available now. $44CDN + VAT.