I was in the middle of doing a back-up on my Dell 8400 and got the blue screen of death. It would no longer boot got error windows\system\32\config file missing or corrupt (I think that is acurate. Loaded up new HD with operating system ETC. Tried to use USB to SATA interface to recover files. After it searches the HD it pops up "insert disk in drive g" and shows nothing on drive and no storage available. Anybody have any ideas? Most of bussiness files can be replaced slowly but 7 years of Grandson pics not so much

Slave your HD directly to the the mobo. For get the usb to sata crap.

If that does not work, then indeed, your HD may have a mechanical failure. If the photos are that important you can send your drive to a company that will crack the case and read the disc in a clean room type of environment.

It is a SATA drive with no way to slave it. When I tried to install it to the second SATA port on the motherboard the PC still would not boot

You might need to go into the bios and make sure it boots from the proper drive. If have done this, then the HD may be malfunctioning, thus you'll need to send it out to extract the data.

If you're unable to read it in Master, Cable Select or Slave mode, with your external USB connector, then it may be mechanically broken, as previously stated.

I've heard Fields ~ https://www.fields-data-recovery.com/ is a quality data recovery specialist, for what it's worth.

Also... just incase it is the power connector, have you tried connecting with legacy power input?

Not sure what you mean by legacy power but have tested (with the new HD all power connects)Does anyone know of a software solution that might work and still be inexpensive?

PM me if your interested.

Send me the drive and i will extract the data.

GetDataBack . There is a version for FAT and one for NTFS formatted drives. Use FAT if you think the drive was formatted FAT, and vice versa. You can download the program for free, run it, if it finds files, you can preview the file, then you can pay for it to extract the data. I've used it for several customers' harddrives that have died or been formatted. Worked great. About as good as any data recovery software packages. I've also heard good things about R-Studio . Personally I have not tried R-Studio.

Also, do you hear the drive spin up? Do you hear any other strange noises like clicking? If the drive doesn't spin up or makes clicking sounds, then no software will recover the data on the drive. If you have money (usually $500 minimum) you can send the drive to data recovery experts who rip the drive apart, swap parts with known working drives, in the attempt to restore data off your drive. Ontrack is pretty decent from what I hear.