Salmon Trout, No always nonsense. When it happens one time in a hundred, it still counts as reality, not nonsense. The USB to HDD controllers vary in quality and compatibility.
The OP is trying, was trying, to read data from a drive that was taken from a failing computer. The OP did not fully understand that an ad-hoc USB interface can ruin the file system when a write or delete is performed.
He is not talking about an external drive that was set up in a quality enclose with a certified USB adapter from a major vendor.
It has happened to me more that once. It is near impossible o document. Hard to repeat. But those cheap adapters do fail. Treat nit a s read-only and you remain in the safe zone. Start writing and you risk losing the whole file system.
Improvised USB external drives are not suitable for regular use. This is the minority report, but nit is right. Others have said this long before I said it. Not my idea, I got it from reading reviews of other users about the naked USB to HDD adapters on Amazon. I believe it, because it happened to me too.
This rant is about home brew external HDD, not about the well-made products from major companies that put the thing in a proper enclosure.
I do hope the OP was able to use a recovery program on the drive.
