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dutchy
26th February 2013, 06:44 AM
Im not really in the know of computers so before I mess things up, i thought i might ask. I have a hard drive that came out of an old computer. The drive is still ok. There is some data on there that I need. Can I just connect it to my good working computer and access the drive ? When I connect it, will it recognise the drive in a similar way when you plug in a usb drive ? Cheers, Peter

Shadow110
26th February 2013, 07:30 AM
There is a couple of options.
There is a USB data transfer cable where the program checks the whole setup and looks for pics and docs, then you select what you want and then it comes over... Last time I used one they were very slow.
Or LAN the computer and the new one should see it on the network and access the files.
Or the old fashioned way, a giant USB drive and drag and drop your old files.

Feelinlucky75
26th February 2013, 08:12 AM
If you are talking about putting the old hdd in you new computer to get the files outta there just make sure you do it with the pc off... No hot swapping with stuff like that.

dutchy
26th February 2013, 08:58 AM
Thanks guys, the old computer doesnt work anymore so all I could do is to take the drive out. Its now sitting on my desk with no access to it. I opened up my working computer and saw a flat cable that connects to the hdd in that one. There's also an electrical cable with an extra spare connection. Those same cables are both connected to the current hdd on my computer. If I (with computer off obviously), connect the hdd to the cables and start up the computer, can I access that old disc then or does it require changing settings in the bios ? If it's all too difficult, i'll have to drop it off at a computer store and have them do it for me.

Shadow110
26th February 2013, 08:59 AM
Just take it to a computer store and they can take all the porn off it and put it either on a flash drive or many dvds

dutchy
26th February 2013, 09:05 AM
Just take it to a computer store and they can take all the porn off it and put it either on a flash drive or many dvds

:aureola:

Feelinlucky75
26th February 2013, 09:20 AM
:aureola:

lol... :devil:

it should work as you said, just plug her in and give it a go. worst that will happen is it wont read it..

JohnBu
26th February 2013, 09:26 AM
Shouldn't be too hard.

Take a photo of the connectors for us.

If the hard drive has jumpers on it, set the old hard drive as a slave drive and hook it up to the new PC.

Otherwise you will have to go to bios and set the new HDD as master and old HDD as slave. This will let the PC know which HDD to boot up from

It's unlikely you will do any damage to the new PC, but I would back it up just in case (goof practice anyway).





Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

Shadow110
26th February 2013, 09:27 AM
Change it to a slave drive too...

dutchy
26th February 2013, 09:58 AM
Slave drive is I guess a second hdd just as in when you connect a usb storage drive ? The picture is a bit fuzzy, sorry for that. I can see some jumpers and a black sort of block on it. If that is set to "slave", I can just hook up the electrical connector and large flat connector cable and then boot up the pc ?

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac8/dutchy_02/DSC00098_zpsf9ccb519.jpg

Brando47
26th February 2013, 10:23 AM
Most internal parts you can just plug in while the computer is off without any hassles, I have checked a couple of old hard drives out doing this :) There should be two cords you need to plug in, one for power and one for data transfer; basically just put them where they fit (one that should go to a connector coming from the power supply and one on the motherboard, the large circuit board on the bottom). Whether the spots are there for the plugs to go into will depend on whether the computers are from a similar era, as they used to use a different cable for connecting hard drives.

Have never needed to mess around with master/slave drives much, with any luck it'll start as normal and you can access the other drive from My Computer :)

Edit: The 4 pin plug is for power, they can be difficult to plug in but don't be afraid to use some force and do a bit of wiggling. The only other one you should need is the large flat data cable (called a PATA connection I think) and if you have a spare spot on your motherboard just plug it in there and you're good to go :) Just be careful not to bend the pins when you put in this cable and check you have it the right way up

JohnBu
26th February 2013, 10:39 AM
An old IDE drive!

Brando47 has expanded on what you need to do, but you're good to go.

poita
26th February 2013, 10:44 AM
Or if you don't want to be pulling the computer apart buy one of these

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/221192774979?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Brando47
26th February 2013, 10:53 AM
That would be fairly handy, compatible with every drive! Other option would be to get a HDD enclosure and convert it to an external hard drive, might give you a use for the HDD after you're done :) Would just have to make sure you get the right type of enclosure since it is an older drive (3.5" IDE I think is all you need to know!)

My favourite store to buy parts from locally: http://www.msy.com.au/

Or order what you need cheap from china: http://dx.com/

dutchy
27th February 2013, 12:11 AM
Or if you don't want to be pulling the computer apart buy one of these

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/221192774979?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Figured I didn't want to mess up my work computer, so I ordered one of these. Thx for the tips all :thumbs:

InsaneAsylum
27th February 2013, 08:51 AM
I have one of these as I work in IT. it's probably one of the most frequent things I use: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/USB-2-0-TO-SATA-IDE-Hard-Drive-Adapter-Converter-Cable-SET-/170694145000?pt=AU_CablesConnectors&hash=item27be29f3e8

most new computers don't even come with 40 pin IDE ports anymore

Bogie
27th February 2013, 08:53 AM
OK, This is what you need to do to get the data of the dive.
You have an IDE hard Drive.
As long as you have a connector available on the flat ribbon cable (IDE CABLE) in your working pc and a spare power plug available then you can do this.
The Black Jumper is what sets the Hard drive to slave. On the top of the drive you will see the legend that tells you where the jumper needs to be to be set as slave (i.e. usually slave is no jumper but depends on the brand drive you have)
Once this is connected and setup boot your pc and in my computer the slave drive will be given a drive letter (usually E: if you only have one drive and DVD rom)
Launch E: copy your data to your c:

poita
5th March 2013, 11:17 PM
Hey dutchy has it arrived yet?

Mine turned up today, power into it, usb into computer, plugged hard drive in and bam worked perfectly.

Everything on the drive was accessible again.

dutchy
5th March 2013, 11:31 PM
Hey dutchy has it arrived yet?

Mine turned up today, power into it, usb into computer, plugged hard drive in and bam worked perfectly.

Everything on the drive was accessible again.

Should be waiting for me at the post office :) Will check it tomorrow or the day after. What you describe is exactly what i'm after, easy, no fuss.

poita
5th March 2013, 11:34 PM
Yep couldn't be any easier tbh. the unit is a bit bigger physically than I imagined.

But when I think about it, the size is right for the connections it has.

dutchy
6th March 2013, 08:21 AM
Cheers, will see how it goes :thumbs:

dutchy
25th March 2013, 01:38 PM
Yep couldn't be any easier tbh. the unit is a bit bigger physically than I imagined.

But when I think about it, the size is right for the connections it has.

So I got the docking thing. Plugged it in the computer, connected usb and power plonked in the old hard drive, turned it on and VOILA, opened up the drive as "ocal disc H" and all old files on this drive can be accessed !!! Works a treat ! On the box it says that it works with usb 2.0 and 3.0 sata connections and reads 2.5" and 3.5" ide hard disc drives. Also contains a card reader. Happy as and that for a low price (ebay) :smile5:

poita
25th March 2013, 04:11 PM
Super easy, glad it worked Pete.