Quick hard drive question

cletus

cletus

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I just bought a new computer with a SATA hard drive. My last computer overheated and some flames shot out the back when it died. I though I could just hook up my old hard drive to my new computer but it was a ATA hard drive. It has the big ribbon-type cables instead of the small red SATA cables.

The only reason I want to hook it up to my new computer is to get the data off it. Would it be possible for me to connect it to the same cable as the CDROM and still access it? If there is no way to connect it to my new computer, is there some way involving external cables or what have you to connect it to another computer? My other computer is one of those little Gateway PCs and it doesn't have the room for two hard drives.
 
Yes, your new motherboard probably has a PATA connector on it. You can put your old drive on the PATA connector, connect power and try to copy the contents to your new drive. Your older CDROM cable may not support a newer PATA drive...it depends on whether it's an 80 conductor cable or a 40. Most Optical drives only use a 40. Use your old HD cable if possibe.

Also, you'll need to setup your BIOS to boot from SATA1 first, so that it doesn't try to boot from the old hard drive.

Oh, there are also PATA to USB converters that you can buy online.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812156015

Or you can buy an enclosure and turn your old drive into a external USB or Firewire drive. I bought one for about $35 at Circuit City and put my old drive in it.
 
Thanks guys, I was a little worried that I would short circuit something if I connected it to the wrong place. It's nice to know all the stuff on that hard drive isn't lost.
 
Can someone recommend a enclosure to me? I'm looking for something in the $20 price range plus whatever shipping will be. I figure this is going to be the only way to get any use out of this old hard drive.
 
I just paid 70 bucks for an enclosure that supports my sata internal drive... it claims to support USB/Firewire/SATA external connections..... however the sata external connection doesn't work :( so i am resorting to using firewire :| btw get one with a fan built in as the passive cooling alumnium sucks :(
 
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