looking for new use for old ide drives

chaumont

recently my main pc died and then my ancient pc the kids had been using as well. thankfully i have access to a laptop for now. There are 4 ide drives ranging from 60gb to 250gb which i cant add them to any new computer i buy as it is an old interface.

So I'm asking if anyone has any ideas of how i can still use them as would like to keep them as i have data i would like to keep and im reluctant to bin them since there aren't small drives.

Bowling_4_Gold

Do you mean you wan to access the data on them? You could buy 4 of these which would enable you to plug them into the USB drive(s) of your new computer(s) or you could just buy one and change them around...

RobTang

You can buy this sort of docking station for hard drives, its like a normal caddy but its open, so it just sits on your desk and you can just insert the drive whenever you need it. bit like a massive memory card.

Baldur

Bowling_4_Gold wrote: »

Do you mean you wan to access the data on them? You could buy 4 of these which would enable you to plug them into the USB drive(s) of your new computer(s) or you could just buy one and change them around...

As the drives sound as though they are from a desktop, rather than laptop, 2.5" USB enclosures aren't likely to be of much use.

3.5" enclosures are also available, e.g. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160919

chaumont

thanks baldur yes its 3.5" and i had been thinking of enclosures for them but i would rather not buy 4 of them or swap them when i need to change the drive.

had been thinking about some sort of multimedia player drive thats supports ide with maybe usb or something like sd card attached or is that too much to ask for ??

Baldur

chaumont wrote: »

had been thinking about some sort of multimedia player drive thats supports ide with maybe usb or something like sd card attached or is that too much to ask for ??

There may be some that support PATA/IDE but most, like this one seem to support SATA.

Note that the link that I gave in my earlier post offers ethernet as well as USB connection.

almillar

The cheapest option would actually likely be an old computer! Grab a Pentium4 or similar off eBay, gumtree etc for <£20, and you can plug up to 4 drives into it. If it's a temporary measure, you can then sell on the computer and the drives (the 250gb should at least get something) and move on in your SATA world!

TEDDYRUKSPIN

Yeah. I believe a decent door stop or a burial ground in your garden will be great for them. Maybe put information of the last decade and make a time capsule?

Will be interesting if future spacemen and aliens find the pile of rubbish we all have.

Only joking.