How do i get data off an old hardrive?

21yrold

Hi guys!

I have an old hardrive in a computer that wont boot up and ive kept the whole tower as i cant bare to get rid of the hardrive!

Is there a device i can slot the old hardrive into and get the info up on my new pc?

Data transfer etc??

If so is it expensive/hard to do?

Thanks :-)

Neil

NiVZ

Hello,

You'll need to find out if the old drive is an IDE drive or a SATA drive.

If you've got another desktop/tower PC, then it can cost nothing and is pretty easy to do by removing the drive from your old computer (you made need to change 'jumper' settings to change it from primary to slave) and then fit it in the new desktop/tower (as long as it has the same hard drive connecter)

If you want to use it with a laptop, you can use a 3.5" external caddy (costs around £40) and again is fairly straight forward (and you get ones that do both IDE and SATA), just remove the old drive, fit it into the caddy and then attach to the laptop via USB.

NiVZ

gonzo127

although the above advice is sound, i am just wondering if you know why the old system wont boot up? is it likely to be a hardware problem or is it a windows problem? just wondering as it might be possible to get your old system running again with little to no cost, of course if you dont care about getting it running again dont worry and just follow the above advice

the drive caddies they are on about is something like this
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149272 for SATA
or
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136250 for IDE

Donnie

NiVZ wrote: »

Hello,

You'll need to find out if the old drive is an IDE drive or a SATA drive.

If you've got another desktop/tower PC, then it can cost nothing and is pretty easy to do by removing the drive from your old computer (you made need to change 'jumper' settings to change it from primary to slave) and then fit it in the new desktop/tower (as long as it has the same hard drive connecter)

If you want to use it with a laptop, you can use a 3.5" external caddy (costs around £40) and again is fairly straight forward (and you get ones that do both IDE and SATA), just remove the old drive, fit it into the caddy and then attach to the laptop via USB.

NiVZ

I think this must be a mistake. £40??

An suitable external enclosure will cost around £11.

3.5” IDE To USB2.0 Aluminum Enclosure £11 inc delivery

3.5” SATA To USB2.0 Aluminum Enclosure £10.30 including delivery.

If you let us know the make and model of machine, we will tell you which to choose.

JasX

NiVZ wrote: »

If you've got another desktop/tower PC, then it can cost nothing and is pretty easy to do by removing the drive from your old computer (you made need to change 'jumper' settings to change it from primary to slave) and then fit it in the new desktop/tower (as long as it has the same hard drive connecter)

NiVZ

yup, by far the easiest solution here, personally I tend to just set the hard drive on the desk/beside/on top of a working desktop with one side removed and run the power + data cables out to it from the working machine. No need to faff with screws or internals that way...

If you're particularly lazy you can leave it inside the old case and just run wires into the drive with both cases side by side (be sure everything associated with the old computer is disconnected before plugging in anything from the new computer)

iamcornholio

Don't bother with a caddy, get one of these adapters, and then you can connect any HD/CD/DVD/floppy drive via usb

nottseagull

iamcornholio wrote: »

Don't bother with a caddy, get one of these adapters, and then you can connect any HD/CD/DVD/floppy drive via usb

Do you mean you can use this to connect the old PC to the new laptop/PC and transfer the data without having to remove the hard disc?

iamcornholio

The HD will normally need to be removed .... or left in place and just connect the adapter to it in-situ

NiVZ

Donnie wrote: »

I think this must be a mistake. £40??

An suitable external enclosure will cost around £11.

3.5” IDE To USB2.0 Aluminum Enclosure £11 inc delivery

3.5” SATA To USB2.0 Aluminum Enclosure £10.30 including delivery.

If you let us know the make and model of machine, we will tell you which to choose.

Hello,

Yeah you can get them cheaper on eBay, and if you for one that does specifically IDE or SATA.

The one I looked at was in Maplin and did BOTH IDE and SATA to cover all bases.

NiVZ

NiVZ

nottseagull wrote: »

Do you mean you can use this to connect the old PC to the new laptop/PC and transfer the data without having to remove the hard disc?

Forgot about these - we've used them at work in the past and they do IDE and SATA too.

Yeah you can conenct it without removing the old hard disc as long as the cable is long enough to reach from new PC to inside the case of the old one.

NiVZ

JasX

nottseagull wrote: »

Do you mean you can use this to connect the old PC to the new laptop/PC and transfer the data without having to remove the hard disc?

yes but OP could do exactly the same with the existing cables and connectors they already have..... nothing needs to be bought here.