Hard Drive data solution for unusable machine! is it safe?

Hi Chaps,
Got a quick question to ask without going into to much detail, about 3 months ago my Packard bell pc had a problem which came down to a problem with either the motherboard or processor ( went through all solutions posted on here) it seems the motherboard had shorted out. Out of curiousity because the system is now unusable I have a IDE to USB cable which I was gonna use to get all the old data of the hard disk by plugging this cable into the usb port of another machine. I just wondered is this safe to do as I don’t want another machine to fail because of this?!! Could there be any damage to the hard disk because of what we think is the motherboard shortening out!??? Hopefully my solution of using this cable to retract the data of the hard disk is a good one I just need to know it won’t cause any problems to the other machine! Any advice will be appreciated.
Cheers.

it's safe, but be careful with static electricity
go for it

So you have something against Stone Age stuff?