fishacura

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Oct 5, 2006
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I may have an issue with my PC rendering it essentially useless. There is some data on the HD that I'd like to get to.

I have done some reading and see they seel SATA to USB converters and cables.

If I do the following, should it work:

1. power up old PC (so old HD gets power)
2. connect one end of cable to HD on old PC
3. connect other end of cable to USB on new PC

Will the new PC simply recognize the HD as a mass storage device and I'll have access to the files?

Sorry if this is basic, but before I buy the converter I wanted to see if I understood it....
 
Solution
Look for External Enclosures under Computer Hardware ... Hard Drives. I clicked at left on the bar Advanced Seaqrch and specified 3.5" drive size and USB External Interface, and it showed me 75 items:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010010092%201053807123%201054207132&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Order=RATING&PageSize=20

Note that some of these are for IDE internal interfaces, some for SATA (original) only, and some for SATA I and II. If you search a bit more broadly you can find ones with more than one external interface - a common combination like I have is both USB2 and eSATA. So if you have either of those two port systems on your new machine you can use it. IF you have a choice, eSATA is faster...

Paperdoc

Polypheme
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The simpler procedure most would do is to disconnect the HDD and remove it from the old PC, then mount it in the new PC and connect cables (power and data) to it, then access the drive that way. A second option is to buy an external hard drive CASE that has a USB connection to your new computer, and an internal connection to the HDD that matches what your old HDD has - in this case, you indicate SATA. Mount the old drive in the case and you have essentially created an external hard drive unit that contains all your old data, connected to the new machine as a USB device. Use it that way.

What you suggest is risky because you would have two different power supplies connected to one HDD. However, there is a relatively simple third solution if you really do not want to remove the old drive from the old computer. Many adapters to connect a SATA drive to a USB port come with a power supply adapter system as well as the data connection adapter. So with the old drive still mounted in the old computer, you disconnect BOTH its data ribbon and its power supply and connect in their places the adapter system you buy. Do not turn on the old computer. Just plug in the adapter power supply and turn on the new computer connected to the old drive via USB adapter. You could use it that way.
 

fishacura

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THANKS! I didn't realize they came with power already supplied....nor did I know about these "cases".

I checked on newegg and didnt' see anything called a hard drive case. Do you know what they'd be called as I'd love to check them out...
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
Look for External Enclosures under Computer Hardware ... Hard Drives. I clicked at left on the bar Advanced Seaqrch and specified 3.5" drive size and USB External Interface, and it showed me 75 items:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010010092%201053807123%201054207132&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Order=RATING&PageSize=20

Note that some of these are for IDE internal interfaces, some for SATA (original) only, and some for SATA I and II. If you search a bit more broadly you can find ones with more than one external interface - a common combination like I have is both USB2 and eSATA. So if you have either of those two port systems on your new machine you can use it. IF you have a choice, eSATA is faster than USB2, but USB3 is at least as fast as eSATA.

For the plain adapter (not a full case), search on USB to IDE/SATA Adapter Cable. I prefer the full case myself because it can be used to turn any HDD into a portable secure hard drive, whereas the adapter cable is more for non-moving temporary connections.
 
Solution