Restoring Old hard Drive

If you just want files, You can just copy and paste what you need from it.

To get an IDE drive to work with those USB -> IDE adapters, the drive will NEED to be set to MASTER(Jumpers near the IDE plug).

Once it is set to master, I always just make the drive connections then the power connection(let er spin up, but its not needed) last make the USB connection(many users make it first.). I always make sure the drive power and adapter are connected before powering so I do not have to move the drive.

After that, it should just show up as an extra drive like d: e: ect.

If you can not access items because of a permission issue, you will have to take ownership of the drive(just ask and I will help).

Don't mess with imaging unless you have to. It is a good way to wipe out another drive if you do it wrong.

Thanks for the quick response! The thing is my old hard drive has specific drivers for a vinyl plotter that I use that isn't available anymore on the retailers web site. That being said, I want to use the hard drive in its entirety instead of copying files over to a new hard drive. I'm able to access the files through the converters but is there a way to use the old hard drive in its entirety? Thanks!

Also, I unfortunately did wipe the new hard drive accidentally using Acronis but it's no problem as I had nothing important on that drive.

... If you install windows on your new hard drive, and boot to it, you should be able to read the files off of the old hard drive, as long as it has power...

That being said, IDE to anything adapters are known for not working well at all.

It is very hard to just restore and image onto a new drive. The reason is windows will see a new system and blue screen you.

If you have the installer for the plotter on the old drive, you may be able to pull it over.

If you select the source as the USB drive and the destination as the now empty drive ti should clone it over, but I am not sure it will boot right(high chance of blue screen unless the drive is installed in the old system or one very close to it in specs.).

I am sure someone will chime in, so. it is technically illegal to change board without using a new copy of windows if you have the OEM version. Retail is ok for this from a legal standpoint.

It is always best to do this on a different system.

So for me, 1 ESATA and and adapter like that on a system. Just makes it more easy.

You may also be able to get a driver for your plotter @ driverguide

I have used Acronis for many system migrations and I DO like it. I also use some of the FREE Easeus software lately because...well its free.

One last thing is depending on the config of your system, you may actually be able to boot off the USB drive and see if it will work(slow, but better then nothing). You just need to see if you can select it as the 1st(first) boot device.

If you set the IDE drive to slave, then those USB adapters tend to fail to detect it.

SATA no longer has MASTER/SLAVE/CABLE SELECT

I know what you mean. Boot from the SATA and use the IDE, just a technicality to avoid confusion of readers in the future.

Those adapters get enough bad reviews for being DOA when a user sets a HDD to salve or cs as it is.

Unfortunately, I don't have an installer available on the old drive. I'm having issues with Acronis with a "run list corrupted" type error when I try to clone or back up the disk. As for running the old drive off of the USB, I am able to detect the old drive. However, the computer restarts on the Windows XP loading screen. The bar would fill up twice and then it'll restart. Correct me if I'm wrong but I've read that USB devices reinitialize during the loading screen which causes the restart. Is there anyway to prevent the restart? Thanks!

Are you running from the DVD or do you still have a system with windows installed?

If you have system with windows installed, I suggest taking both the new drive and old drive to that system and doing the copy in Windows to see if you can get it going.

On the system with windows you should also run error scans on both drives just in case a file system error is causing this issue.

What is the OS on the old drive? XP? Vista? 7?

What is the make/model number of this plotter?

You bring up a good point about USB boot, but I have a bad feeling the restart is an error from the board swap. You can confirm it, but it take a bit more work.

Another idea would be to get an IDE to SATA connector and attach the old drive directly to the new motherboard. Since the new computer has a different motherboard you might be able to boot from the old drive into safe mode and then update the motherboard drivers. This is a long shot but might work.