Getting Files From Old Hdd

[BobT]

Our home PC finally bit the big one. It was a Dell Inspiron with Windows Vista OS. The HDD is about 140GB. The computer just stopped working. When I push the power button it doesn't do anything except the power button just momentarily flashes yellow and that's it. No other indication that power is on. Normally, it goes green and I hear fans and drives start running. I'm suspecting possibly a power supply issue. 

 

At any rate, I have realized it was getting time so I decided to finally upgrade. I was well pleased with the last one so I purchased another Dell Inspiron small desktop with Windows 10. I would like to try and connect my old hard drive to the new desktop to see if I could extract some files that I have on it.

 

How do I do this? Is it just a matter of plugging it in and accessing it like a USB flash drive?

 

Thanks,

 

Bob

[delcecchi]

The easiest way for an internal hard drive is to buy one of the kits that make it into an external drive, then plug it into the usb port.   

 

About 20 bucks on amazon.  

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Lay-Flat-Docking-EC-DFLT/dp/B00LS5NFQ2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1541710967&sr=8-5&keywords=external+drive+enclosure

[leech~~]

Well at least your getting some ideas about your old broken Dell from old Del!  

[Nick Kuhn]

BobT, depending on the interface of your Dell you can just take it out of the old PC and install it in the new one. I'm going to guess it's still SATA, but if your Dell is truly ancient then it may be IDE. It also just might be your power supply bit the dust. It may have the 5V necessary for the power button, but nothing on the 12 volt rails.

 

Del's advice works too if you want something portable.

[delcecchi]

13 hours ago, Nick Kuhn said:

BobT, depending on the interface of your Dell you can just take it out of the old PC and install it in the new one. I'm going to guess it's still SATA, but if your Dell is truly ancient then it may be IDE. It also just might be your power supply bit the dust. It may have the 5V necessary for the power button, but nothing on the 12 volt rails.

 

Del's advice works too if you want something portable.

The external drive is the easiest way, no matter what.    And ide aka parallel ATA was superceded in the early 2000's like 2001 or so.   Vista came out in 2007 (I looked it up) so SATA was in wide use before that.  

Besides, an external enclosure can be handy to have around.   

[BobT]

Thanks for the help. I was talking to our IT guys at work and they gave me a USB cable that I could connect directly to the HDD. Unfortunately, the cable was made to work with 2.5" HDD and not 3.5" which require 12v. My son is a bit of a geek and he and I will be looking at it tomorrow. He figures he can make something work with the stuff he has around. 

[Nick Kuhn]

HDD size shouldn't matter, SATA connectors are SATA connectors. You should be able to make it work. 

[delcecchi]

6 hours ago, Nick Kuhn said:

HDD size shouldn't matter, SATA connectors are SATA connectors. You should be able to make it work. 

If you are going to kludge a connection, you need to also provide the correct power.   I think 2.5 inch disks us 5volts while 3.5 also require 12.  That is why an external 2.5 can plug into a usb port while an external 3.5 has a wall wart power supply as well as the usb.

[BobT]

My son was able to gain access by connecting it to his desktop. It required 12v power to drive it. Thanks.

[Nick Kuhn]

On 11/12/2018 at 7:28 AM, delcecchi said:

If you are going to kludge a connection, you need to also provide the correct power.   I think 2.5 inch disks us 5volts while 3.5 also require 12.  That is why an external 2.5 can plug into a usb port while an external 3.5 has a wall wart power supply as well as the usb.

 

I haven't bought one in a while but my old enclosure had a separate power supply to power the enclosure.

[BobT]

14 hours ago, Nick Kuhn said:

 

I haven't bought one in a while but my old enclosure had a separate power supply to power the enclosure.

That is how my 1T external HDD is. There is a 12v power supply and a USB connection.