migrating data from old hard drive on dead pc?

Question

my old pc quit working. it would power up but the monitor, keyboard & mouse were dead. so i bought a new pc (both dells). i'd replaced the hard drive about a year ago & i suspect it's still good to go. can i install it in my new pc & move the doc files? the old pc ran xp pro. new pc has xp media edition.

Answer 1

Yes, you can hook it up and get whatever files you want off of it. You won't be able to boot from that drive, just hook it up as a slave.

Answer 2

The answer is yes. What you need to do is add the additional hard drive, but in SLAVE not master.

Do the following

WARNING, DISCONNECT ALL POWER BEFORE DOING ANYTHING. ON BOTH COMPUTERS. YOU CAN SHOCK YOURSELF IF YOU DONT DO THIS

1) open case of old computer and safely remove the hard drive. to do this pull the calbe gently from the back of the drive. removed teh screws that are securing it to the computer case, and then remove the power cable. it will take a bit of effort to get teh power cable

2( then open teh case of the new computer, and locate the calbe that is connected to your hard drive. along this calbe, you will see an extra (male end) that is used to hook up the additional hard drive. plug in the old hard disk to this cable. then the power that goes into your existing new dell hard drive, follow that cable, and you will see a separate (male end) unused power plug. plug that power into your old hard drive.

NOTE - on the back of the old drive, you will see some pins, i think there are 6 pins but dont quote me, it will look something like this below

0 0 0
0 0 0

then there is a little plastic connector that isused to touch certain pins together. on the hard drive itself, there should be an option for MASTER - which should be the existing setting and SLAVE is the setting that you want. remove that little jumper piece carefully and put it on exactly as the SLAVE diagram indicates.

turn on the dell and it should reconize the new hard drive. since you are just transfering files, just place the 2nd hard drive (your old one) on a flat surface and leave the case open, once u transfer everytying, i strongly recommend disconnecting anything.

NOTE -WHENEVER YOU DO WORK INSIDE A COMPUTER, U NEED TO DISCHARGE ANY STATIC ELECTRICITY. TOUCH YOUR HANDS ON THE METAL CASING.

good luck, let me know what hppens, either IM me or email me if u run into problems

good luck

Answer 3

You can make your old hard disk as the "Primary Slave" drive by looking at the manufacturers guide on top of the hard disk to move the jumper that from the Master setting to the Slave setting.
A "jumper" is a plastic connector with two holes that connects a pair of pins on the hard disk. Jumpers need careful handling. It works fine if you carefully pull out a jumper with your hand from the old position and push it into a new position.
If you use a small tweezer to pull out a jumper and press hard, you will risk damaging it or it may flip from your your tweezer and drop on the floor. You will lose time searching for it. To avoid all this hassle, you should always keep extra jumpers handy. You may be able to get them for free from anyone computer shop you regularly visit.
Now, almost all new hard disks now come with standard size jumpers. In the latest Seagate and Samsung hard disks only the Primary Master hard disk needs a jumper. The Slave hard disk not need any. The jumper settings for CDRW/CDR must also be checked carefully if you are going to add a new internal hard disk.
The problem can arise with older Maxtor hard disks which use smaller size jumpers located right below the hard disk. It is hard to find small jumpers. For older Quantum or Conner hard disks, there is no such problem.
Since you want to move a hard disk from the older Dell computer, the hard disk of both models may be having the same size jumpers on the same manufacturer's hard disk
CDRW and CDR drives, run at a much slower speed than hard disks. If you have just one of them, that drive can be the Primary Slave. If you have both types they will be recognized by the computer as the Secondary Master and Secondary Slave.
Sorry, I have revised and updated reply because my comments were based on the 3.5" hard disk installation in the 5" bays, using mobile racks with a pull-out trays. If you have only three slots on your computer and you are using both a CDRW and a CDR drives you may not have a free slot left.
New computers do not come with mobile racks. Users install mobile racks themselves.
These days, plastic mobile racks are almost obsolete because they trap all the heat inside. Double or triple fans cooling is only a sales gimmick. Many people have started using internal aluminum mobile racks because the metal case dissipates the heat of the hard disk much faster than the the internal fans can do.
If your new hard disk is not movable, installed on a 3.5” bay, the simplest way is to buy an external USB hard disk case for your old hard disk.
External cases accommodate both 3.5" hard disks and the 5" CDRW/CD drives. The computer running on Windows XP will recognize an external drive if the jumper set for a Primary drive.
An external case comes with its own power cable and a USB cable. It should should be available within $20. Buy only an external box of aluminum, not steel. Cooling is the key to extending the life of the hard disk.
Just screw in the old hard disk inside an external case and connect it to your your new computer's with the USB cable. You can connect or disconnect it any number of times like replacing the floppy disks, which is known as "hot exchange".
Make sure that your new computer is running on Windows XP SP2. You cannot expect this luxury on Windows 98SE, which will recognize the external hard drive only after installation of the driver that comes with the external hard disk case. Windows 95 users may not be able to use the external hard disks at all because it does not support a USB connection. I haven't seen any brand of external case with a driver for Windows 95.

If your Windows XP-SP2 is installed on a disk with NTFS format, it will run faster than FAT 32. It can also read your old hard disk with FAT32 format..

An external hard disk will not only help you move all the data but also serve as a back-up disk for updated data.

One of the affordable popular brands of external drives is Oker. There are many other brands which function just as well.

Answer 4

You should be able to install your hard disk into your new computer. It may be difficult but you can choose which version of windows you use when you boot up, once you have the HD installed then transfer the files and wipe it.

Answer 5

you can try...!Losing data on a hard drive is the worst nightmare of any computer owner. However, some hard drive problems can be easily fixed yourself by using easily available tools. I found the info at http://fixit.in useful

Answer 6

you can take the old drive and install it on the new pc as a slave drive (change the jumper)
and you should be good to go.

Answer 7

you could always try before you ask...it saves time.