Hardware·18,997 discussions

how to transfer files from old hard drive to new pc?

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Hey, so i have given up on my old pc as i cant revive it so i want to know how to get my files from the old hard drive and transfer it to a new pc? I heard about changing the old hard drive to slave but i dont know how to do it and my hard drive is SATA i think. Its what it says on the wire…? Anyway really confused about the whole thing.

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Clarifications

In reply to how to transfer files from old hard drive to new pc?

Clarifications

your old drive

In reply to how to transfer files from old hard drive to new pc?

probably is a IDE ATA 133 drive meaning when you pull out the old drive it will have a really wide cable attached to it, which transfers data to and from the Mother Board. You have a couple options… Pull drive out with the cable, and on the back of the drive it will have jumpers 3 rows stacked (6 total) you should have three options CS (cable select) Master, and Slave. I recommend placing the jumper in as CS, because it makes everything easer.

You can take that ribbon and plug it into your new PC’s motherboard (Turned off and unplugged from the wall) you will have to look around on the mother board for the correct connection point (probably on the right hand side somewhere…. and attach the 4 pin power connection from the Power Supply.

Or you can get an IDE to USB converter, pull out the old drive, plug it into the IDE to USB converter, attach the power cable, plug in the power connection to the wall, and then plug the USB into your PC while its turned on. Plug and pray will pick it up and then you can brows around the drive copy and paste the data….

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812195005

Many, many ways to skin this cat

In reply to how to transfer files from old hard drive to new pc?

you could take advantage of an overlooked windows xp tool called “file and settings transfer wizard”

start>programs>Accesssories>system tools>file and settings transfer wizard

from here it is pretty much cut and dry. Just grab some blank cds or dvds

The transfer wizard requires TWO computers. – …

In reply to Many, many ways to skin this cat

The OP has already stated that the old computer is dead. 😉

yeah, anyway

In reply to The transfer wizard requires TWO computers. – …

how do you delete a post again? 🙂

(i know, you cant)

Just do what I do …

In reply to yeah, anyway

Keep a rolling tally in your head, of ‘Thumbs’ minus ‘Posts you can’t delete’.

My tally is JUST into 3 figures I reckon. :^0

You’ll get used to it. 😉

Or you can have a Blonde moment :p

In reply to Just do what I do …

It was actually helpful information if the OP was using Vista. :-bd

I haven’t checked recently but at one stage I was averaging 5 Thumbs for every 100 answers. Not very good odds. :-&

Yeah, but really

In reply to Or you can have a Blonde moment :p

I just like having a place to share info, who cares about a thumb, make it a dollar! that would be interesting 😉 haha.

good point

In reply to Just do what I do …

ill remember that 😉

If it is a SATA HDD

In reply to how to transfer files from old hard drive to new pc?

All you need do is plug it into a computer that supports SATA HDD’s.

If the Primary Boot Drive is a SATA this drive will be picked up as a Slave and be accessible from there.

As for accessing your Data that is a different story depending on what was used previously on the now dead computer. If for instance you had XP Pro and where using EFS your data is lost unless you have a Backup of it Unencrypted or if you have the Recovery Agent Backed up and you are using a different version of Windows like for instance Vista and the old computer was running XP you will be unable to mount the recovery Agent because Vista uses a different system to XP and the two encryptions methods are not interchangeable.

You may be required to take ownership of your Files as well if you had a Password on the OS and had marked your Data as Private and to do that you need to follow the directions here for XP at least

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

Or the easier way is to stick the HDD into a USB Enclosure and use it from there to recover your Data though the above will apply if you have any form of Security involved with it. But the advantage of using an External Enclosure is that after you have recovered all of your Data you can then continue to use that HDD to Backup your Data to so that next time you have any problems you do not run the risk of loosing everything.

Just remember that External Enclosures [b]Do Not[/b] play nice if you leave them running all of the time. They overheat and are subject to vibrational Damage as well as you need to use the Safely Remove Option under Windows to dismount the Drives before turning off the System or HDD int he external Enclosure.

Ideally you should only use the External Drive when it is needed to backup that Data preferably unencrypted through a suitable Backup Program or if this is a domestic application as Plain Text. Or when you are required to recover your Data. The Drive shouldn’t be running at any other times.

Col

When you say that i cant revive it

In reply to how to transfer files from old hard drive to new pc?

what are the symptoms. Is it not turning on, is it displaying any error messages.

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