Need some computer help

physically removing the hard drive and putting it in a working computer is probably your best bet

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Original post by Chris Reynolds Is there some way I can pull the files off my old computer using my new computer? Can the old computer be read as an external HD through my new computer?

To do that you have two main options:

1. Take out the old HD and install it into your new computer as a secondary drive. If the drive is SATA, you can just use another SATA cord. If it is IDE, you need to set the drive as a Slave and hook it up on the primary IDE cord assuming it has a secondary connector.

2. Get a SATA/IDE to USB adapter and transfer the files that way.

If you can afford approach #2, it is usually faster and less hassle most of the time. It is a bit slower though, but it gets the job done. Approach #1 is fine as long as you have the additional wires to hook it up and will result in a faster file transfer.

Note: If you had any user account files on the account that used account encryption, then you will have some issues getting those files back. It just depends where the files were located that you wish to get back and how your OS was setup.

i'm going to attempt the taking out of the old HD and putting it in the new one. if that doesn't work, i'll try the other approach tomorrow.

thanks for the quick replies

EDIT: ended up having an IDE drive, popped it in the new computer, and it's reading the drive without any problems. thanks!

[Edited by - Chris Reynolds on February 20, 2009 9:17:55 PM]

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Original post by Drew_Benton 2. Get a SATA/IDE to USB adapter and transfer the files that way. If you can afford approach #2

Not like $20 is a big deal for most people posting here? :) (The one I got was even cheaper.) Of course, you'll still have to remove the HD from the old computer and fit it into the adapter, and probably configure a jumper switch to set the drive to be a slave. But then you have an easily portable, high-capacity external drive :)

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Note that it's possible that the mess-up has something to do with a problem on the HD itself, though. You might not be able to recover everything. :/