Accessing files from an old internal Hard Drive

[MarkBell]

I am trying to access my personal files from an internal Hard Drive in which I removed from a computer of mine which stopped working. This computer was using Windows XP Professional.
The computer I am using now uses Windows 7.
I removed the hard drive from the failed computer and tried connecting it to my present computer using a USB 2.0 To IDE/SATA Cable but I am always asked to initialize the disk. I have doubts about doing this as I think this will wipe the hard drive clean.
I did however backup my personal files using Microsoft Backup before my failed computer stopped working.
I downloaded and installed the Restore Utility for Windows from Microsoft on my present computer and tried restoring my backup but I keep getting the message 'This media has been secured. You do not have the proper privileges.' I think that this is because I protected my backup with a password.
I would appreciate any help in solving my problem.

 

[hoganth]

Is your old drive IDE or SATA?
On your new Motherboard do you have both IDE and SATA Ports?
You should be able to connect old drive to new mobo

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello MarkBell, welcome to Seven Forums!



It seems my friend Google believes that you may/will lose your data if you initialize a HDD with data on it, my apologies that I'm not more help with this though I am interested in the outcome, please keep us informed.