How do I install a newer hard drive to an older computer?

[Mizmelzy]

My current tower computer a HP a1640n has a fried motherboard due to a power outage. It had Windows 7 34bit edition home. Hard drive inside is still good an usable. I have an old tower unit Sonia Vaio PVC RX752 which has an old IDE hard drive which crashed, and I went out at that time and just bought a new computer. Everything else still works on it but the hard drive. I was hoping to take out the HP hard drive and put it in the VIAO so that i could transfer all the information I had on it to my external USB hard drive. Can I use the new hard drive in the old computer? I realize that my old computer probably won't be Windows 7 Compatable with drivers and such. But all I want it to do is boot up so I can get the information off the hard drive. The new HD in the HP uses a P10 connector which the old computer does not have. It is an IDE hard drive. How would I go about getting the right connectors if I can? If you need pictures I have them of the inside of both computers. I realize that the easier way would be to buy a new computer and just transfer it that way. But right now, don't have the money to buy a new computer. I have files on the hard drive I do need, so I need to get them off now.

Thanks!
Melissa

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Now it sounds a touched muddled to me Melissa am I guessing right you just want data from the old drive onto the new build hard drive. If so mate just hook it up via a USB gadget and transfer over what you want.

Something like this one there are versions that have IDE one side and SATA the other and most are externally powered (you get an adaptor for that)

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16599&gclid=CJfl8KOf0LgCFQMwpAodFk4A6A

Plenty of choice here on this page too.

Newegg.com - usb to sata adaptor

 

[DocBrown]

I would use a dual IDE & Sata dock or a USB adapter


:ar: StarTech UNIDOCK3U Black External Enclosure - Newegg.com

:ar: USB 2 0 to SATA IDE HD HDD Adapter Cable Serial ATA | eBay

 

[Mizmelzy]

I want to install the hard drive that was in my HP a1640n into my older Sony Vaio tower computer which only has IDE hard drive cables. Not SATA. I want to put the hard drive into the older tower computer so I can get files off of it. This way I can then format the hard drive and install windows XP and use the VAIO until I can get a new tower computer. Probably won't be until Christmas. I like having two computers running. This way when one goes down, I have the other to get information on how to fix the one that went down. Makes it useful to download drivers or what not that I need. The Sony Vaio works but the hard drive took a dump. So I was hoping to just swap out the drive and put the newer one in to the Vaio to get the information from it and save it.

Can this be done? If so how? Or is the hard drive too new, and the old motherboard might not recognize the new hard drive?

Mel

 

[DocBrown]

IDE to SATA adapter

:ar: 2in1 IDE to SATA SATA to IDE Converter Adapter Support ATA 100 133 Red Cables | eBay

 

[Mizmelzy]

Thanks! I'll try that! I did call a local computer place here in town and they have those SATA to IDE converters in stock. I'll have to pick one up on Monday when I'm in town.

Mel

 

[strollin]

As I understand your issue, neither computer is currently bootable, correct? In order to use one of those IDE to SATA converters and copy the data, you're going to need to boot the computer and I'm not sure that the old computer will boot with the hdd from the new computer. It's not an issue that the hdd is too new, it's just that the Windows 7 install on the hdd may not like the hardware of the old computer and may refuse to boot.

Good luck with that, it might work but you may need to find a bootable computer to attach that drive to in order to copy the data.

 

[DocBrown]

Good Point strollin

She may have to boot with a Linux CD, then copy from one drive to the other.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yes Melissa the Newegg ref I sent has heaps of those adaptors and you could just use any for transferring data.

Now may I make a suggestion that Melissa make a bootable Ubuntu -that's how I recover data from drives that are not accessible normally if one does do it this way it is quick and you just need to make sure you use the TRY version at boot up and NOT the INSTALL .

Ubuntu is just a personal choice for me I find it easier to use than any other Linux type OS.

Download Ubuntu | Ubuntu use ImgBurn to make the disk doesn't take long and as I said easy to use.
If you go down this path and run into problems post back I can walk you through it.

 

[Mizmelzy]

The only computer I have that is bootable is my laptop. Otherwise I don't have anything else. I figure I'll give it a try and see if the adapter works. If it doesn't, I'm not sure how I'll get the information off the drive. Don't have a lot of money or I'd have gotten the HDD docking station which might have been the easiest to get the information off of.

Hopefully this will work! If not, I'll be back.

Mel

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Maybe this adapter is what you want, I have one and it's great.

VANTEC CB-ISA100-U3 Adapter - Newegg.com

 

[bobafetthotmail]

If you wanted to connect the IDE drive to the laptop (the working device) to copy off data, the second link in the first DocBrown's post is what you are looking for (the same link is also here for convenience). Of course you would need to power up your tower PC just to provide power to the drive trough a molex (power) connector, but the IDE interface of the drive is attached to that device in the link, that turns it in an external hard drive for whatever PC you plug the usb cable into.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

The only computer I have that is bootable is my laptop. Otherwise I don't have anything else. I figure I'll give it a try and see if the adapter works. If it doesn't, I'm not sure how I'll get the information off the drive. Don't have a lot of money or I'd have gotten the HDD docking station which might have been the easiest to get the information off of.

Hopefully this will work! If not, I'll be back.

Mel

Hmm Melissa if you set the BIOS to boot from optical the Ubuntu has to boot if everything else is unplugged you have nothing to lose by trying it. Not only can you access those drives if you hook them afterwards but also the internet for help etc.

 

[strollin]

There's still something missing from the equation. If Melissa connects her hard drive to the tower with the adapter and uses a Live Ubuntu CD to boot the machine and is able to access the drive and get the data she needs, where will she be able to copy the data to? She still needs someplace to copy the data to and store it until she is able to fix her computer or get a new one.

She could use a USB thumb drive providing it's large enough to hold all the data. Another possibility is to burn the data to a CD.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

There's still something missing from the equation. If Melissa connects her hard drive to the tower with the adapter and uses a Live Ubuntu CD to boot the machine and is able to access the drive and get the data she needs, where will she be able to copy the data to? She still needs someplace to copy the data to and store it until she is able to fix her computer or get a new one.

She could use a USB thumb drive providing it's large enough to hold all the data. Another possibility is to burn the data to a CD.

Yep she can transfer it via a USB to a large stick or a USB connected external drive as all are picked up by Ubuntu

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
don't waste your money connecting an OLD SLOW IDE drive to USB3 -- You are better off just getting the data off it (one time) and then throwing it away -- decent HDD's are really cheap now --using slow HDD's in a computer will waste any of the fast processor speed and other features of your new MOBO / computer. You can use a USB2 connection -- plenty of IDE (plus power) ==>USB2 adapters for very little money.

The only exception I'd make for keeping it rather than throwing it away is if the old HDD has a largish capacity (at least 320 GB) and you've basically got fairly static data like Music / video etc on it then access times aren't particularly important or you could use it for future backups.

BTW if your new MOBO doesn't have any USB3 slots it's NOT WORTH buying USB3 cards - - usually these are Pci-e express cards and the speed of these are far far slower than USB3. You'll get better performance just plugging a USB3 device into a standard USB2 slot. !!!!

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Mizmelzy]

The hard drive I'm using is a SATA hard drive, and using it in an older pentium 4 computer which had an older IDE hard drive. I have the converter and am attempting to try it. But I have to jumper it correctly. It says to set the jumper to master. But it doesn't say what that setting is or show it by picture. So I'm unsure what master setting is.

Here is the manual if anyone can help me figure it out. I don't want to set it wrong and end up destryong the converter. The guy at the PC place said it was important to set it right or you could damage it.

The tower computer that I'm putting the drive into is this one:

http://www.docs.sony.com/release/specs/PCVRX752_sp.pdf

It also says in the instructions to connect 2pin header to HDD LED indicator in the front panel. But I do not have one or it is not accessible for me.

Not sure what to do there.

Any help is appreciated!

Mel

 

[strollin]

You need to jumper the hard drive as a Master, in order to help you with that we would need to know the manufacturer and model number of the drive. Many drives have a diagram on the drive to show which pins to jumper for master.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

You can forgo the 2 pin header. Just try the adapter the way it came and what is telling you to set the jumper settings to to master as sata HDD's don't have the jumpers that the old IDE style drives did? To me it's referring to running optical drives where you could have two and one would be master and the second on the ribbon the slave and this just doesn't apply plus it's wire and pins are different. Some pictures of the connections, inside the computer and the adapter would be helpful.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

If it is a two-way converter (is it the oone Docbrown linked?), the "set the HDD to master" was valid in case the converter was used to plug a IDE drive in a SATA mobo port.

The other way around makes no sense. SATA HDDs cannot be set as master or slave, their pins (if they have pins) are used for other stuff like SATA I/II/III speed selection.

The 2-pin header for the front panel led can be safely ignored. All it does is making the front panel led blink according to HDD activity. Works fine even without.

All SATA-to-IDE converters I used were pretty much plug and forget. If it is indeed a two-way converter, I would go ahead and mount it.