Hard drive compatibility
 

Stupid question from a not-so-savvy computer user (me).
I have my old Maxtor 300 gig harddrive and I wanna put it in my new computer. Problem is, I have lots of spaces for an e-Sata compatible drive but the cable on the Maxtor is fat and blue. I didn't see any cable molexes like this in my new 'pute. Is there anything else I can do with it?

Thanks in advance!

You could find yourself a PATA adaptor card.
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=34...nufacture=Syba

http://img.ncix.com/images/34689_l.jpg

You could also put it in one of these: http://a-power.com/product-8827-251-1

(Note: "e-SATA" means "external SATA" - it's basically a design that extends a SATA port to the rear panel, so you can connect an external drive.)

With that being $20 and $35 excluding tax, that's a good portion of paying for a larger capacity, new, and faster hard drive.

eg. http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...e&promoid=1018

Seagate 7200rpm 500GB for $43.

I was going to suggest that, but I took it from the angle that Orgasm_Donor wants to extract data from his PATA drive.

use acronis true image.

What brand and model computer?

That's kinda what I got out of it, too...

That's great, then he'll have an image file of his old drive... I get the impression he just wants to copy the data off to his new machine, or leave it on the drive and just access it on his new machine. Either way, he wants to access the data, not image it.

And he still has to connect it somehow... that means either a PATA card, or a PATA-to-USB adapter/enclosure.

The card is cheaper... the enclosure allows him to still use the drive as a portable and doesn't require opening up the machine.

How hard is it to have a friend with an external hard drive nowadays?

:facepalm:

HE DOESN'T NEED AN EXTERNAL DRIVE. HE NEEDS TO COPY/ACCESS HIS DATA ON HIS OLD INTERNAL IDE DRIVE ON A MACHINE WITH NO IDE CONTROLLER.

HOW IS A FRIEND'S EXTERNAL DRIVE GOING TO HELP THAT?

maybe illicitstylz meant external enclosure?

Yup. Pretty much.

Its a Dell Studio XPS. I was going to use the Maxtor as my little 'transfer' drive but after I got everything all apart my main drive from my old computer had Sata and my Maxtor had that big ass connnector. There were some files I didn't transfer before I took everything out.

I suppose I could remove the old drive from my new computer, slam it into my old computer with the Maxtor, transfer what I missed before then re-in/out all over again...Thats the cheapest way I suppose but its good to know that there is an adaptor out there for me in case I wanna go that route.

Thanks for all the info guys! Mucho appreciado!

IDE to USB cable. $20

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=17...nologies%20Inc.

Nah I actually meant external hard drive but thanks anyways gars.
I apologize I do realize that I wasn't making any sense haha.

Almost all of which floating around today would be SATA anyway.

Personally I'd toss it in a case and use it as an external backup drive for any critical information. Then if your new computer blows up or your house lights on fire or something, just grab it and go.