SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Requesting assistance from the Sydlexia Geek Squad

Posted: Sep 20 2009 07:25 pm

I've got an internal hard drive from my old computer, and I'd like to be able to extract some files from it (music, pictures, Peach Porn)

My new computer is an Acer Aspire. It's one of those smaller towers. I opened it up, but the HD is stored underneath the disc drive. Taking out the disk drive along with the HD case is a bit more complicated of a task than I'm willing to attempt. I'm also not 100% sure it can even hold an additional HD, just by looking at it.

So I was researching ways to simply hook up the internal drive to my computer via a USB port, and I found this. Would this get the job done?

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2329300&CatId=3770

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Ice,

What you need to find out is if the original hard drive is an ATA or SATA hard drive. After that you will want to find an actual enclosure that can support that interface.

If you aren't sure what type of connection it uses, you can just post the model name/number and I'll be able to tell you.

Posted: Sep 20 2009 08:19 pm

The sticker on the drive says "Serial ATA" so I assume that means it's an SATA? (Edit: after some googling I'm 95% sure it is indeed a SATA)

If you'd be able to tell for sure, the model# is Samsung HD320KJ

Just to be clear, I don't really care about installing the drive. If I can just extract the files I want from it, I'd be happy with that.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Here is the easiest product to use that will have some longevity with newer machines since it has esata too $40:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153071&cm_re=Thermaltake_BlacX-_-17-153-071-_-Product

USB version for $30:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153066&cm_re=3.5%22_enclosure_sata-_-17-153-066-_-Product

Many More options:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000092%201053807123%201054144017&name=SATA%20I%2fII&ActiveSearchResult=True

Joined: May 13 2009 Location: lowell, ma Posts: 289

I have a question. I've got 3 Powermac G4 towers that I got from doing a disposal from a Dana Farber office. I know there's no ram in it and while I don't know much at all about computers it looks like they basically "stripped" the computer down(for privacy I'm guessing). My questions are, Would one of these be worth fixing? (could it be an alright desktop since all I have is a laptop) and Would they be worth anything to sell? Thank you.

ps: They look just like this if anyone was wondering.

Posted: Sep 20 2009 09:45 pm

GPFontaine wrote:

Here is the easiest product to use that will have some longevity with newer machines since it has esata too $40:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153071&cm_re=Thermaltake_BlacX-_-17-153-071-_-Product

USB version for $30:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153066&cm_re=3.5%22_enclosure_sata-_-17-153-066-_-Product

Many More options:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000092%201053807123%201054144017&name=SATA%20I%2fII&ActiveSearchResult=True

I assume with these things you can just pop the internal HD in to them, and connect it to your PC? If that's how it works that sounds great. Thanks!

Posted: Sep 20 2009 11:13 pm

If it is SATA and all you want to do is extract data off of it, is to simply plug it it on your motherboard. Look for a port on the motherboard that looks exactly like the one on the back of the dirve. (SATA ports look like a sideways "L".) Plug it into the motherboard, plug the power connector in from a free one in your case, and the computer should see a new drive, then you can access all the files on it. Also, SATA is "hot swappable", which means you can plug it in while the computer is turned on, so then windows will find the device instantly and you should be able to access it right away.

Posted: Sep 21 2009 07:30 am

Thanks again for the help guys.

I wound up going with the transfer device I originally suggested, since I've got both a SATA HD and an older IDE/ATA HD from an even older computer. I believe that gizmo will allow me to do both types.

I just hope they both still work. Both of those computers "died" although I was never really sure of the reason. I hope I don't go to fire up this transfer device and find that both HD's are dead.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Knyte is correct, however it sounded to me like you didn't have an additional SATA cable and you weren't comfortable going into the case.

If you don't mind getting your hands dirty, you can always detach another SATA device such as the CD drive and hook your hard drive up. DO NOT DETACH THE PRIMARY HD.

SATA Port:

SATA Cable:

SATA Power:

Also, it is true that SATA devices are hot swappable, but you probably don't want to hot swap them. They don't register to the system as temporary devices that can be safely removed. So if they are in the middle of reading or writing when they get disconnected, they just fail out and they can acquire data corruption. Powering them on at random is fine, but you should power the system down when you remove one unless you really know what you are doing.

Posted: Sep 21 2009 09:44 am

GPFontaine wrote:

Knyte is correct, however it sounded to me like you didn't have an additional SATA cable and you weren't comfortable going into the case.

If you don't mind getting your hands dirty, you can always detach another SATA device such as the CD drive and hook your hard drive up. DO NOT DETACH THE PRIMARY HD.

SATA Port:

SATA Cable:

SATA Power:

Also, it is true that SATA devices are hot swappable, but you probably don't want to hot swap them. They don't register to the system as temporary devices that can be safely removed. So if they are in the middle of reading or writing when they get disconnected, they just fail out and they can acquire data corruption. Powering them on at random is fine, but you should power the system down when you remove one unless you really know what you are doing.

You're right that I didn't want to get too involved with detaching a whole bunch of things. This is my first attempt at doing anything involving my computer's "guts" so I wanted to start small. That's why I thought the adapter I listed looks like a good option.....I can extract everything via USB ports without having to get too fancy, and it can handle both the SATA and the ATA drive I have.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Ice2SeeYou wrote:

You're right that I didn't want to get too involved with detaching a whole bunch of things. This is my first attempt at doing anything involving my computer's "guts" so I wanted to start small. That's why I thought the adapter I listed looks like a good option.....I can extract everything via USB ports without having to get too fancy, and it can handle both the SATA and the ATA drive I have.

I wouldn't order anything from CompUSA or Circuit City. They are not the companies they once were. They were both bought up and are now just storefronts for http://www.systemax.com.

I still think that the BlacX products are the easiest choice for you since all you do is slide the drive into the dock (no screws or anything). Then you just plug the dock into an AC outlet and the USB port. The drive will show up as a USB attached drive and will have a "Safe Remove" icon for it.

Posted: Sep 21 2009 10:05 am

GPFontaine wrote:

Ice2SeeYou wrote:

You're right that I didn't want to get too involved with detaching a whole bunch of things. This is my first attempt at doing anything involving my computer's "guts" so I wanted to start small. That's why I thought the adapter I listed looks like a good option.....I can extract everything via USB ports without having to get too fancy, and it can handle both the SATA and the ATA drive I have.

I wouldn't order anything from CompUSA or Circuit City. They are not the companies they once were. They were both bought up and are now just storefronts for http://www.systemax.com.

I still think that the BlacX products are the easiest choice for you since all you do is slide the drive into the dock (no screws or anything). Then you just plug the dock into an AC outlet and the USB port. The drive will show up as a USB attached drive and will have a "Safe Remove" icon for it.

Ah....well I've already gone and bought the Comp USA one. I opted for that one because I also have an ATA drive, and it looked like the BlacX box wasn't compatible with that. But if this thing I got doesn't work out, I'll try one of them next. Thanks for the info though, I'm sure it will come in handy.

Posted: Sep 23 2009 07:44 pm

Hey guys, need more help here.....

I'm using this product.

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2329300&CatId=3770

I think I have it hooked up correctly, but the directions are incredibly cryptic. It's telling me that I need to go into My Computer and Initialize the drive to be able to see it there.

I've gone into the Computer Management window, right-clicked on the drive, and am attempting to initialize it. I'm getting a "the device is not ready" error message. Why would this be?

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Ice2SeeYou wrote:

Hey guys, need more help here.....

I'm using this product.

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2329300&CatId=3770

I think I have it hooked up correctly, but the directions are incredibly cryptic. It's telling me that I need to go into My Computer and Initialize the drive to be able to see it there.

I've gone into the Computer Management window, right-clicked on the drive, and am attempting to initialize it. I'm getting a "the device is not ready" error message. Why would this be?

Initialize is another word for clean it out. You don't really want to do that.

When you plug the drive in does it show up in My Computer at all? It should just show up as another drive.

Why did you swap the drive out anyways?

Posted: Sep 24 2009 10:47 am

GPFontaine wrote:

Ice2SeeYou wrote:

Hey guys, need more help here.....

I'm using this product.

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2329300&CatId=3770

I think I have it hooked up correctly, but the directions are incredibly cryptic. It's telling me that I need to go into My Computer and Initialize the drive to be able to see it there.

I've gone into the Computer Management window, right-clicked on the drive, and am attempting to initialize it. I'm getting a "the device is not ready" error message. Why would this be?

Initialize is another word for clean it out. You don't really want to do that.

When you plug the drive in does it show up in My Computer at all? It should just show up as another drive.

Why did you swap the drive out anyways?

Hey, I figured it out. Long story short, I had it hooked up wrong. I was trying to hook up the SATA drive using the IDE cables......go figure. The instructions suck, but basically I just started plugging things in where it looked like they'd fit, and it sprung to life instantly. I didn't have to initialize or anything.

Thanks anyway!