how to hook 2 Hard drives together?

Well I'm told old hard drive ( not sate) wont work on the new computers. Or will they?. I want to copy the contents off my old HD to a new one in the computer.

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Jul 18, 2009. 9:57 AM

AndyGadget says:

As long as there is an IDE connector on the board (flat cable - usually grey - 2 rows of 20 pins) you will be able to do this. Sometimes computers with SATA hard drives will still use IDE for the DVD drive. Check to see what kind of cable that uses. If it's IDE, plug it into the HDD (and the power connector) and start up the PC. If you're lucky, the drive should be visible from Windows. If not, post back and we'll start talking about master / slave links etc. Make sure you turn off the PC before unplugging or plugging anything.

Jul 18, 2009. 10:21 AMfwjs28 says:

isn't it possible to get a sata to ide convertor? ....i think i saw one somewhere...it was probably esata to sata or something but just checking

Jul 18, 2009. 11:00 AM

AndyGadget says:

Yep, it is, but they cost money. Let's try the no-cost route first. The other alternative would be an IDE to USB convertor which would mean you could build the whole thing in a box and keep it as and external drive.

Jul 18, 2009. 1:49 PMfwjs28 says:

i was just wondering more for my own purpose...IDE to USB, that'd be pretty cool...

Jul 18, 2009. 2:16 PM

AndyGadget says:

Google for 'external drive caddy' and you'll have a case you can put your drive in with power supply too. They come in all flavours - 2.5" or 3.5", SATA or IDE.
the 3.5" ones need external power supply but the 2.5" are USB usually USB powered.

I have something similar to this which I use for work. I'm always imaging drives and copying data around from bare drives and this is invaluable.

Jul 18, 2009. 8:28 PMfwjs28 says:

hmm interesting...i'd like to buy a bunch of 8 gig flash drives and throw them into a raid server and make it a NAS, that's a project requiring some moonay that i don't have :(

Jul 18, 2009. 11:35 AM

lemonie says:

Andy is very probably right. Extract the drive and ribbon from the old machine, and find a slot it will connect to on your new machine - there will be one. Plug in a power supply of course. You may need to connect it as a second drive on e.g. the DVD ribbon if all the IDE slots are in use, or simply swap it for the DVD on a temporary basis.
You'd be wise to check the boot priority in BIOS to be sure it boots off the new drive and not the old one.

L