How to get data off old hard drive?

[rlpdag]

My computer died and so I just bought a new one. It was not a hard drive failure, it just would not power up at all (almost like it was not plugged in) Well can anyone tell me how to retrive my important files from the harddrive on my old computer? Is is possible to take it out and hook it up to my new computer as a 2nd drive? I also have an older Aptiva computer that still works fine...I could hook it into that one to keep from messing with my new one. Anyone know how to do this?? And is it possible??

 

[Simmy]

When you say "it" would not power up at all, do you mean the hard drive or the whole computer? If the whole computer wouldn't power up, I would imagine the hard drive is fine and you can simply plug it into another machine as a second drive and get the data off. If the hard drive did not power up, you'll most likely need to replace PCB with one from an identical make/model.

It sounds like using the Aptiva computer is the right thing to do aswell, to avoid opening up your new computer. Or you could buy an IDE/SATA to USB cable and simply plug the hard drive into the new machine with that

 

[gunslinger]

I would just open up the old Aptiva system, install the hard drive from your old system as a slave drive, then you can recover your data. Its not hard to do, just make sure you check the jumper settings on the drive and set it to "slave", hook up your IDE cable and power cable after securing the drive, boot up and your all set.

 

[The Goatboy]

do you want the old files on your new PC? if so, I'd just go the route of buying a IDE/SATA to USB cable; connect it right to the new PC, plug in the power cord and when the new PC is finished detecting the drive you instantly have your old files accessible and can drag & drop them onto the new machine. Of course the other option mentioned above will work too, I'm just making an assumption you want the old files on the new PC. either way good luck.