What to do with my extra drives??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pokerskatershark
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Pokerskatershark

Hi Everyone,
I have a bunch of internal hard drives and a few floppy drives that
came from my old computer.

What I was wonder was, can I access my old hard drives using my new
computer? I also have a bunch of floppy discs that I would like to
get the information off of. I had read somewhere that you can get an
external case for them, but not sure exactly what this is or how to go
about it.

Any tips would be much appreciated.

Thanks
 
Pokerskatershark said:
Hi Everyone,
I have a bunch of internal hard drives and a few floppy drives that
came from my old computer.

What I was wonder was, can I access my old hard drives using my new
computer? I also have a bunch of floppy discs that I would like to
get the information off of. I had read somewhere that you can get an
external case for them, but not sure exactly what this is or how to go
about it.

Any tips would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...

get 1 external USB hard drive case

get 1 external USB floppy drive
 
Pokerskatershark said:
Hi Everyone,
I have a bunch of internal hard drives and a few floppy drives that
came from my old computer.

What I was wonder was, can I access my old hard drives using my new
computer? I also have a bunch of floppy discs that I would like to
get the information off of. I had read somewhere that you can get an
external case for them, but not sure exactly what this is or how to go
about it.

Any tips would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...

It sounds like your situation is much like mine and I doubt that you want the
hassle of swapping drives in & out of an external case. It doesn't matter where
you buy it, but I went with one of these:
http://www.xpcgear.com/vanteccbiusb20.html
It has a sturdy USB-IDE cable & plug plus a separate power supply for the HD
(Note that trying to run a HD off of USB 2.0 power will hang the system). It's
very easy to switch from drive to drive and they have open air flow as opposed
to being confined in an enclosure.

HTH
Bob
 
It sounds like your situation is much like mine and I doubt that you want
the
hassle of swapping drives in & out of an external case. It doesn't matter
where
you buy it, but I went with one of these:
http://www.xpcgear.com/vanteccbiusb20.html
It has a sturdy USB-IDE cable & plug plus a separate power supply for the
HD
(Note that trying to run a HD off of USB 2.0 power will hang the system).
It's
very easy to switch from drive to drive and they have open air flow as
opposed
to being confined in an enclosure.
Click to expand...

Not very safe for the drive.

Most folks would just pick up a few enclosures. At last count I had at least
seven here... albeit three are 5.25" of which two hold DVD writers.

Hard drives are CHEAP these days. How much stuff do you have burned onto
DVD's? It would probably fit one one or two largish IDE drives. Much quicker
to get at, use and store a USB/Firewire hard drive than to dig through a
stack of DVD's.
 
Noozer said:
Not very safe for the drive.
Click to expand...

You said that without any explanation, so it's hard to know what you consider to
be not very safe.
Most folks would just pick up a few enclosures. At last count I had at least
seven here... albeit three are 5.25" of which two hold DVD writers.
Click to expand...

At around $20 a crack, that sounds like around 7 X $20 - $140 when around $15
would do the job.
Hard drives are CHEAP these days. How much stuff do you have burned onto
DVD's? It would probably fit one one or two largish IDE drives. Much quicker
to get at, use and store a USB/Firewire hard drive than to dig through a
stack of DVD's.
Click to expand...

Now that I agree with. I have one folder of images that is around 24 GB in size.
That folder is backed up on multiple HD's and I have no intention of burning it
to DVD's any time soon. That's just one example of the convenience of these
drives & adapters.

Bob
 
I just want to be able to retrieve the data that is on the 5 hard
drives I have and also off of all the discs. After I've burned
everything to DVD, I probably wouldn't need the HD anymore. I'm not
going to use them for storage or anything.

Just curious what people thought was the best option and least
expensive.
 
Not very safe for the drive.
You said that without any explanation, so it's hard to know what you
consider to
be not very safe.
Click to expand...

Open electronics is the big thing.
At around $20 a crack, that sounds like around 7 X $20 - $140 when around
$15
would do the job.
Click to expand...

Kinda hard to dump files from a USB drive to a USB burner when you've only
got one adapter.
Now that I agree with. I have one folder of images that is around 24 GB in
size.
That folder is backed up on multiple HD's and I have no intention of
burning it
to DVD's any time soon. That's just one example of the convenience of
these
drives & adapters.
Click to expand...

The only difference between your cable and my enclosure is the box around
the drive. Considering that I can buy enclosures for $13 (CDN so <$10 US)
each they do a good job.

The last thing I want to be doing is jamming in and yanking out plugs on my
400gig drives on a regular basis.
 
Pokerskatershark said:
I just want to be able to retrieve the data that is on the 5 hard
drives I have and also off of all the discs. After I've burned
everything to DVD, I probably wouldn't need the HD anymore. I'm not
going to use them for storage or anything.

Just curious what people thought was the best option and least
expensive.
Click to expand...

For a one time job, the adapter cable is probably best.

Something to consider though... A hard drive sitting on a shelf will most
likely still be readable after 10 years. Your DVD's maybe half that - if you
seal them in the dark. DVD's also take more space than a hard drive. (25
DVD's vs 100gig drive). Also, how long will it take to figure out which DVD
has the file you want compared to searching a hard drive.

A 40gig drive, stuck in a USB enclosure, is a great place to make backups of
important stuff. Heck, I've got a post in my local newsgroups right now
asking for 20gig + drives for just this purpose.

Just something to consider.
 
OK, so let me see if I have this all correct. Please bear with me.

Instead of burning these on DVD, as some have suggested they don't
last very long, I should instead buy another external HD and put
everything on there? And I should put my existing HD's in an
enclosure and hook them up directly to the new HD?

Thanks
 
Pokerskatershark said:
I just want to be able to retrieve the data that is on the 5 hard
drives I have and also off of all the discs. After I've burned
everything to DVD, I probably wouldn't need the HD anymore.
I'm not going to use them for storage or anything.
Click to expand...
Just curious what people thought was the best option
Click to expand...

That external cable is quite adequate for that.
and least expensive.
Click to expand...

Least expensive is to put the drive inside the PC to get the data off.
OK, so let me see if I have this all correct. Please bear with me.
Click to expand...
Instead of burning these on DVD, as some
have suggested they don't last very long,
Click to expand...

Thats bullshit if you use high quality media and write everything
to more than one DVD and use different media for the copys.
I should instead buy another external HD and put everything on there?
Click to expand...

You certainly can do that. Those external drives dont last forever tho either.
And I should put my existing HD's in an enclosure
and hook them up directly to the new HD?
Click to expand...

That isnt possible.
 
Pokerskatershark said:
OK, so let me see if I have this all correct. Please bear with me.

Instead of burning these on DVD, as some have suggested they don't
last very long, I should instead buy another external HD and put
everything on there? And I should put my existing HD's in an
enclosure and hook them up directly to the new HD?
Click to expand...

Not quite.

I'm suggesting that you pick up a couple enclosures and just put your
current hard drives into them.

If you want to make it easier on yourself later on, you could get a new
large hard drive now and put it into an enclosure and copy all your stuff
from the old drives to the new drive.
 
That external cable is quite adequate for that.


Least expensive is to put the drive inside the PC to get the data off.


Thats bullshit if you use high quality media and write everything
to more than one DVD and use different media for the copys.


You certainly can do that. Those external drives dont last forever tho either.


That isnt possible.
Click to expand...

All right. I will see what I can do. Thanks again for all the info.
Much appreciated.
 
The only difference between your cable and my enclosure is the box around
the drive. Considering that I can buy enclosures for $13 (CDN so <$10 US)
each they do a good job.

The last thing I want to be doing is jamming in and yanking out plugs on my
400gig drives on a regular basis.
Click to expand...
And where can you buy enclosures for $13 CDN? Please let me know.

Don
 
OK, I have been told if my hard drive is over 5 years old then an
external case will not work. I have one hard drive that is 15 years
old and one that is about 7 years old. I really would like to get the
junk off of the 15 year old hard drive. So, any suggestions?
Thanks a lot
 
Pokerskatershark said:
OK, I have been told if my hard drive is over 5
years old then an external case will not work.
Click to expand...

That is just plain wrong.
I have one hard drive that is 15 years old and one that is about 7 years
old. I really would like to get the junk off of the 15 year old hard drive.
So, any suggestions?
Click to expand...

If the 15 year old drive is an ATA/IDE it should work fine.

If it isnt, and doesnt have the single 40 pin ribbon cable, it wont.
 
That is just plain wrong.


If the 15 year old drive is an ATA/IDE it should work fine.

If it isnt, and doesnt have the single 40 pin ribbon cable, it wont.
Click to expand...

Forgive my ignorance on this subject, but I don't know if it is ATA/
IDE. It is a Seagate ST3243A drive. I just looked at the label.
 
Pokerskatershark said:
Forgive my ignorance on this subject, but I don't know if it is ATA/
IDE. It is a Seagate ST3243A drive. I just looked at the label.
Click to expand...

Thats ATA/IDE and will be fine in an external case to get the data off it.
 
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