New comp old hard drive -

[Modaisycreech]

My old comp finally went under and is no longer around - I have received my new PC from Dell and have a question -

I am pretty sure that my old harddrive was not the issue and confirmed this with the diagnotics tool available in safe mode.

I could not retrieve any of the data that I want in safe mode so I am thinking of taking the old hard drive out of the dead comp and putting it into the new comp to data mine......

Thoughts? Could I bring a virus over? etc ...

[wolfmanyoda]

It's possible to bring a virus over, but I think you'd have to access an infected file for it to become active. Definitely an easy way to transfer old data to new hard drive.
Put it in the new computer and run a virus scan on the old drive before you try to access any of the data on that drive.

On the plus side, if it's a brand new computer then there's probably not much personal data to be ruined by a virus, just pop in the restore disc and start over.

[Don-Dad]

Does the CD drive still work on the old pc?

A few years ago (might be 3 or 4 year) I downloaded knoppix at http://www.knoppix.org/. I was able to back up old files on a drive to an external drive.

I don't remember the process being too difficult. I think I just hooked up the usb back up drive, put a burned copy of knoppix in the cd tray and was able to use knoppix to navigate the old drive and copy files over to the external drive.

[Modaisycreech]

I am not sure - I pretty lost my XP operating system so windows will not start - All of the diagnostics check out but I simply cant get windows to start -

[Hockeyfan]

I'm sure you can just plug it in and try. What's the worst that can happen? You'll get a virus? Come on now. IT's a PC. The first day you click on a link you'll get one right? LOL. Good luck man. My neighbours and friends would be the one to ask. Personally I am not too computer savvy.

[jeffus]

Leave the original/new hard drive in the new computer. It likely boots from that hard drive. Get back to that state first. Turn it off and unplug it. And then try installing the old hard drive.

You should be able to plug the old one into the ribbon cable running from that first hard drive. It's already formatted from the old system so it should be readable (I think). Whatever you do - don't format it - you'll lose everything. The old hard drive should show-up as "d:\".

I don't think you want to fool around with any of the system setup or hardware settings just yet. F2 or F12? You shouldn't really have to unless you have something more complicated like a RAID controller/configuration.

Hope that was helpful. Good luck.

[Don-Dad]

Knoppix does not require an operating system, it has the operating system on the CD you burn.

Or you can try what Jeffus said, set the drive as a slave (somewhere on the drive it will likely tell you how to do this, small plastic tabs unless is a sata.) I'm not sure but I don't think you have to set jumpers on sata drives.

Then find the cable for the main drive and see if it has another plastic female connection for the second drive.

If you have new pc, you probably have a sata drive and the old drive is probably an ide. Not sure how that works, since moving to a mac I have not played with a newer pc's.

You might see about a gadget like this, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156101&cm_re=ide_external_connct-_-12-156-101-_-Product just $15 and might be the easiest way to get the data off the drive if the drive is working.

[Don-Dad]

It's nice to get paid at work to research these kinds of things :)

Seems like a usb to ide adapter/connector might be the easiest thing for you to try. This way you do not have to monkey around with installing the old drive in your new pc.

That link I posted might work, gets 4 out of 5 eggs.

You might find an adapter at office depot or best buy but you'll pay double what you pat at new egg.

An external enclosure might work too. Ide models are getting harder to find so be sure to look for an ide model (I'm assuming your old drive is ide. but it could be a sata if the old pc was only 3 or 4 years old.)

[Modaisycreech]

I have the solution but it appears that it is going to take lots of work - I am going to research this more but maybe you guys can help -

I got an SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter and it works. The hard drive is fine and I can get to the data that I need.

The only issue is - I have to grant myself permission to open every folder, file, and item. This is a pain!

Why is that happening? Is there a "grant permission for all" option somewhere?

[Don-Dad]

try this

# On the network share or external hard disk, navigate to (but do not open) the shared folder or drive that you want to set permissions for.
# Right-click the backup folder or drive, and then click Properties.
# In Windows XP Home Edition, on the Sharing tab, click Share this folder, and then click Permissions.
–or–
In Windows XP Professional Edition or Windows Vista, on the Sharing tab, click Advanced Sharing. Click Share this folder, and then click Permissions.
# Under Group or user names, make sure that Everyone is selected.
# Under Permissions for Everyone, in the Allow column, select the Full Control check box

[Modaisycreech]

I was able to follow those steps but...... I still cannot access the data.

Dell thinks that the old HD was corrupted by virus.....

anyother ideas?????

thanks for the help!

[Don-Dad]

Give knoppix a try, burn it on the new pc, use the old pc with hard drive connected and see if it can read the data.

[Modaisycreech]

:icon_redface: I may sound like I know what I am doing here but ........ :morons: All I know is how to turn this thing on and use it -

I read the info on how to get knoppix and I am not sure that I know how to do the download. It mentions things like mirrors (I got my hand held one and it didnt work) and verifying stuff and well.......... can you give me step by step instructions on the download -

[Don-Dad]

I have hot downloaded it in a while but mirrors is just multiple servers where you can download the operating system. Just choose one of the mirror servers and download it :)

Go to the download page, then choose the server all the way at the bottom of the page, there is one option, http. Then choose: KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso

Burn that to a cd and then put it into the old cd drive and see what happens.

Where's Chuck when you need him?

[sao95]

that could have been a simple hardware/software issue, I'd try just opening up the new computer and putting it as a slave drive. Just make sure your grounded when you open it up.

[Modaisycreech]

good news - I have the cd and can see all of the data running from the disk!

bad news - Everytime I try to move a file to the thumb drive I get a message that says "cannot write that file" - I can see the pictures so the data isnt ruined but I just cant get to the files to transfer from the hard drive.

Any ideas?

[jeffus]

Time to punt!

There's no shame in calling a pro. I've done it. :icon_redface:

[Modaisycreech]

If I am going to cheat on my wife it will not be with a hooker! ;)

[Don-Dad]

try this

# When USB drive icon appears (I'm guessing this is your usb thumb drive), click it with the left mouse button.
# Wait for a moment while it is mounted.
# The files on the USB drive will be displayed.
# Right-click the icon of the USB drive.
# Click “Change read-write mode”.
# Click “Yes”.

[Modaisycreech]

So far so good - my iTunes songs are moving over - Slowly but they are moving....... We will see what happens when that is done!

Jeffus - Who needs a Pro when you have a Don?????

[jeffus]

Dads helping Dads.

[Don-Dad]

It's been about 2 years or so since I had a major hard drive crash and I went through all the steps you have so far. What totally sucked was that I was able to get everything off the bad drive onto a new external and then that drive fell about one foot of a small stand and the damn thing broke, so I lost all the backed up data.

Now I use mozy, crashplan and time machine to back up all my data.

[jeffus]

I actually just recovered from my latest crash which was a duplicate of the one I went through a year or two ago. Went a tad smoother this time with 2 external hard drives and a little preparation (I knew it was coming).

Hope all is well Mo.

[Modaisycreech]

All is well - I have gotten all of the data off the old hard drive and onto my new desk top! :)

Super big thanks go out to Don -

Now, the only other question that I have: If I reformat the old hard drive will that erase and kill the old virus or what ever the issue was? I would like to start using the old 80G hard drive as an external back up.