Wanting to get information from old IDE Harddrive...

BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
edited July 2008 in Hardware
Hey guys, I have these old IDE hard drives with 2 jumpers in them for some reason, ones a e-machine 8 gb and other a maxtor 50gb I think.

I am looking for some old files I really need right now.

Besides the point, is it possible for me to disconnect my main hard drive put in the IDE hard drive as my master then will it boot???? Can that work? or is it possible to just set it to slave and access it in my computer as storage.

These hard drives I think have windows 98 on them maybe one has XP. They are perfectly alive and well but the old computer cases and components (mobo,cpu, ect) are long gone. About 5-6 year old hard drives these are.

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2008
    Just set it to slave and get your stuff off of it. It's way less complicated than making it a master and trying to have Win98 boot your modern computer. It'll be a huge pain in the ass that way.
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited July 2008
    I have SATA as my master right now is it ok if I have the IDE as slave then?
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2008
    Just set the IDE as master then, and still boot off the SATA. Your install will see the drive as just another drive in the system. You'll be good to go.
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited July 2008
    Or if it still messes with you and your info is THAT impotant get a external drive box
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited July 2008
    Ok thanks for the replies, I have ordered a IDE cable since I lost mine.

    So the old hard hardrives like the 10GB one would not have any problems with my video card or anything like that? specially if I have to boot it as a master instead of slave. My specs are in sig.

    And no harm will be done by doing this?
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2008
    Don't boot off those drives. It won't break your system in anyway but because they were built for a different system they likely won't boot your current hardware due to way to many hardware differences.

    Your and easiest bet it to get an external ide drive case and connect them that way. They only cost around $25 and you can pick them up anywhere. It'll be the least headache inducing for you and you don't have to mess around with your computer bios settings or anything else.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2008
    It's important to again remind you that you must have your computer set to boot from SATA in the BIOS, not IDE. These hard drives you're hooking up will not be capable of booting your PC.
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited July 2008
    http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?SCriteria=AA67040&CartID=done&nextloc=

    One of these???

    Anyone know where I can buy one online or if thats what you guys are talking about.
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited July 2008
    Get one of these:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817388014

    Or something like it. That one will take both SATA and IDE drives, so you should find it quite useful.
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited July 2008
    Hey guys,

    So far so good. I got a external IDE enclosure.

    But on of my hard drives says I need to format it to do anything like look in it........... But my files are in it. What can I do now? Anyway to get my files?
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