Need help getting XP drive to work with Vista OS

[ScottM]

My home computer died today.

So I went out and bought a new one but in came with Vista and SATA drives. I wanted to just plug in my IDE hard drive from my old machine but I understand that cannot be done anymore. So I bought an external drive box to have a USB output and bring the files over that way. But I cannot get the new machine to recognize the old drive. I cannot find any help online either.

I did remove the jumpers so the drive is not a master drive. I even tried it as a master drive but that did not work either. Anyone have an idea?

 

[mikea]

Are you sure the new PC doesn't have an IDE port? What about the CD/DVD drives?

STAY OUT OF STORES!

 

[EdFred]

i might have an IDE contrlooer card laying around that plugs into a PCI slot.

 

[ScottM]

Are you sure the new PC doesn't have an IDE port? What about the CD/DVD drives?

STAY OUT OF STORES!

It does have an IDE port but I was told that with the SATA drives you cannot mix and match a SATA drive and an IDE drive. I am taking the word of a kid at Best Buy for that one. You tell me different and I would lend more credence to your advise.

 

[TMetzinger]

New motherboards typically have a bunch of SATA ports, and then a JMicron controller that will drive a pair of IDE connectors too.

So - look at your motherboard - if it has IDE connectors on it, you're good to go but you will need to work with your bios settings to enable the IDE connectivity.

A MUCH better way is to get a USB-IDE drive enclosure. You put the IDE drive in the enclosure, make sure it has power, then plug it into a USB port, and your computer should see it as a USB mass storage device. The "gotcha" to this is that VISTA may have to have drivers added or have security settings altered to support it. What I suggest you do is get the USB enclosure working with an XP desktop/laptop, to confirm that it works, and then try plugging it into your Vista computer.

I haven't messed with Vista yet, so I can't give you more details on how to make Vista recognize the USB disk enclosure.

 

[mikea]

It does have an IDE port but I was told that with the SATA drives you cannot mix and match a SATA drive and an IDE drive. I am taking the word of a kid at Best Buy for that one. You tell me different and I would lend more credence to your advise.

STAY OUT OF STORES!

Jay sus.


Unplug the DVD drive. You just put your old hard drive in the box on the IDE cable. Odds are, if you only connect the old drive it will just work. If the cable is labeled so, use the connector labeled Master.

What you'll have is a drive D: which will be your old drive. You can copy away.

You might have to change the drive order in the setup to make the SATA drives first. Else if it boots from your old drive it's going to complain a lot about not having the right drivers for the new stuff in the new PC.

 

[TMetzinger]

Unless he has a SATA DVD drive (like the two in my system)

 

[ScottM]

I have an IDE DVD.

The controller is able to handle botht eh drive and the DVD without interference from the SATA drive.

I should have known to not listen to the Best Buy tech.

It all worked great. I still have to hook up one more hard drive but that is only to pull photos and music off of it so I can wait on that. This one had my Quicken back up files on it. I needed that for taxes!!

 

[Ghery]

Best Buy - almost as great as Radio Shack for getting dumb looks. Scott, you're an engineer. Trust your feelings.

 

[ScottM]

Best Buy - almost as great as Radio Shack for getting dumb looks. Scott, you're an engineer. Trust your feelings.

You are of course right on that. I was so haggered that day. It was my last day in the office and instead I was at home dealing with a broken computer. I had to fly out of town for an IEEE meeting, and I had a flight scheduled for the next day for the Coast Guard with one of the active duty people, and then follow that up with taking my step-dad out on his first excursion from the rehab unit since going into the hospital in late November. I abdicated my decisions to someone else who, as it turns out, was not very knowledgeable. But PoA saved me from myself!

 

[mikea]

Best Buy - almost as great as Radio Shack for getting dumb looks. Scott, you're an engineer. Trust your feelings.

Twitter. Where I was entertained by the salesman, saying to the upscale couple, "....and this is your stand..." for the big screen TV. Ya know, like the TV will refuse to sit on anything else.

I mentioned that you don't need anything special to hook up a digital signal (because either you get the 1s and 0s or you don't) ...and the guy nodded his head with the thought "and let me show you our fine high-quality accessories...." I eased my way toward the door.

The sad thing. Like I keep saying DON'T GO INTO THESE STORES, but I'm reading a thread on the Tivo forums where plenty of people say that shopping in Brick and Mortar stores is the only way. "I want to have a place to bring it back." "I want to walk out with it." I had the guy at the tire shop tell me he knew all about HDTV because he got a great price on his crappy one at Best buy. *sigh*


I know which HDTV I want. I checked and can get over 20% off online though the EPP program though work. I guess I'll miss the pressure to but a $99 monster cable and pay 30% more for an extended warranty.
I always want to grab them by the throat and say, "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"

 

[Ghery]

Just got a letter in the mail from Circuit City reminding me of their great service plan for my DLP HD TV. The one I got for $1200 in November. They only want almost $700 for a 4 year service plan. Uh, no thanks. But there are plenty of suckers out there who will bite.

 

[mikea]

Just got a letter in the mail from Circuit City reminding me of their great service plan for my DLP HD TV. The one I got for $1200 in November. They only want almost $700 for a 4 year service plan. Uh, no thanks. But there are plenty of suckers out there who will bite.

Yeahbut, replacing the lamp every year is $400.


....while you can stll get the lamps.

That's why I never bought DLP.