Installing Secondary Hard drive (help)

[gl8523]

I have just purchased a new pc and wanted to install the hard drive out of my old pc so i can save the information off of it. Installing is no problem, but the wiring does not match up. The old pc hard drive has a wide plug but the new pc hard drive has a narrower plug. So the plug wont fit. I also was going to install my old floppy drive, but same problem. Can anything be done so i can retrieve all the info off of my old drive. Thanks for any suggestions

[ktkendall]

It sounds like your new PC is using what is called SATA harddrive connection and your right you can not hook up older PATA, (which uses the wide flat ribbon cable), drive to that, but look in your manual for the new PC, or just inspect the motherboard, cause there should be a connector for older PATA drive so you can hook it up there.. If you need more help, post back with the specs of your new machine..

[gl8523]

It looks like there isnt a PATA plug on the motherboard. Yes, this new pc is using the SATA hardware. I have a Dell 4700 with a intel pentium 4 processor. 256 mb memory. Serial ATA drives. Is there any other way to hook up my old hard drive to this new pc.

[Panama Red]

If your new pc has only one IDE connector on the motherboard and it's being used to connect your CD drives, disconnect them and use the cable to temporarily connect your old hard drive. After you retrieve the files you want to save, change it all back the way it was. If it has two IDE connectors and one isn't being used, get yourself another 80 wire IDE cable and connect the old hard drive to it. You should be able to use a cable from the old computer if need be.

[ktkendall]

Only other otpion than what Panama is suggesting that I can think of is an IDE controller card. You can buy one and it slips into a PCI slot and would give you a place to hook any IDE drives up..

[glc]

If the old drive is just going to go back into the old PC for reuse, why not just network the 2 computers together? If you want to keep the old drive for extra storage and backup, put it into a USB external drive housing.

[gl8523]

Someone told me that they now make a SATA adaptor to help with this problem. Anyone know anything about an adaptor out there? Thanks

[glc]

Is this a Dimension 4700 or a Dimension 4700C? If it's a 4700, just disconnect one of the optical drives temporarily and use those cables to connect the second hard drive to copy off your data. If it's a 4700C, I don't know what to suggest except buy or borrow an external drive housing or network the 2 computers together.

[gl8523]

Got it connected. How do i get my new pc to recognize the second hard drive. The pc boots up and recognizes it but asks to resume or setup. If i hit resume, the new hard drive doesnt show up under my computer! Do i have to go into setup.

[glc]

No, you have to go into Disk Management and import it.

Control panel, administrative tools, computer management, disk management.

[gl8523]

I followed that path all the way to disk management. Then i didnt see anything about importing. What am i looking for on that screen?

[gl8523]

Finally got it right. Thanks for all the help guys!!