Getting data from old sata drive

[rwrw1]

I saw the post about sata questions but couldnt' find my answer there so here goes.

My girlfriends Dell E510 came with a 160gb SATA hd and last week she turned the comp on and a blue screen came up which said unmountable boot drive etc. and the comp. would not boot. Dell came today and put a new hard drive. The tech didn't stay to set up the hd for her just gave her some instructions and left. She has some important data on the old hd and Dell said she could keep it for 10 days to get the data she needs, however, they said they are not allowed to give her instructions on how to get the data. They claim the old drive will still work it just won't boot the computer up I guess? Anyway my question is since dell won't help with getting the data how do I connect her old sata hd so she can get her data? I have the sata cable and I know to hook the power cable to the drive but I'm not sure if the second hd should be connected to the motherboard or is connected somewhere to the new hd? The dell tech said when we connect the old hd back up the computer will auto reconize it and it was a simple process but i'm wondering if i will have to tweak the bios or anything else to make the hd load up?
I have fairly good computer knowledge and build my own desktop so hooking things up etc won't be a prob. I've just never tried hooking up 2hd to the same computer and not sure where i should connect the old hd cable. I need the new hd to be the primary since the old one will not boot and I just want to get some data from the old one and then take it out to return it to dell. One more thing the new drive she has now is set up as her H drive is there a simple way to make this her C: drive? I wasn't there when she set it up so not sure what she did. Thank you for any help you offer.

Roger

[glc]

First thing you need to do is disconnect the card readers and all USB devices - and wipe the new drive and start over. That will put Windows on C, there's no other way to do it.

The motherboard has more than one SATA port, just connect the old drive to an open one.

[PC WizKid]

I wonder why Dell didn't help little more than that?

[glc]

Because Dell onsite techs are independent contractors being paid a flat rate for the job. The job scope is only to remove and replace the failed part, it does not include operating system restoration or anything software related.

[Matt_Smi]

Originally Posted by glc Because Dell onsite techs are independent contractors being paid a flat rate for the job. The job scope is only to remove and replace the failed part, it does not include operating system restoration or anything software related.

This is correct. I am a contractor for a third party company and do field service calls. Since an OS install takes around 2 hours it’s just not practical to be onsite that long when we have 9 other calls to get to. Dell tells us to just put in the part, make sure it is recognized and then instruct the user to call Dell to walk them though the install. I usually partition the drive and get it formatting before I leave. I also tell them that they may be able to get their old data off of it and how it can be done, but that’s about it. I usually feel kind bad, since most people expect the OS to be installed as well. But if Dells wants that to happen they need to get some techs for just that purpose who only do a few hard drive calls a day, other wise it is not possible.

[rwrw1]

Yes that seems to be true. The tech Just put the new drive in and made sure it was reconized and left them with instruction on how to set it up. Dell told her before that when the new drive arrived to call them and they would walk her through the process of getting her old data but when she called they said they didn't want to be responsible for anything and would not tell her how to do it. I can understand the tech not staying around for the full install etc but if you have a dell which is 3 months old and ask them how to get your old data from a failed drive they should help and if the whole computer simply blows ups they should send you a new one, just my thoughts. But at any rate I'll have to do it and if somehow I should fry it I'll have to buy her another one. One more thing on the Dell the flat screen monitor went out after about a month and she had a new one within 2 days, the hard drive went out Thursday and the tech showed up on Tues with the new drive. Given the fact this was a holiday weekend the service was very good in terms of speed. She has called them often and for most things they have been very helpful. She calls for things like how to get a virus off, etc and eventhough I don't think they are required to help with such things they usually are very helpful. So In short I think Dell is a good company and the service is acceptable and prob. better than most.. so if i'm right I'll just have to plug the old drive into the open port on the motherboard and boot up the computer, go to my computer and the old data should be there in C: drive I guess?

[glc]

It will not be the C drive any more - it will be the next available letter. You really need to do what I already said so the new drive is the C drive.

[PC WizKid]

I understand now.

[rwrw1]

Ok she doesn't want to reinstall windows again and says it being an H: drive is not a prob for her so i'll just leave it that way unless it causes probs. Thanks for the help i'll try to get the data from the old one this weekend. thanks again