Hard Drive question

[Johnny Townmouse]

Hello.

I have a hard drive that I took out of an old PC that got reamed with a virus. I have been into this hard drive thanks to a friend who opened up their PC and plugged my hard drive into one of those weird leads that exist in the guts of computers.

By now you will have registered that I'm not terribly tech savvy.

So I got my really important files from the drive on that occasion. But there are still some useful files I would like to pull off it. I opened up my PC and saw no such ports to plug in my hard drive. So my question is: can I buy an adaptor that will allow me to access the drive - perhaps USB to whatever that 8-pin connection is on a drive.

I have actually tried looking into this but have a palsy of relevant knowledge.

[katzenjammer]

One of these will do it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Importer520-Drive-CD-Rom-Converter-Adapter/dp/B0037EX6RA/ref=sr_1_14?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1395154297&sr=1-14&keywords=usb+to+sata

[Johnny Townmouse]

Ooooh, thanks katzenjammer!

It is basically like this (I assume a SATA drive)



It only has a SATA power connector and no four-pin power connector that some hard drives appear to have. This will work then, right?

[massive bereavement]

These are cheaper and less fiddly, and you can use it like a big USB stick.....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SATA-HARD-DRIVE-CADDY-ENCLOSURE/dp/B002UZO07C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1315481479&sr=8-2

But Katzen's suggestion is probably the more likely to be guaranteed to work, as you have power from the mains rather than relying on the laptop/PC to manage it.

[katzenjammer]

Is it a 2.5" drive you've got? I can't tell from the photo.  if so MB is right and you'll probably get away with that kind of cheaper solution.  I've got one and it works fine.

It only has a SATA power connector and no four-pin power connector that some hard drives appear to have. This will work then, right?

Yes.  It has adapters for SATA power.

[Johnny Townmouse]

These are cheaper and less fiddly, and you can use it like a big USB stick.....
But Katzen's suggestion is probably the more likely to be guaranteed to work, as you have power from the mains rather than relying on the laptop/PC to manage it.

Thanks! That's the thing - I thought something like this would be fine but it turns out that you really need a main supply for it to be stable (apparently).

Is it a 2.5" drive you've got? I can't tell from the photo.  if so MB is right and you'll probably get away with that kind of cheaper solution.  I've got one and it works fine.

I have absolutely no idea and I can't see anything on the label that tells me.

Model: HD161HJ
(160GB / 7200rpm / 8M)
?

[Obel]

Which one of these does the HDD look like?

3.5inch



or

2.5inch

[Johnny Townmouse]

Well, it's definitely a 3.5"

Thanks Obel.

[Obel]

Something like this will do you nicely mate

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/360858108764?hlpht=true&ops=true&viphx=1&lpid=95&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=95

Worth having a look in Maplins or a similar electronics store too. Just want to ask for a 3.5inch SATA Hard drive caddy, if they don't know what you mean then they're typical Maplin employees they're an idiot. Might be a few quid more in a store, depends on the rush I guess, but this will allow you to plug in the old drive via USB.

[Johnny Townmouse]

This is why I pay my subs.

You wonderful people. Rather than just trying to get some files off a drive, I now have a brand new external drive!

[Obel]