My So-Called Life... Trapped!
August 26, 2010 3:41 PM Subscribe
I have a hard drive that I ripped from a 2000-1 ish year Compaq, and I need to find an enclosure. What kind of hard drive is it, and what's the cheapest enclosure?
I'm desperate to see what kind of goodies from my high school years are on this disk! Please dumb it down as much as possible. I'm not competent when it comes to computer hardware at all.
Here are some photos:
The whole thing
The label
The connecty bits
If you need pictures of the guts, let me know.
Thanks in advance!
I'm desperate to see what kind of goodies from my high school years are on this disk! Please dumb it down as much as possible. I'm not competent when it comes to computer hardware at all.
Here are some photos:
The whole thing
The label
The connecty bits
If you need pictures of the guts, let me know.
Thanks in advance!
Best answer: Looks like a standard IDE. I'd not spend the money on a whole enclosure. You can get a more useful device for the same amount: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002
$20 and works on 3.5" IDE, 2.5" IDE and SATA. Comes with a power supply for 3.5" drives. Indispensable piece of equipment for hardware support for desktop techs. I used mine yesterday to pull data from hard drives out of Pentium III computers at work, just to give you and idea that it will be compatible. Bonus is that you can then use it for any other IDE/SATA drive you come across, including CD/DVD drives and even use it to burn data with an out of case CD-RW/DVD-RW.
posted by smallerdemon at 3:47 PM on August 26, 2010 [5 favorites]
$20 and works on 3.5" IDE, 2.5" IDE and SATA. Comes with a power supply for 3.5" drives. Indispensable piece of equipment for hardware support for desktop techs. I used mine yesterday to pull data from hard drives out of Pentium III computers at work, just to give you and idea that it will be compatible. Bonus is that you can then use it for any other IDE/SATA drive you come across, including CD/DVD drives and even use it to burn data with an out of case CD-RW/DVD-RW.
posted by smallerdemon at 3:47 PM on August 26, 2010 [5 favorites]
Also, it's a 3.5" desktop hard drive. Amazon, Newegg, Tiger Direct or any electronics store will have a variety of USB enclosures available for less than $50.
posted by GuyZero at 3:49 PM on August 26, 2010
posted by GuyZero at 3:49 PM on August 26, 2010
That is a Parallel ATA drive, usually referred to as ATA or sometimes PATA to distinguish it from the newer serial ATA (SATA) drives. Enclosures should be readily available - you will need one of the 5 1/4 inch PATA enclosures since you are holding a full sized drive.
The enclosure should come with the cables you need.
posted by AndrewStephens at 3:49 PM on August 26, 2010
The enclosure should come with the cables you need.
posted by AndrewStephens at 3:49 PM on August 26, 2010
Oops, ignore my comment about the size - it is not a 5 1/4 inch drive.
posted by AndrewStephens at 3:50 PM on August 26, 2010
posted by AndrewStephens at 3:50 PM on August 26, 2010
Depending on your PC you could instll it there. The easiest way though is to buy this, or the external USB ATA enclosure of your choice. Install drive, connect to PC, hope the drive works / has readable data.
posted by anti social order at 3:50 PM on August 26, 2010
posted by anti social order at 3:50 PM on August 26, 2010
And btw, this device is as dumb as you can get. You plug it into the drive (it will only go on one way, just like the cable in the computer), plug in the power supply, plug the USB into the computer, flip on the power and Windows or Mac you'll see the drive show up. About as dumbed down as you can get.
posted by smallerdemon at 3:51 PM on August 26, 2010
posted by smallerdemon at 3:51 PM on August 26, 2010
Instead of buying an enclosure for this hard drive, consider buying a new external hard drive at a computer store and having its tech staff transfer the content for you. That way you wind up with a brand-new, capacious hard drive with lots of extra room that you can use for other purposes instead of a tiny, fragile, antique drive in a fancy new enclosure.
posted by gum at 3:51 PM on August 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by gum at 3:51 PM on August 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yeah, that's a bogstandard ATA/IDE/PATA/ATA-6 drive. smallerdemon's on the right track: USB-SATA/IDE adapters are perfect for disk-to-disk backups, copies and offloads where you're working at a desk and don't need the portability that an enclosure offers.
posted by holgate at 3:52 PM on August 26, 2010
posted by holgate at 3:52 PM on August 26, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks folks! I was told that I'd need an enclosure, but I have no plans to keep the drive. I just wanted to copy the data over. You rock!
posted by two lights above the sea at 4:09 PM on August 26, 2010
posted by two lights above the sea at 4:09 PM on August 26, 2010
If this isn't a drive you want to keep around, you don't need an enclosure. You can just buy the cables. Cheaper that way.
posted by eyeballkid at 4:17 PM on August 26, 2010
posted by eyeballkid at 4:17 PM on August 26, 2010
Damnit. Skipped right over the best answer. Apologies.
posted by eyeballkid at 4:17 PM on August 26, 2010
posted by eyeballkid at 4:17 PM on August 26, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
*NOT* a SATA drive.
posted by GuyZero at 3:44 PM on August 26, 2010 [1 favorite]