Getting info from my Hard Drive

[Goodbhoy]

My old PC (running XP, if it matters) stopped working.................no video output although the pc seemed to be running normally.



However, I have got a new PC running Windows 8. I have stripped everything from my old pc keeping all the drives , etc

The hard drive from my old pc is a Western Digital WD200 SATA drive, and I need to get all my documents, information, pictures etc from it.



I purchased a SATA to usb cable with its own power supply.



I plug in the 4 pin flat power supply into the back of the old hard drive then another cable from the hard drive to the usb port on my Windows 8 pc. I then plug the power supply for the hard drive into the electricity wall socket and switch it on. There appears to be other ports on the back of the hard drive which are not being used. I assume these would normally connect to other parts of the pc.



I was expecting the drive just to appear........................but nothing happened.

Am I doing something wrong?



How can I access my info?

Any help would be appreciated.



Thanks.

 

[cjmarsh81]

Try disconnecting from the pc. Plug it into power first and give it 20 - 30 seconds to spin up before connecting to USB socket.

I have one of those USB to SATA / IDE adaptors and always found it a little fiddly. Had to let the drive spin up before connecting to pc.

If all is working it should appear as a flash drive does, ie open my computer and it will be a drive letter.

 

[voyagerfan99]

What adapter did you buy? Some are complete garbage. I recommend the adapter that Vantec sells.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

And when you say "other ports", I think you're referring to the jumpers for master, slave, and cable select. You don't need to worry about those.