USB IDE's explained......

CountryWise

Ok im buying a USB IDE to get info from an old hard drive that i have at home, now i thought it was going to be as simple as connecting the USB cable to my laptop at one end and connecting the other end to my old Hard Drive which i have removed......is it really this simple?? and if not how does it go? and what should i be careful of?

The reason i ask is when i went to buy the USB ide there was user manuals and a power adpapter, like WTF is the power adapter for if its connected via a USB, any advice appreciated!

subway

3.5" hard drives need a separate power cable.
if you look inside your pc theres an ide cable for data and a molex cable for power.

usb cant provide enough power for this so a 3.5" hard drive needs to be plugged in to work.

Stephen

3.5" IDE drives require 12 volts, USB only provides 5v.
For what you're trying to do, you'll probably need to open the case of the USB device (i assume its not just a USB-to-IDE cable you have? I don't think such things exist, there'd need to be some electronics in between) and plug in the old hard drive.

subway

there are what look like usb to ide cables.
the ide end actually houses the electronics in the connector

CountryWise

Great thanks lads, appreciate it, that pretty much clears it up!

TempestSabre

subway wrote:

there are what look like usb to ide cables.
the ide end actually houses the electronics in the connector

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=48965&criteria=USB%20to%20IDE&doy=27m11

CountryWise

Ok so i bought the USB and power adapter and the computer says it found new hardware when the USB is plugged in but then it says a hardware error occurred and the harddrive doesnt show up, any ideas?

astrofool

Could be the hard drive is useless? Have you tried to attach it directly inside the PC? (via IDE cable)

BostonB

CountryWise wrote:

Ok so i bought the USB and power adapter and the computer says it found new hardware when the USB is plugged in but then it says a hardware error occurred and the harddrive doesnt show up, any ideas?

The IDE drive might need to be set to master or cable select using the jumpers on the drive.

CountryWise

It does actually say to set the Hard drive to master mode but how do you do this exactly?

Snowbat

Check the label on the top of the drive for the jumper diagram. There are a set of pins between the power socket and the IDE socket with a black or white plastic-coverd jumper between two of them. Move the jumper to the position indicated for Master.

Tell us your drive model if you need further assistance.

CountryWise

Cheers for the help il have a look at the hard drive and write back

CountryWise

Thanks Snowbat that worked perfectly to my pleasant surprise i was starting to think my drive was knackered but got all my old photos back,cheers