Using Old Desktop as External Harddrive and Transferring Files between Two

Irish Gunner

Just got new desktop and want to use the old desktop hard drive as an external hard drive

Is it cross over cables I need to transfer any files I need first as I want to format the drive
and then start using it as external hard drive ?

I was going to get a large usb storage pen or burn files to a cd-rw but wondering if cross over
cables are the best option

Also best place to get them and is this the best option ?

Shiny

I suppose you mean sharing the drives (of the old PC) over the network and
changing the access rights so that they are writable ?

Depening on how much data you are transferring, I would recommend that you
have a gigabit connection between the two. You new desktop probably has
this connection and just pick up a cheap gigabit card for the old one.
Then a Cat 6 crossover cable between the two.

Should be sorted then.

This equipment can be picked up[ in either komplett, dabs or in town.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Shiny wrote: »

I suppose you mean sharing the drives (of the old PC) over the network and
changing the access rights so that they are writable ?

Depening on how much data you are transferring, I would recommend that you
have a gigabit connection between the two. You new desktop probably has
this connection and just pick up a cheap gigabit card for the old one.
Then a Cat 6 crossover cable between the two.

Should be sorted then.

This equipment can be picked up[ in either komplett, dabs or in town.

Overkill to pick up a network card just for the transfer, especially given that there are no time constraints on the OP to transfer the data (I'm assuming).

Just use the network card that's in it. It might take half an hour, but it's free and you don't have to go to the shop.

Shiny

Yeah, if its only small amounts of data then it is probably overkill.
I just assumed he would be transferring video files etc.

Irish Gunner

Ok a bit over my head re Network card etc

I don't want to open up either pc and F it up know it maybe easy but to a non techie like me

All I am transferring is small files nothing to large then format the drive

Then what I want to do is keep any large files I have on new pc and transfer them from time to old PC drive for storage

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Irish Gunner wrote: »

Then what I want to do is keep any large files I have on new pc and transfer them from time to old PC drive for storage

You've got three options then for the latter part of your query.

-Get an external enclosure and stick the dirve from the old pc into that and use it as an external drive.

-Run your old machine as a file server.

-Take the drive out of the old machine and put it in the new machine.

To be honest, if it's only small files, burn them to a CD, unless you're going to implement one of the solutions above. (For options one and three, you will be able to access all the old files when you set it up and then format if you want).

Irish Gunner

-Get an external enclosure and stick the dirve from the old pc into that and use it as an external drive.

-Run your old machine as a file server.

-Take the drive out of the old machine and put it in the new machine.


Any websites info I can go to check how to do this then Second option running old machine as a file server looks good

Yes can burn small files to memory stick or cd

Access

sorry to come in on the side here, but just a quick question...

"-Get an external enclosure and stick the drive from the old pc into that and use it as an external drive."

I have a few old 10 and 20 GB 3.5inch drives from old desktop pcs lying around the office and would love to put them to use as usb connectible external hard drives.

Could someone point me in the right direction to getting a cheap usb to old HD cable (just the cable OR the whole enclosure) on ebay/internet as im not too sure what i should be looking for.

I presume all old 3.5inch drives from old desktop pcs would be IDE interface (or am i wrong in saying this) Thanks.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Access wrote: »

sorry to come in on the side here, but just a quick question...

"-Get an external enclosure and stick the drive from the old pc into that and use it as an external drive."

I have a few old 10 and 20 GB 3.5inch drives from old desktop pcs lying around the office and would love to put them to use as usb connectible external hard drives.

Could someone point me in the right direction to getting a cheap usb to old HD cable (just the cable OR the whole enclosure) on ebay/internet as im not too sure what i should be looking for.

I presume all old 3.5inch drives from old desktop pcs would be IDE interface (or am i wrong in saying this) Thanks.

Yea they should all be IDE.

Something like this would do the job for you: http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=327487

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Irish Gunner wrote: »

-Get an external enclosure and stick the dirve from the old pc into that and use it as an external drive.

-Run your old machine as a file server.

-Take the drive out of the old machine and put it in the new machine.


Any websites info I can go to check how to do this then Second option running old machine as a file server looks good

Yes can burn small files to memory stick or cd

What operating system are you running? I presume it's XP?

It's do-able with XP, but for long term reliability and security, linux might be an idea. There's distros tailor made for the purpose, maybe someone can suggest one, I can't think of any off hand.

Design_Dude

Heres the cable on its own (ull need power from inside your pc)

Heres the enclosure

There both for IDE hdds, sata ones are even cheaper

Access

Sean_K wrote: »

Yea they should all be IDE.

Something like this would do the job for you: http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=327487

Thanks for that, Would do the job alright.

Also, because i have a few a few old 10 and 20 GB 3.5inch drives from old desktop pcs lying around (about six of them), would it be easier if instead of an enclosure, i had a usb to ide interface cable which i could just plug in and out and swap the drive if needed, and is there such a cable?

Thanks again!

Access

Design_Dude wrote: »

Heres the cable on its own (ull need power from inside your pc)

Heres the enclosure

There both for IDE hdds, sata ones are even cheaper

Thanks for that, but its a laptop i use so no power connection, hence the usb connention required but saying that, the enclosure is cheap... thanks for the link.

Sorry to the OP for going off on a tangent! back on track again...

trout

Sean_K wrote: »

For long term reliability and security, linux might be an idea. There's distros tailor made for the purpose, maybe someone can suggest one, I can't think of any off hand.

Freenas ... http://www.freenas.org/

wire

Buying a Crossover cable is probably the easiest thing to do.

I set up FreeNAS on a spare PC with some extra hard drives in it.
Connected it to the Router and then used it to store movies and Films etc.
Ideal for streaming movies to the XBox in the living room.

It depends on how much time youre willing to spend and how often youd use it I suppose.

BKtje

Some people on here are really making it seem like a very difficult job which it really isn't.

Just got new desktop and want to use the old desktop hard drive as an external hard drive

If you want to use the old hard drive in an enclosure you will just need to purchase one, take the old hard drive from the old machine, stick it in the enclosure and away you go.

Is it cross over cables I need to transfer any files I need first as I want to format the drive
and then start using it as external hard drive ?

Once your drive is attached to your new machine using the enclosure you can just copy from within windows from one drive to another. No crossovers required. You can then format the old drive and do with it as you like.

I was going to get a large usb storage pen or burn files to a cd-rw but wondering if cross over
cables are the best option

Not needed. Taking the hard drive out of the old machine doesn't wipe it. The data will still be there if not mis handled (and mis handling a hard drive is fairly difficult if you just use your common sense).

I'm not sure why your question wasn't just answered instead of all these other methods being mentioned as they are likely just confusing you to some degree.

Whatever you decide to do i'm sure someone on here will talk you through any problems.

Irish Gunner

Ok the enclosure looks the best way

New PC is Vista old PC windows XP

Can it be done if I create a network and transfer the files?

Saw a few on Komplett but what one ????

Is a simple case of opening up the old tower taking out hard drive and inserting it
and how will I know the hard drive I have will fit into the enclosure ?

Also have never messed around with opening up pc and removing hard drive

How easy / difficult is this and is the hard drive easy to spot for noobie techie like me

Then I can transfer any files and when done format it

Slutmonkey57b

Dude is wary about physically removing a hard drive from a PC and people are recommending he set up a linux file server? Linux heads: Sometimes the simplest solution is the best, even if it doesn't rack up another "convert".

Get an external drive enclosure dude and break out the screwdriver. taking out a hard disk is much easier than 99% of home DIY.

4Xcut

Have to second the sentiments of B-K-DzR here. getting an external enclosure is probably the best.

What does a hard drive look like?
Here are 2 images one from each side:

http://www.ptdd.com/datarecovery/images/hard-drive2.jpg

http://computershopper.com/shoptalk/images/SamsungF1HardDrive.jpg

There may and very probably will be a small metal rack around it. This is simply to make it easier to mount within the case.

How will I know if the enclosure will be compatible?

The hard drive in your old desktop will be 3.5", this is the standard size for desktops. The two possible variations are IDE or S-ATA. Once you get the hard drive out(which may require removal of a few screws, just like mechano really, or simply a click and slide mechanism), take off the rack that is probably on it. Have a look at the cables that you unplugged and see which it is from the link below, the first one is an example of an IDE connection, the wide cable is for data, the thin cable is for power:

http://www.global-batteries.com.au/images/B_HE0002BJ_04.jpg

The second one is an example of a S-ATA connection, the red thin cable is Sata data and the red, black and yellow cable is the power:

http://www.slipperybrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/tripp-lite-usb-sata-ide-adpater.jpg

What enclosure should I get?

This is something that will probably be better answered by someone else, as I haven't bought an enclosure before but an example of some would be here:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/kl.aspx?bn=10095




Once you know what you need(IDE or S-ATA), you can buy an enclosure. As was said above, removing a Hard Drive is actually quite easy. It can be confusing/unnerving when you open the case and see what's inside but it's grand if you know what to go for. If you get stuck, there should be a few guides on the net on how to remove a hard drive. And, as was also stated above as long as you don't connect it to a directly to an ESB station or put it in a blacksmith's furnace, it really should be grand.

Capt'n Midnight

The new pc with vista will almost certainly have a gigabit card
in which case you won't need a crossover cable, a normal cable will do.

xp has a firewall to stop people connecting in so you have to open this up
you also have to share folders
you also have to give both machines similar IP addresses and setup similar users and passwords too ( if you use IP addresses you don't need to worry about them being on the same workgroup )

I'll see if I can dig up the FAQ for file sharing between XP / Vista

tricky D

Easy IDE, just take out old HD and plug in

USB 2.0 to IDE Adaptor £14.99
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?TabID=1&criteria=usb&ModuleNo=35057&doy=search&C=SO&U=Strat15

IDE/SATA to USB 2.0 £39.99
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=48965&C=Maplin&U=SearchTop&T=EASY%20SATA%20ADAPTOR&doy=30m8

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Dude is wary about physically removing a hard drive from a PC and people are recommending he set up a linux file server? Linux heads: Sometimes the simplest solution is the best, even if it doesn't rack up another "convert".

Dude, don't hate the player, hate the game.

Irish Gunner

Ok open up PC and its a Seagate info Here

Pics of HD below




So what type of enclosure would I need is it the IDE but is it the 2.5 or the 3.5


Also is it better to recycle the rest or try to sell without HD would it be worth it ?

spec

e PC

OS

Windows Xp3

Processor
2.00 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Main Circuit Board
Board: K8T800P-8237
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 10/13/2004

Memory Modules
512 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'A0' has 512 MB
Slot 'A1' is Empty

Bus Adapters

D347PRT SCSI Controller
VIA Serial ATA RAID Controller
VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller (4x)
VIA USB Enhanced Host Controller

Communictions
1394 Net Adapter
802.11b/g USB Wireless LAN Adapter #2

Others
VIA OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
PS/2 Compatible Mouse
USB Root Hub (5x)
pcouffin device for 32 bits systems

Slutmonkey57b

Irish Gunner wrote: »

So what type of enclosure would I need is it the IDE but is it the 2.5 or the 3.5

Standard 3.5" enclosure - IDE type. You could try getting some money for the parts of the old machine but you're more likely to get rid of it selling it cheap on buy and sell to a student with that spec - in which case they'd want a hard drive.

Irish Gunner

May just recycle it as want to keep hard drive

With Komplett maybe going down the swaney not so sure about ordering from them anywhere else have them

See peats do any other retailers or online?

babaloushka

Irish Gunner wrote: »

With Komplett maybe going down the swaney not so sure about ordering from them

Is this true? Is it not safe to put through an order to Komplett at the moment?

4Xcut

you could always try dabs.ie

Irish Gunner

babaloushka wrote: »

Is this true? Is it not safe to put through an order to Komplett at the moment?

As per below post

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055320846

Maybe Irish operation is ok but have not ordered anything yet

Komplett-Tech: Ryan

Sorry to hijack the thread, but just want to confirm something...

Komplett.ie is not closing down.

In fact, other stores closed so we could focus on making Komplett.ie even better!!

An example of this will be the opening of a local branch in Dublin in October, with Order Pick-Up and Returns Drop-Off available:)

ircoha

while a little off topic, Harvey Normans in Airside, Swords doing 1 TB external drives for 199 euro/ usb 2.0 only/7200rpm

Irish Gunner

McKomplett wrote: »

Sorry to hijack the thread, but just want to confirm something...

Komplett.ie is not closing down.

In fact, other stores closed so we could focus on making Komplett.ie even better!!

An example of this will be the opening of a local branch in Dublin in October, with Order Pick-Up and Returns Drop-Off available:)

Thanks for this re assurance just ordered the below

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=327487