Hi everyone.. I was recently given a pc tower with no mouse, keyboard or cables. I want to use it as an external hard drive for storing data since it's a rather large and useful drive, but I need to link it to my main tower to do so. My problem is I can't access it directly and set it up for home networking because it's inputs are all usb and ethernet ports and 'this' keyboard and mouse have the traditional serial connections. If I link the two towers with a type of file transfer cable, will I be able to access the foreign hard drive while it's fire/wall or anti/tamper devices are active? I'd rather avoid buying new hardware just for one time access to the tower when I only want it for storage. Thanks in advance!
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accessing seperate hard drive externally?
- Thread starter vandium
- Start date
NoCalAdmin
IS-IT--Management
the easiest is go buy the $6 adapter to USB for those connections
but if you must
you could set up a ribbon cable just for that drive. Make the drive a Slave. Connect it only when you need to. Windows will see it....may not the best solution though...
but if you must
you could set up a ribbon cable just for that drive. Make the drive a Slave. Connect it only when you need to. Windows will see it....may not the best solution though...
I agree with NoCalAdmin. Go out and buy a USB enclosure, take out the hard drive from the donor tower and place it inside the enclosure. And presto chango you got an external hard drive.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
- Thread starter
- #4
So you don't think it would make sense to keep the spare tower in-tact and link to it with a double ended usb cable? Or is that not possible? the tower isn't password protected, but will it refuse access from my pc through a usb connect? As far as disecting the secondary tower, that did occur to me however the ribbon cables have much different connectors and wouldn't match up.
You say it has ethernet ports. That is an indication of networking capabilities, which would be the simple way.
What is the difference in the ribbon cables? There may be alternatives depending on what you have. If the ribbon is 50 pin it would indicate SCSI and the possibility of moving the controller across and connecting the drive with external cables.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
What is the difference in the ribbon cables? There may be alternatives depending on what you have. If the ribbon is 50 pin it would indicate SCSI and the possibility of moving the controller across and connecting the drive with external cables.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
- Thread starter
- #6
So if i were to pursue my original idea at networking the towers together, it would be considerably simpler to use an ethernet crossover rather than a usb file transfer cable?
on to the mechanical alternative.. the ribbon cable in my main tower is the wide one im assuming the 50 pin one. the hd i would be adding would require a much smaller fastener with less pins, wich is nowhere in my main tower.. the manufactured dates are much different. this doesnt appear to be more simple like everyone keeps telling me. thanks for your time by the way
on to the mechanical alternative.. the ribbon cable in my main tower is the wide one im assuming the 50 pin one. the hd i would be adding would require a much smaller fastener with less pins, wich is nowhere in my main tower.. the manufactured dates are much different. this doesnt appear to be more simple like everyone keeps telling me. thanks for your time by the way
NoCalAdmin
IS-IT--Management
quit beating your head against the wall and network them. Your dealing with the point of networking, don't you think.
How about specifying the ribbon cable on the both machines? Not assumptions but real numbers.
The tradeoffs:
If you network them you need an operating system on both machines with compatible networking capability. Legally this would require an additional license if it didn't already have one.
If you cable the drive in to the existing machine you only need the cabling, the drive, and an enclosure, which can be the existing tower.
This normally would be about a 10 minute hardware solution whichever way you go. But before you can get somewhere you need to know where you are.
It might also help if you can give some further descriptions of both machine's specs.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
The tradeoffs:
If you network them you need an operating system on both machines with compatible networking capability. Legally this would require an additional license if it didn't already have one.
If you cable the drive in to the existing machine you only need the cabling, the drive, and an enclosure, which can be the existing tower.
This normally would be about a 10 minute hardware solution whichever way you go. But before you can get somewhere you need to know where you are.
It might also help if you can give some further descriptions of both machine's specs.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
You would also need another keyboard to actually get into the machine and set up the networking, as well as a monitor.
So i'm puzzled you insist on networking the machine, but you don't have a keyboard or another monitor do it.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
So i'm puzzled you insist on networking the machine, but you don't have a keyboard or another monitor do it.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
- Thread starter
- #10
i was only insistent on getting a yes or no answer on whether or not i could network them together without a keyboard for direct access...thank you!
Ed fair.. specs on my main pc are from everest which
I'll paste below (maybe you could tell me just how obsolete I am). As far as the spare tower, it's a dell dimension e310 with a pentium 4, 512 ram and 80gb drive.
Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Motherboard:
CPU Type AMD Athlon, 800 MHz (8 x 100)
Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset AMD-750
System Memory 448 MB (PC133 SDRAM)
BIOS Type AMI (12/05/99)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
Display:
Video Adapter RADEON 9200 SERIES (256 MB)
Video Adapter RADEON 9200 SERIES (256 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon 9250 (RV280)
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (6418064R1REK)
Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Aureal Vortex 2 (AU8830) Audio Accelerator
Storage:
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive QUANTUM FIREBALLP LM30 (29 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/66)
Optical Drive TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-M1402 (12x/40x DVD-ROM)
Optical Drive YAMAHA CRW2200E (20x/10x/40x CD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK
Partitions:
C: (FAT32) 28609 MB (17789 MB free)
Input:
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse Microsoft PS/2 Mouse
Network:
Network Adapter Lite-On Communications LC82C115-Based 10/100 Ethernet Adapter (24.147.14.73)
Modem Communications cable between two computers
Modem Gateway Data Fax Modem
Peripherals:
Printer Dummy Printer
Printer Lexmark Z600 Series
USB1 Controller AMD-756 USB Controller
Ed fair.. specs on my main pc are from everest which
I'll paste below (maybe you could tell me just how obsolete I am). As far as the spare tower, it's a dell dimension e310 with a pentium 4, 512 ram and 80gb drive.
Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Motherboard:
CPU Type AMD Athlon, 800 MHz (8 x 100)
Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset AMD-750
System Memory 448 MB (PC133 SDRAM)
BIOS Type AMI (12/05/99)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
Display:
Video Adapter RADEON 9200 SERIES (256 MB)
Video Adapter RADEON 9200 SERIES (256 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon 9250 (RV280)
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (6418064R1REK)
Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Aureal Vortex 2 (AU8830) Audio Accelerator
Storage:
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive QUANTUM FIREBALLP LM30 (29 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/66)
Optical Drive TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-M1402 (12x/40x DVD-ROM)
Optical Drive YAMAHA CRW2200E (20x/10x/40x CD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK
Partitions:
C: (FAT32) 28609 MB (17789 MB free)
Input:
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse Microsoft PS/2 Mouse
Network:
Network Adapter Lite-On Communications LC82C115-Based 10/100 Ethernet Adapter (24.147.14.73)
Modem Communications cable between two computers
Modem Gateway Data Fax Modem
Peripherals:
Printer Dummy Printer
Printer Lexmark Z600 Series
USB1 Controller AMD-756 USB Controller
Obsolete is in the eyes of the beholder. In my eyes you are about the middle of what I work with as a mean and at about 3/4 of the scale on average. You are faster and have more storage than 11 of my bootable partitions. So I consider you current. Others will probably snicker at both of us.
No possibility of drive swapping based on what I read on the dell specsheet. You will need to network.
You should have media center OS installed and networking available.
And rather than having a keyboard and mouse spring for a KVM to share between the machines. And if you are on a fast internet connection take the networking through a router to give access to both machines. I think you would enjoy surfing on the dell machine. The video isn't as good but sufficient.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
No possibility of drive swapping based on what I read on the dell specsheet. You will need to network.
You should have media center OS installed and networking available.
And rather than having a keyboard and mouse spring for a KVM to share between the machines. And if you are on a fast internet connection take the networking through a router to give access to both machines. I think you would enjoy surfing on the dell machine. The video isn't as good but sufficient.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
sorry if you felt i was badgering you. Jus trying to figure out what you want to acomplish.
In any case, what you call old I use on a daily basis.
The point i'm trying to make is you need to be able to acess the machine to setup the network. A KVM as edfair suggests, would work nicely for this scenario. As you could use your existing keyboard and mouse.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
In any case, what you call old I use on a daily basis.
The point i'm trying to make is you need to be able to acess the machine to setup the network. A KVM as edfair suggests, would work nicely for this scenario. As you could use your existing keyboard and mouse.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
- Thread starter
- #13
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