Transfer data from old Dell to new HP drive 1

[sandwedger]

Old Dell 8200 bit the dust, mobo gonzo. It was running XP on a Seagate hard drive. Got a new HP d5000t with a big case and room for lots of stuff, running Vista. Can I plug the old Dell/Seagate hard drive into an expansion bay with the jumper set to "slave" and transfer the documents over to the HP drive? Or would I be better off having a pal with a Dell install the drive in his box and copy the data to CDs? My main concern is not to introduce toxic sludge, if there is any, from the old drive into the new computer.

 

[G0AOZ]

I'd have no hesitation connecting it up to my new system. You do need to make sure that it won't try to boot off this drive. Sounds like the old one is an IDE drive and your new one will probably be SATA. Before you start transferring files and folders over to the Vista installation, get your antivirus and malware programmes right up to date, and then run full scans on the old drive.

And if you happened to have one handy, you could always put your old drive in an external USB enclosure, and make sure Autoplay is switched off.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[goombawaho]

Easier and more useful for additional future uses than an external usb enclosure is this type of device:

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

 

[sandwedger]

Just ordered the Vantec gizmo. It looks like the way to go! I'll post back when I finish the job. Thanks!

 

[goombawaho]

You may have to take ownership of the Documents and Settings\My Documents folder in order to access and copy those files off.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Also, as suggested, make sure your A/V and spyware programs are up to date so you get your files transferred over clean.

 

[sandwedger]

I finally got around to trying this out. The instructions for the Vantec adapter said to set the jumper on the old drive to "master". This seems counter-intuitive to me, but I don't know beans. I tried it according to directions, but I can't find the drive in Windows Explorer, even though it is powered up and plugged into a USB2 port. Will setting the jumper back to "slave" or "cable select" solve this problem?

 

[goombawaho]

I've had issues like that - try different jumper settings. Try NO jumper (single setting), master, slave and cable select. Some drives are fussier than others. Your drive COULD be toast.

Pull the POWER supply first before changing jumpers AND unplug the USB cable from the computer. Change the jumper, then power up the drive first followed by plugging in the USB cable after each change always in that order.

You want the drive to be set properly (whatever it is) and spinning before plugging in.

 

[sandwedger]

Hot plugging the USB cable was the answer! Who'd a thunk it? The jumper setting was okay. Mucho mahalo to ya, goombawaho!!!