How to access (then wipe) data on old HDD

[TomPlk]

A bit of a newbie question here, but how can I most easily go about accessing data on a hard drive from an old PC that failed recently?

The motherboard on my old PC literally fell to pieces on me, so I ordered a new desktop and I'm waiting for that to arrive. Luckily I did back up my old PC to an external HDD, but that was towards the end of January. There are some files on my hard drive that I've added since then, and that I would like to try and transfer to the HDD of my new PC (or my external HDD if possible).

What's the easiest, and less risky way for a newb like me to do this?

Also, what is the most effective way to wipe this old HDD of all data before I trash it when I'm done with transferring the old files?

Thanks.
Edit: Forgot to mention, it's a Samsung HDD with SATA connectors.

 

[HEXiT]

just plug it in as a secondary and transfer the files. as long as the motherboard has the rite connections it should be pretty straight forward...
you may have to go into bios and make sure the drive isnt in the boot order but other than that, like i said should be straight forward.

 

[unknownofprob]

easiest way is to backup current files to external HDD, then go onto disk management and reformat the drive to erase everything, simple.

 

[smorizio]

the easy and safe way would be after the new pc is running with the os. turn it off and plug the old drive in. if the drive not damaged it come up as a new drive inside of the new windows installed system. you be able then to pull the data off the drive then format inside windows from microsoft disk management. there also usb cases and usb to sata kits that you just plug the power and data cable into the sata drive and then plug the drive into a usb port these cables used mostly for a one time pull of data.

 

[TomPlk]

just plug it in as a secondary and transfer the files. as long as the motherboard has the rite connections it should be pretty straight forward...
you may have to go into bios and make sure the drive isnt in the boot order but other than that, like i said should be straight forward.

So if I do that, will I be able to access the old HDD through My Computer, as if it was an external HDD? Or would I have to somehow switch between the two HDD's?

 

[TomPlk]

the easy and safe way would be after the new pc is running with the os. turn it off and plug the old drive in. if the drive not damaged it come up as a new drive inside of the new windows installed system. you be able then to pull the data off the drive then format inside windows from microsoft disk management. there also usb cases and usb to sata kits that you just plug the power and data cable into the sata drive and then plug the drive into a usb port these cables used mostly for a one time pull of data.

Oh, I didn't see your answer. Thanks, I'll give those methods a try once my new desktop arrives.

 

[TomPlk]

easiest way is to backup current files to external HDD, then go onto disk management and reformat the drive to erase everything, simple.

That seems easy enough, thanks. I was expecting to have to download some kind of software, but I'll give that a try.

 

[HEXiT]

just plug it in as a secondary and transfer the files. as long as the motherboard has the rite connections it should be pretty straight forward...
you may have to go into bios and make sure the drive isnt in the boot order but other than that, like i said should be straight forward.

So if I do that, will I be able to access the old HDD through My Computer, as if it was an external HDD? Or would I have to somehow switch between the two HDD's?

external drives are in a separate list so no it wont show up there... but it will show up in the internal drive list just like any other internal drive.

 

[TomPlk]

just plug it in as a secondary and transfer the files. as long as the motherboard has the rite connections it should be pretty straight forward...
you may have to go into bios and make sure the drive isnt in the boot order but other than that, like i said should be straight forward.

So if I do that, will I be able to access the old HDD through My Computer, as if it was an external HDD? Or would I have to somehow switch between the two HDD's?

external drives are in a separate list so no it wont show up there... but it will show up in the internal drive list just like any other internal drive.

That's good enough for me, thanks. I'll give it a try when the PC arrives.