IDE Drives to New Computer

[fella]

Hi,

I just bought an HP Pavilion a6720f Desktop PC. I am looking to transfer files from my old PC's 3 IDE hard drives (ranging from 80gb to 250gb), and my old laptop IBM R51 (80gb) to this new SATA one (640 GB SATA 3G).
Old PC's are XP, going to 64 Bit Vista

How do I go about doing this? Looking for a cheap option that will transfer the files quickly.
Thank you

 

[tosh9i]

Does that computer have any IDE ports where you can hook up your old drives?

You can also purchase a cheap external enclosure then hook them up through the usb port.

 

[fella]

Tosh,
I'm a noob but I don't think there are any IDE ports. Here is the motherboard specs

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01635734&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&product=3853840

and other manuals:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?product=3853840&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&product=3853840

Would getting an external enclosure and transferring to USB take exceptionally long?

 

[shabaa]

Look at this item: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816014

I have one of these and it is great! It has a USB interface and you can plug it in to an standard IDE drive, a notebook IDE drive and a SATA drive. It comes with it's own power supply and is on sale with free shipping right now. You can't beat it for $20 !

 

[tosh9i]

Look at this item: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816014

I have one of these and it is great! It has a USB interface and you can plug it in to an standard IDE drive, a notebook IDE drive and a SATA drive. It comes with it's own power supply and is on sale with free shipping right now. You can't beat it for $20 !

The ratings and reviews on that product really bother me.

 

[fella]

Yea that worreis me.

tosh9i..does it look like the computer I bought has IDE?

If not, is there an enclosure that you reccomend? perhaps one that can not only transfer files from IDE drives, but down the road could also house an additional external SATA drive.

Thanks

 

[tosh9i]

It doesn't seem like your motherboard has any ide ports.

This is the only external enclosure I can find that can do both 3.5" (desktop HD) and 2.5" (notebook HD) drives AND that has IDE (note: it also has SATA, just like you wanted):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817142001

The downside is that it costs $38.

Wait, hold off on that, it says External Interface SATA, not USB.

 

[MRFS]

If your older machines have LAN ports,
you can purchase a cross-over RJ-45 cable
and connect a pair of machines to form a LAN.

Then, you can simply transfer files, using
standard LAN software integrated in XP.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812608167

http://www.homenethelp.com/web/explain/about-ethernet-crossover.asp


Lots to choose from at Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=Crossover+Ethernet+Cable&x=21&y=32


Normal NON-crossover Ethernet cables typically plug
into a LAN switch or router, which does the "crossover"
function internally.


MRFS

 

[tosh9i]

I'd go with MRFS's idea.

I don't have any crossover cables, but all my computers are connected through the router, and I can share my files using "shared folders". So, I can copy files from one computer to the other through the home network.

 

[fella]

Thanks MRFS and Tosh.

However, which I forgot to mention, my old XP computer with the hard drives barely even boots up. Have had a lot of problems with it and just use the laptop now. So I would have to hook the 3 IDE drives from it up to the R51 IBM laptop or directly to the new computer to get the data from it.

The crossover may work for taking data from the laptop hard drive to the new computer though.

 

[MRFS]

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-53107

* Network 10/100 Ethernet or 1Gb Ethernet installed on systems via the system board


See page 138 here, item number 8:

http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/39t6190.pdf



MRFS

 

[MRFS]

> have to hook the 3 IDE drives from it up to the R51 IBM laptop or directly to the new computer to get the data from it

IDE-to-SATA adapters here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=IDE-to-SATA&x=0&y=0


IDE-to-USB adapters here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=IDE-to-USB&x=0&y=0


This one comes with a power adapter too:

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

http://www.vantecusa.com/front/product/view_detail/266


MRFS

 

[fella]

Thanks. Would the data transfer quicker from the IDE drives via USB or SATA?

 

[tosh9i]

Finding an external enclosure that fits both 2.5 and 3.5 drives and IDE and SATA is complicated. But, as long as you can copy the data from your laptop through your network, then you don't need the enclosure for the 2.5. In other words, you just need a 3.5 external enclosure with a ide/sata internal interface and a usb external inteface, here's a list of them (normally, i'd recommend one of them, but all of them have mediocre reviews):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010010092%201053807123%201054119835%201054207132&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=PRICE

 

[MRFS]

If you buy this Vantec, read the comments at Newegg:

laptop connectors reserve pins 41, 42, 43, and 44 for
DC power in and ground. So, BE SURE TO LOCATE Pin 1
on both the cable and the connector, if you try to
use this Vantec also with 2.5" lap top hard drives.


At this product, note where the 4-pin Molex wires
terminate on the 44-pin connector:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812203012

Standard desktop IDE/PATA connectors use a 40-conductor
ribbon cable, with a "null" wire in between each of the
active wires, to nullify cross-talk at ATA-100 and ATA-133
speeds (aka Ultra DMA).

If you aren't planning to use this Vantec to connect
PATA laptop hard drives, you can ignore the above.


MRFS

 

[MRFS]

> Would the data transfer quicker from the IDE drives via USB or SATA?

SATA is much faster: SATA-I is rated at 150MB/second; SATA-II 300MB/second;
USB 2 is rated at 48 MB/second (480 Mbps / 10 bits per byte, serial protocol).

The rate at which the bits are being read by your IDE drives
is the limiting factor: they're probably only capable of
reading and writing at ~50-60 MB/second, so going with USB
will not be that much of a performance bottleneck,
particularly for a one-time file transfer.

The converter will have its own overhead, of course.


MRFS

 

[fella]

Thanks MRFS.





If I wanted to keep one (or two) of the old IDE drives internally in the new machine as backup/add'l storage, What would be my options?



A PCI card?

or something like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812206002 not really sure.

 

[tosh9i]

Either one of those would work just fine. Honestly, it's hard to choose which one would be better.

By the way, it's PCI "Express" card, so you would have to get one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=PCI+Express+IDE+Controller+&x=9&y=37

 

[Paperdoc]

I agree, fella, there are no IDE ports on that mobo.

If you want one-time or infrequent data transfers from a 3½" or 2½" IDE drive into your computer via a USB2 port, a simple adapter that does not enclose your IDE drive will do it. This one with good user reviews can connect both drive sizes and both IDE and SATA interfaces to a USB2 port, and has its own power supply for both itself and the drive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200155

There are others - search Newegg with the phrase "ide to usb adapter". I did not find any external ENCLOSURE that could handle 3½" and 2½" drive sizes in the same box, but maybe I did not look far enough.