Transferred Hard Drive

[Jim Robinson]

I am trying to move my 320 GB HDD from my old computer to a Dell Optiplex 755. The 755 refuses to accept the drive. Screen gives crap.

 

[WyomingKnott]

Umm, are you trying to BOOT from the old drive? I would be amazed if that worked.

Does the Optiplex already have a good system drive and you are just trying to read the data from the old drive, or are you trying to use the old drive as a boot drive? If the latter, do you want what's on it, or can you do a fresh install?

 

[Jim Robinson]

Umm, are you trying to BOOT from the old drive? I would be amazed if that worked.

Does the Optiplex already have a good system drive and you are just trying to read the data from the old drive, or are you trying to use the old drive as a boot drive? If the latter, do you want what's on it, or can you do a fresh install?

 

[Jim Robinson]

The Optiplex came with a 160 GB drive while my old one is a 320 GB. Also, I want to get the data from the old one. So, I really would like to get the data from the old one. Can you tell me how to add the old one as a second drive? Does the Optiplex 755 have a second power plug for the second drive? Does the Optiplex 755 have a second data connection for the second drive?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Jim Robinson,

Just open up the computer case and attach the 320 GB drive. There are quite a lot of videos and tutorials on how to do that on the internet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a9n7G4q30M
My guess would be that you should have additional SATA and power cables in the computer case. In case you don't, you will have to get some.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[WyomingKnott]

Just for clarity - it sounds to me as if you replaced the drive that came in the Dell with the old drive when the screen gave crap. Is that correct? If not, can you explain more fully?

As to the possibility of adding the old drive to the Optiplex 755, it depends on which model you have. They came in tower, desktop, small , and ultra-small form factors. I can't tell for sure unless you post pictures of your motherboard and inside of the case, but I think that the two small form factors supported only one drive.

If you only want to recover the data from the drive, things may be a little simpler. If you want to use the drive, you will want to mount it inside the Dell. If you only need to recover some data, you might consider buying a cheap SATA to USB external connector with power brick and using it for a one-time copy.

Oh, yes, are the disks SATA or PATA? If you don't know, you can tell from the connectors. An older PATA drive will have pins for a 40-pin ribbon cable ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA#mediaviewer/File:ATA_on_mainboard.jpg )
while the newer SATA drives have a sort of tongue with 7 connectors ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA#mediaviewer/File:2.5-inch_SATA_drive_on_top_of_a_3.5-inch_SATA_drive,_close-up_of_data_and_power_connectors.jpg )