I have an old hard drive from 2003, with a lot of files and programs on it that I would like to retrieve and save to my new hard drive. I basically know how to install a hard drive... I recently exchanged my new hard drive for the old one to see what was on it. Unfortunately, my computer doesn't have a burner or a zip drive, so I can't save the larger files to disk and then dump them on the new drive. I know a little bit about how to turn a hard drive into a slave, but do I need an extra ribbon plug in thingie (sorry I don't know the correct term! )? Is there anything else I need? Or is there an easier way to obtain the files? There's about 5 GB that I want to transfer.

This certainly is possible. Inside your computer, the "ribbon cable" as you said, which is known as an IDE cable, connects the hard drives to your motherboard. Generally, these cables have three plugs on them - one to the motherboard, then two for hard drives/other drives. Inside your new computer, if you only have one hard drive, plug in your old one to the extra plug on the IDE cable and make sure it is set to slave (that is accomplished by changing the jumper settings on the hard drive which may be listed on the hard drive itself).

When you start the computer, you may have to configure the BIOS to work with your old hard drive you just plugged in. When your computer starts, make sure Windows is running on the new hard drive, not your old one. If everything is functioning properly, you should see the extra drive in "My Computer". There you should be able to access the old drive and transfer your files to the new one, or even use your old HD for spare storage.

I don't know how much knowledge you have with this, so I apologize if I was too technical. If you have any other questions, just ask and I or another expert will be able to help you out!

Good luck!

OK the easiest way is, as you thought, to set it as a slave drive and just move the wanted data onto your main drive.
Now comes the fun bits.
There are a couple of ways you can do this.
As you have already said you know how to replace a drive then it'll be easier for you.
If you are lucky one of the ribbon cables you already have in may have a secondary connection on it. If so use this, plug in power (4 pin connector) and change the jumpers on the back to slave. The jumper settings are sometimes on the drive case, otherwise just go to the manufactures site and check them there.
If you don't have a secondary connection on the ribbon cable, then you can use the one from your CD drive instead, the rest is the same.

So to sum up
*set jumpers to SLAVE
*connect ribbon cable
*connect power

Then it's a simpe case of boot up and move the data you want.

It worked! Woohoo! I didn't have any extra cables inside, but I used the ones for my CD drive and it worked!! If I knew it was going to be so simple, I would have retrieved the information a long time ago! Thanks so much to both of you! :)

Curlyben, I tried to give you an approval, but it said I have to spread some reputation before I give it to you again... sorry!

I'm so glad it worked for you! By the way, that link you have in your signature is really funny!! Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you too! I have another simple question if you guys notice this... I hope so because I don't want to clog up the board with another thread! :p

Now that I've transferred all the information, I would like to keep the hard drive as a slave permanently, for extra storage. However, I was using the ribbons for my CD drive to connect it, and I need my CD drive back. There are no extra ribbons inside. So, I assume I can buy extra ribbons at a computer store? Where do I connect these ribbons? Thanks.

You can buy a dual ide cable from almost any computer store. Mine cost £3 or you could try eBay.

Oh that's not a bad price... hopefully it's similar in Canada... thanks. :)

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Originally Posted by orange

Oh that's not a bad price... hopefully it's similar in Canada... thanks. :)

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If you weren't out in the Prairies I'd drop off a spare one I have for you.

Here's a link to the item at Compusmart: http://www.compusmart.com/Product/De...rPartNo=054263

Oh haha... thanks NeedKarma! And thanks for the link, too! :)