Hi. I have decided to upgrade and get a new PC this weekend. I have decided on a PC that has a 250gig ATA Serial HDD. My problem is this: I have all my personal files on an IDE HDD. Originally I wanted to just install my current "F" drive (with my files) to my new PC and have 2 HDDS but I obviously can't do this if my new PC has a ATA Serial interface right? I don't care about my current drive. I just want the files off of it and onto my new PC. Unfortunetly, any PC's I've looked at, that have everything (hardware wise) that I want - all have the ATA Serial interface. I guess most of the new PC's are using them now. So... What is the best way to do the above? I've thought about installing my "F" drive onto my friend's PC (who still has an IDE interface) - then buying an external HDD - hooking it up thru USB - copying my files to it, then hooking the external up to my new PC and copying the files onto that. Is this the easiest way? (kind of expensive though), or am I missing something? Thanks! -Brian

I have a cable that allows me to connect a ATA drive to a USB port. It only requires the case to be open and a power connector. It cost me less than USD15.

"but I obviously can't do this if my new PC has a ATA Serial interface right?" Why not? I've done it! Look at my spec! Serial ATA is in ADDITION to your normal IDE drives. So using mine for an example: I have my C drive connected to the SATA, and set in the BIOS to boot from this first, and I have my data hard disk as my primary IDE master, and my DVD/RW as my secondary IDE master. I still have room to slave two more devices on both IDE controllers if I desire. Don't worry about it, you'll be fine! :-) AMD Athlon XP 1.8GHz 512MB RAM 120GB HDD SATA 12GB HDD IDE GeForce 4 Ti4600 w/ 128MB RAM Pioneer DVD/RW SB Live! 5.1 ABIT NF-7S Motherboard

Yeah, I have two IDE HDDs AND my motherboard supports SATA. Your motherboard probably supports both. I am unable to use my SATA because my power supply lacks the connectors so I'd have to buy a new one. I cant afford the HDs that would go in there anyways. IDE works just fine for me. -Cyclone Real Friends Stab You in the Front

for my SATA the cable that came with the motherboard, plugs into one of the spare pwer connecters that come from the PSU, and it also has an adapter so you can plug an ordinary IDE Hard disk into it. My hard disk isn't a native SATA one, its just an ordinary IDE, but it does improve the performance running through the SATA controller. AMD Athlon XP 1.8GHz 512MB RAM 120GB HDD SATA 12GB HDD IDE GeForce 4 Ti4600 w/ 128MB RAM Pioneer DVD/RW SB Live! 5.1 ABIT NF-7S Motherboard