Can anyone help with a problem I've run into. Wishing to pull off data files from a still working 2.5" Trairie Trek 40MB HDD from an old DOS laptop I connected it up to the EAsy IDE adaptor and my IBM Thinkpad T23. This reads the HDD as a USB mass storage device. The HDD was recognised in device manager and showed as working however I could not get the HDD to show as a local storage device in "My computer". (there is no facility to check a "removables" box. The drive spins and the green data light flickers on booting up so it is being recognised after a fashion. Can anyone help me or give me any suggestions as to how I can pull off the data from this drive? I have been told that the drive is not being accessed because it is too small (40MB). However, I though problems like that were usually because drives were too big! Help!! PS I don't have much technical expertise so may I've got things wrong somewhere.

I believe that Drives connected via USB have to be ATA66 compatable.

Are you talking about a USB drive housing? I'd be for getting an IDE adaptor that'll allow you to "stick" that drive into a desktop IDE channel, and copy and so on from there. You MIGHT try installing (if it will fit) in your laptop, and try to use laplink or some other cable connection (null modem) to transfer to another machine. On a drive that small, how could there POSSIBLY be much of anything of interest?

Files are important because of the nature of the data they contain, not their size. I've never used 2000, but do you need a driver? Is there an update on the EASY manufacturers site? And make sure it's a driver for 2000, others won't work. Do you know the adaptor works? You need to try it in another machine, preferably with a different operating system. If the drive is powered from the USB, is your USB putting out enough power? 1.1 probably doesn't, even 2 may not - check IBM website.

The drive will need to be seen by the IBM the same way it was in it's former computer. There were 2 or 3 drive types used for the 40 meg drives. But since you're connecting it externally I don't think you'll have any control over that since it's not being ID'd in cmos. Unless it was originally configured as AUTO the IBM may not be able to access it. If its original computer is still working it may be easier to reconnect the 40 meg to it and copy it to something like an external zip. They seem to be fairly cheap on ebay.

The Easy IDE works with another hard DRive so I know it is OK. It is a piece of kit which plugs into the hard drive and also the USB socket and should read the hrad drive just as it would a USB memory stick - at least that's what the "blurb" said. I don't understand how the disk can be "too small" to read.

I doubt it's too small to be read. As I mentioned above, it was probably configured in a manner in the old computer that prevents it from being accessed in the new computer. It could also be a non-ATA drive which may cause a problem.