My pc of 6 years crashed and will not start up. I can here the sound of the fan but the boot up process goes no further. It just switched off as I was using it - as if in a power cut. This had happened before but it rebooted spontaneously - not this time though! .

I have since bought a new pc and I would like to transfer about 10 gig of data from my old pc. I can not simply remove the hard disk and install it in the available slot because the connections are different. Anyway, could the problem be with the hard disk itself - it was 6 years old with daily usage?

How can I get my old pc up and running again? Thank You

Yes, it could be the hard drive, but there's no way to tell without actually testing it.

You say that the connection are different. What kind are they. I would guess that the old hard drive uses PATA and the new machine is using a SATA drive. But the new mobo should have PATA ports on it - I don't think I've seen a SATA only mobo.

Unless you really need to use the old system I'd just concentrate on gettng that hard drive connected to the new machine.

Michael J

I don't need the old system to run, just to get the data off the old hard drive.

My new pc is a Dell Dimension 5150. The mannual refers to it being a serial ATA type hard drive.

My old pc was using a wider ribbon type data cable. I saw no connection on the Dell mobo where this could go. I think it might be an IDE type connection, if this means anything to you.

Also the power cable connectors are different - one uses a pin type conector and the other requires a slide contact type (like a ram memory module).

Any Ideas? Thanks.

You can purchase an adapter to connect an IDE drive to a SATA port.

If you don't get any display on your old system when you boot, there is a pretty good chance that the power supply or motherboard went and the drive is ok.

Do yourself a favor BACKUP!

Thanks, just googled this adapter and it looks like a solution.

What if the hard disk had a virus which crashed the system in the first place.

If I used this adapter and connected my old IDE drive in my new SATA system will it corrupt or mess up my new pc?

Also, the old pc was win98se and the new is win xp - is this an issue?

when you connect up the old drive be sure to set the jumpers to slave and you may have to set the jumper on the master also if it won't see the drive.

You should be able to scan it after you slave it onto your new system and I don't see any harm to your new system if you scan it.
The OS is not an issue in that manner.

Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back with your results....thanks

You should double check the connectors on your new computer. It's possible it has no IDE connections, but I doubt it. Your optical drive (CD/DVD) is most likely IDE. So if there are no open IDE connectors, just pull the cable from your optical drive and connect it to the old hard drive.

As for a virus, the symptoms you describe sound mechanical not viral. If you can get the hard drive set up in the new system, just do a full virus scan on that disk before copying over the files.

Michael J

Yes, it looks like I do have an IDE socket connecting my dvd/cd drive. But I still have the issue with the power cable plug being different from the socket on the hard drive.

Maybe there is an adapter for just this power cable plug/socket?

I just had a thought. What if I connected the data cable to the new mobo but used the power from the old pc. Could that work?

Um, the same power plug running your dvd/cd should be the same as the one for your old hard drive. There should at least be 1 extra standard power plug. If not, just disconnect your cd/dvd and plug the data and power plugs into the old hard drive. Be sure it is jumpered corretctly.

Michael J

I'll replace my dvd/cd drive with my IDE hard drive (incluing the power plug) , and set the jumper to slave.

Thanks you for all your advice.