External Hard Drive Cases

[TWINSET]

Evening all

I'm in the process of building a new PC, and once done want to transfer everything off this one.

Do these HDD Cases or ones similar allow you to use an IDE ex-PC HDD for transfer, or do the HDD need to be emptied first? - Will it work with a HDD taken from a PC with windows and all the other junk still on it?

Ideally, once transferred I want to empty the HDD then use it as a backup device.

[Tipsy]

All you do is stick the ex PC HDD in, and plug it into your PC via the USB provided. It will show as an External drive, and anything currently on it will be accessible. Be aware though if you had XP on the old disk and set your My Documents to be private, that it will not allow you to access it once it is plugged into your new PC. You would need to copy the data out of that location before rebuilding the PC.

[TWINSET]

Nice one, cheers chap

[TA-Mark]

You could simply plug it into the new motherboard temperarily as a slave drive to shift data once the new pc is setup. Much faster data transfer connected straight to the motherboard than via USB in an external caddy.

Be aware though if you had XP on the old disk and set your My Documents to be private, that it will not allow you to access it once it is plugged into your new PC. You would need to copy the data out of that location before rebuilding the PC.

If your My Documents folder (or any other folder) is set as private it is still recoverable by changing the permissions on each folder you wish to access. The setting for this is in the Advanced Properties of the folder. It's not as private as you think. A quick google will show a thorough step by step guide on how to change ownership of a private folder.

[TWINSET]

You could simply plug it into the new motherboard temperarily as a slave drive to shift data once the new pc is setup. Much faster data transfer connected straight to the motherboard than via USB in an external caddy.

Not sure what the new mobo will have in way of connections - going over to SATA connections and these HDD are IDE - Do newer mobos still have IDE and SATA?

The idea is to 'downgrade' my PC a little as this one's six or seven years old and was built as a games machine. Games have progressed now and I no longer need a high spec PC, nor do I need a tower the size of a coffin

Plan is an HTPC case, modern mobo and cpu, HDD, CD/DVD and that's about it.

Will go off mobo for graphics and sound as I got an XBOx for games now so don't need 'HAL' any more, nor it's hundreds of fans!

[TA-Mark]

Most motherboards have both SATA and PATA (IDE) connectors. They tend to only have 1 IDE channel now which allows connection of 2 drives (master and slave). Most people don't use the PATA connector at all as DVD-RW drives are also available as SATA too.

I have PS3, but still use the PC to play it on. HDTV card in the PC with the PS3 connected in that way. The G25 Logitech wheel will work in both the PC or PS3 so gives me option to run the driving simulator on either console or PC. For driving sims the cream is still PC based. Consoles lean toward kiddie type arcade driving games. Gran Turismo is still pretty good for a console based driving sim though and have been giving it quite a workout of late.

[TWINSET]

I have PS3, but still use the PC to play it on. HDTV card in the PC with the PS3 connected in that way. The G25 Logitech wheel will work in both the PC or PS3 so gives me option to run the driving simulator on either console or PC. For driving sims the cream is still PC based. Consoles lean toward kiddie type arcade driving games. Gran Turismo is still pretty good for a console based driving sim though and have been giving it quite a workout of late.

I've never been overly worried about the realism, as long as it's entertaining/addictive - Trials HD for XBox 360 couldn't be much further from reality (trials riding in what appears to be a disused munitions factory) but it's about as addictive as Lemmings!

Headshot's another dead simple game - think South Park figures and a sniper rifle and you're pretty much there

The problem with PC games is they're always 'pushing' PC limitations, seemingly for the sake of it - My setup won't even look at Modern Warfare 2 for instance, but gameplay-wise there's no difference between that or say Half Life, so it seems pretty pointless to keep upping the spec of a PC to play games that are limited, on a console, to a console's ability.