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  #1  
Old November 13th, 2007, 12:16 AM
Boogy619 Boogy619 is offline
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Question about using another computer as an external hard drive

First of all, sorry if this is being posted in the word section.

Right now I'm using an Emachines computer with windows vista. I bought this computer because my old one (a Dell with Windows 2000) died from years of backed up spyware and viruses. Last time I used it it was so dead that I couldn't even open the disc drive to try and re-install windows, but thats a story for another day.

My question is, would it be possible for me to use my old computer as an external hard drive? I have tons of pictures, music (songs that I made and songs that my friends made), and documents that I never got a chance to save that I would love to get back. Please let me know if there's a way to do this. Thank you.
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  #2  
Old November 13th, 2007, 12:35 AM
giradman giradman is offline
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Boogy - you really need to be much more explicit in your description of the problem w/ the 'old' computer & what your main objectives may be w/ this computer; e.g. what does 'died from yrs..." mean, i.e. does this computer fail to boot? If it does boot, does any software run or can you connect to the web? Viruses & spyware can be corrected if you can get to that point? So, not a story for another day, the 'experts' here may be able to get you up & running again?

Second from your description, sounds like you have a LOT of data on that old drive, so trying the above may provide a means of retrieving that information; the other question is whether the HD is still functioning and whether the information can be accessed, removed, or copied - there are just plenty of considerations so some more input from you may aid others in making specific recommendations - good luck!
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  #3  
Old November 13th, 2007, 12:40 AM
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renegade600 renegade600 is offline
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just pull the drive and slave it in the new computer or purchase a case and run it as an external drive.
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  #4  
Old November 13th, 2007, 12:41 AM
photolady photolady is offline
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If your new computer has a controller on it, like the one on your old computer, you can either slave to new harddrive, or add it on it's own controller and save your data that way.

Do you know which Dell model this old one is? If you post that I can look to see what kind of controller you need.

And what is the model of your new Emachine?
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  #5  
Old November 13th, 2007, 12:46 AM
giradman giradman is offline
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Dan & Photolady - just for my own edification, I thought of that option but was concerned over whether this 'old' drive was infected w/ viruses/malware - not sure that I'd want to install it into a new computer functioning well - is that a concern? Again, just for my own understanding - thanks - Dave
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  #6  
Old November 13th, 2007, 12:51 AM
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misterbadnback misterbadnback is offline
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You can just format the old HD and buy one of these external HD enclosures and use it that way.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...30&name=Vantec
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  #7  
Old November 13th, 2007, 12:57 AM
photolady photolady is offline
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You're right, giradman, I thought about it too. But I've slaved customer's harddrives to my computer and never had one migrate viruses to my system. I just don't trust external enclosures to always work.

And mister, he says he has data he wants to keep. If he formats it, that data is gone.
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  #8  
Old November 13th, 2007, 12:59 AM
giradman giradman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by misterbadnback View Post
You can just format the old HD and buy one of these external HD enclosures and use it that way.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...30&name=Vantec
Rob - I understand all of these arguments, but the OP apparently has a lot of files on that 'old' drive that he would like to retrieve - certainly, reformatting would eliminate the virus/spyware issues (assuming the drive is functioning), but would destroy the files desired; hooking the drive into a 'new' system as a slave might pass on the 'baddies' to the new computer - just trying to understand the best approaches for this user - thanks all for your responses -
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  #9  
Old November 13th, 2007, 01:14 AM
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misterbadnback misterbadnback is offline
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Sorry about that! I misread and thought the things he had and wanted to save was on his new HD and just wanted the old for backup.
Couldn't he slave it and then run his virus scan on that drive and he could also run HiJack This with it being slaved couldn't he?
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  #10  
Old November 13th, 2007, 01:14 AM
photolady photolady is offline
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Never had a problem as I said, and this has been the same for the last five years. And the exact reason was to run my scans on their drive.
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  #11  
Old November 13th, 2007, 01:14 AM
Boogy619 Boogy619 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by giradman View Post
Boogy - you really need to be much more explicit in your description of the problem w/ the 'old' computer & what your main objectives may be w/ this computer; e.g. what does 'died from yrs..." mean, i.e. does this computer fail to boot? If it does boot, does any software run or can you connect to the web? Viruses & spyware can be corrected if you can get to that point? So, not a story for another day, the 'experts' here may be able to get you up & running again?

Second from your description, sounds like you have a LOT of data on that old drive, so trying the above may provide a means of retrieving that information; the other question is whether the HD is still functioning and whether the information can be accessed, removed, or copied - there are just plenty of considerations so some more input from you may aid others in making specific recommendations - good luck!
Okay let me be lest impatient with my description.

I bought the computer from a friends family member back in 2002. He was moving and had just bought a new one so didn't feel the need for it anymore. When I got it it already had programs/files/etc on it. But it never had a virus protection. At the time I wasn't aware of how dangerous downloading music + movies was so I got a ton of viruses and spyware. So much that it wouldn't even allow me to install anti-virus programs.

What went wrong was out of nowhere (seriously) programs stopped working. Off the top of my brain, I can remember photoshop wouldn't open for me anymore. Then when I turned it on after a while it kept taking me to a black sceen pretty much telling me you're computer needs help (its been months so I can't remember what it said word for word).

I called Cox because I was going to have their people come out and remove all the viruses/spyware and fix whatever else needed to be fixed. But since the hard drive wouldn't take me to the boot up screen and read the windows disc anymore, he told me it would be cheaper to just buy a new one (and he was right so I took his advice).

I'm good at using computers and working with software but I'm clueless when it comes to the hardware. So what I was asking in my original post is, if I could just like hook my old computer up to my new computer with a USB cord would I be able to just save or burn what I need? And if not then I wanna know what I can do.

Hope thats more accurate.
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  #12  
Old November 13th, 2007, 01:24 AM
Boogy619 Boogy619 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by photolady View Post
Do you know which Dell model this old one is? If you post that I can look to see what kind of controller you need.

And what is the model of your new Emachine?
Dell Dimension 8200

Emachines T5224
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  #13  
Old November 13th, 2007, 01:29 AM
photolady photolady is offline
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Since the old computer isn't working, you can't use any cables to connect to your new one, so an external USB enclosure would be your best option as giradman said, and if the drive new computer doesn't react badly to all those viruses and malware on the drive (not letting the computer even see that drive), then that would be the way to go. I'm a computer tech so what I do to my computers may not be what you want to do to yours.

To use an external enclosure you'd need an IDE type. One like in the link below:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...k=&srchInDesc=
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  #14  
Old November 13th, 2007, 01:59 AM
Boogy619 Boogy619 is offline
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So if I get an external enclosure there's still a possibility that I will transfer viruses/spyware/etc onto my new comp?
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  #15  
Old November 13th, 2007, 02:29 AM
photolady photolady is offline
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No, if you just add inside, then there is the possibility that viruses, and trojans can migrate to your other harddrive. Less possibility of that with an external. But once you get it installed you can run your antivirus from your new computer and cleanup any viruses/trojans. For spyware/malware you'd be best to let the experts hand those problems.
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