How can I copy a IDE drive to a computer that only has SATA?

My friend has a dead computer, but the HD(IDE) is still good. He bought a new computer with no floppy, and 4 SATA connections(one SATA drive installed). He would like to transfer the data (turboTax, etc) to the new computer. The new computer has Windows Vista with which I am totally unfamiliar.
He purchased an external drive caddy(Mad Dog), that accepts an IDE drive, but connects to the computer via USB. It has its own power supply.
The new computer sees the external drive, but, being unfamiliar with the setup and not wanting to cause any harm, I didn't transfer any files.
He did the poking around while I looked on, and in many instances Vista would tell him he did not have the authority to access a file. This popped up quite often.
I have Norton Ghost from 2002, but, without a floppy drive, it is useless.
I don't know if GHOST from 5 years ago would even see a SATA drive.
I think the path of least resisitance is for me to try and fix his old computer and just put the old HD back. I have no idea how old the computer is( has what looks like a socket 7 AMD chip). It's been long enough ago that I've built computers that I could be wrong and it could be an Athlon of some sort. I just know I saw AMD logo on the cooling fan. I'm guessing his power supply bit the dust, and what I need is an ATX. The last time I built a computer from scratch was with an Athlon 1800+ CPU. At that time, power supplies were either AT or ATX. Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

Thanks Pete. It was late , I was tired. You're absolutely right-I don't think there is such a thing as a sata CD or DVD drive. I'll see if I can't talk them through it. They live a good distance away.

 

Here's one!

 

Interesting

A "Turbo Tax" file will only be able to be opened by the Turbo Tax program (I would expect). He has TT running in Vista and has tried to open files on the old HDD??

Watch that "Access Denied" is not because you have allowed viewing of hidden files and folders. For example, the Documents and Settings folder does not exist in Vista, but from my understanding, you can see a "junction" for the old Documents and Settings folder if you allow viewing of hidden files/folders/extensions. Clicking on those junctions will say "Access is Denied ".
My impression is that those junctions are a folder icon with a "shortcut" arrow in the corner. Disregard this if you have not changed the settings for showing hidden files, folders and extensions in Vista (which we all saw as mandatory, troubleshooting previous Windows versions).

Matt

 

Mattman, you are correct in that he tried opening a TT file on the old drive, but, he has not installed the TT program on the new one yet. I told him that he probably needed TT to read the files, so we went looking for ANY and all files that were documents, pictures, etc., anything that could demonstrate to him that "data" from the old drive could be read through the USB connected external caddy(?). As I mentioned, the new computer saw the external drive as drive J. HP has a bunch of external media readers built in, so that's why the advanced letter identifier.
I'll pass on the link to this thread to him and hope he can solve his dilemma. I am totally unfamiliar with Vista, but dealt with hidden files under XP. I'm not even sure that it is XP on his old drive. It could be Win2000, and I think that is "close enough ". I doubt that it's Me or 98.
Thanks for your input. I appreciate it.

 

Yes, I left out your question mark - your approach was/is right on. There is also a small converter made that plugs into an IDE drive so it can be used with a SATA controller. ABIT makes one and usually includes it with their motherboards. I've got a bunch of these if you want one. You could probably also find a local shop that has a couple laying around collecting dust.

 

I spoke with my friend yesterday evening, and he has decided to just get the old computer fixed. We are both assuming/hoping that all that went bad was the power supply and not something more drastic.
Thanks to one and all for your help.

 

If you do end up having to get a new PC, I can highly recommend investing in a Lindy USB to IDE converter. This splendid device allows you to connect a hard drive to USB. It has connectors for normal IDE, SATA and laptop IDE hard drives. One of these is an essential part of my tool box.

There are cheaper devices that will just do standard IDE to USB, but I think the little extra for the flexibility you get with the Lindy version is worth it.

 

Just FYI, Dell sells desktops that have no IDE connections - at all. And, I'm using a SATA DVD-ROM drive...and it actually works!!! Woohoo!

Regarding Norton 2002....I think you can forget about using that in a SATA environment. Without thinking, I booted Norton Ghost 2003 on my computer with a external SATA drive attached and it locked up.

I use Acronis True Image 9.0 for backing up data and disk images. It's not without "flakiness" though when SATA is involved - but it's working for the moment.

 

I'm assuming that part of Dell's business strategy is removing legacy devices and interfaces. My friend's Dell XPS gaming rig came with no IDE and no floppy and no serial or parallel ports as well.

That IDE-to-USB converter thingie mentioned above is a real godsend from what I hear from people who've used it.