It’s a fact of life that computers “die” on occasion, and often when that happens we aren’t prepared for it. There are few things in life that are less pleasant than pressing the power button on a PC and having it fail to come on or boot into Windows, and the problem is compounded when you don’t have a recent backup. But even in this case, all is not lost. In most cases you can retrieve the data from your old computer’s hard drive and transfer it onto your new PC, even if the drive itself has quit working.
The procedure for rescuing the data from a dead PC is actually pretty simple if the hard drive itself is still in working order. If your new computer is a desktop with an open drive bay, you can simply remove the hard drive from the old PC and install it in the new one as a second hard drive. Of course in order for this to work the new PC has to have an unused hard drive data connector that matches the interface on the old drive (either IDE or SATA). It’s easy enough to tell by simply opening up your new PC’s case and comparing the connectors on the old hard drive to the ones on the new drive. If they match you’re in business. Simply set the old drive to operate in “Slave” mode, attach the connectors, then mount the drive in the open bay and you’re all set. After powering up your PC you should be able to access the old drive by clicking on the “Computer” or “My Computer” icon on the desktop.
If your new PC doesn’t have an open drive bay but the old drive mates up with an empty hard drive connector, you can temporarily connect the old drive and let it rest upon a cardboard box or other non-conductive platform while you copy the files you need onto the new PC’s hard drive, a CD-R, a DVD-R or a thumb drive. Just be VERY CAREFUL not to let any part of the loose drive touch anything inside the PC’s case or a short circuit could easily kill your new PC as well! If you feel uncomfortable with this procedure, you can take both the old drive and your new PC to a computer repair shop and have them do the file transfer for you. Of course connecting the old drive internally to your new PC won’t be an option at all if your new PC is a notebook or netbook.
The easiest (and safest) option by far however is to purchase a USB to IDE/SATA adapter and connect it to the old hard drive. This in effect turns your old hard drive into an external USB hard drive. Just make sure the interface connector on the adapter matches the data connector on the drive (some adapters come with both IDE and SATA connectors). These adapters are fairly inexpensive (around $20-$30) and they are readily available online as well as at many local electronics and computer stores.
If the old drive itself is dead, the data residing on the magnetic platters is most likely still there and uncorrupted. There are numerous companies that specialize in retrieving data from dead hard drives, but the service tends to be a little on the expensive side. All you can do is get a few estimates and decide for yourself whether the files on your old drive are worth enough to you to justify the expense of retrieving them.