Need to transfer files from Windows hard drive

A

akrubin

Registered
The motherboard on my Windows XP desktop fried last weekend, and I have had it. I made up my mind to buy an iBook to replace it. However, I really want to be able to transfer lots of files from my still working hard drive. The only problem is that I cannot boot up my PC to burn these files onto a CD.

It has been suggested to me that I purchase a IDE-to-USB cable, which seem reasonable enough for $30-$40. However, I have worries that the cable may not work if the hard drive is from a Windows machine and I want to connect it to a Mac. Does anyone have experience with this kind of operation? Will it work?

Do I have other options besides purchasing a cable? How can I extract a lot of files from this orphaned hard drive?

Thanks so much for your help!
 
Well, you really don't need to worry about the format of the drive... the Mac can read Windows-formatted drives easily, whether they're USB flash drives, network volumes, or Hard Drives.

I have never heard of an IDE to USB cable... and just did some research on them. I have no idea if those would work. I've heard of people buying external FireWire and USB enclosures for drives, but not just a cable... I guess if the USB provides enough power to the drive, it should work fine.
 
Actually, I believe the cable comes with a plug for the hard drive. USB carries some miniscule amount of power, like 2 watts.
 
What you might consider doing is using a piece of software called Move2Mac by Detto Technologies (http://www.detto.com/move2mac/). Along with the software there comes a USB cable. 500MB in 15 minutes time is not bad since an IDE to USB cable will be way to slow. Check out the site, you will be pleasantly suprised.
 
What I would do is buy a USB enclosure for it. Then you can transfer your files off of it on to your new laptop and you can then reuse the drive for backup or extra storage.
 
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