SATA to USB Connector?

[gafee2001]

My Windows XP (Dell D620) computer won't power on properly (when the power button is pressed, it begins power up, but turns off in ~5 seconds) and I would like to access the content on the hard drive.

I was able to remove the Hard drive and iirc it has a SATA 2.5" hard drive. I would like to buy a connector so that I can access the information. I am looking at those SATA to USB connectors.

Is there anything I need to know in order to do this?

Thoughts
1. Is the new hard drive plug and play? Does it basically become like an oversized thumb drive so that once I hook it up I can access it through "My Computer"? If not, what exactly do I need to do?

2. Do I need to use a computer with the same OS in order to get the data? My old laptop had XP but my new computer is Windows 7.

3. Anything else I need to know?

I'm not the most tech savvy person, so I'm probably missing something here.

[brum7814]

SATA cables are around a $1.50 to buy.  Sata to USB cables are around 20-30 dollars to buy and kind of a waste of money.  If you want to hook it up to another PC it will just register the HDD as a secondary media drive after you start it up.  The real problem, which is SUPER easy to fix is just buy a new power supply unit and install it.  If it's an older computer a 400w 80 bronze certified should be more than enough to power it up and last for a few years.

[oldbuddy]

I use a SATA to USB adapter a lot and find them a simple solution to transfer data without tearing into your computer (if that bothers you like it does a lot of people). It is pretty much plug and play if you follow the simple instructions that come with it and it does make it look like an oversized thumb drive. I have one I use for backing up my Linux machine to an older drive I keep just for that, so what OS you use is not a restriction.

[brum7814]

That would work, but it's still a waste of money.  The guy said he has a windows 7 computer.  So, that being said all he has to do is open up the side panel, take the HDD with the current SATA cable from the old computer and plug it into the new one, which takes about 2 minutes.  All new motherboards have 6 SATA plug-ins for expansion.  Going out and dropping 20-30 bucks on a usb to sata connector would waste time and money.  The problem, from what I understand is a bad power supply, and if you want to use that HDD on the original computer, all you have to do is install a new PSU.  Either way, a sata to usb connector doesn't seem like a viable solution in this case.

[oldbuddy]

If it was such a waste of money, they wouldn't make them. The real point here is you didn't answer the original posters question. He already said, "I'm not the most tech savvy person", so why try to push him outside his comfort zone, just let him decide where he wants to spend his $20. I have not only used my "wasted" $20 converter several times myself, but loaned it to several friends to help them out too. I spent 30 years building computers from scratch and I would still rather not pop off the cover if I don't need to.

Which brings up another point, if you have any techie friends you might ask around and see if anyone already has a converter they can loan you.

[brum7814]

You're getting good at giving bad advice to people.  An internal HDD is called an internal HDD for a reason.  They make external HDD's with protective shells.  Leaving an Internal HDD stationary outside a PC case reduces the life of the product, which again wastes money.  It doesn't take a tech savvy person to unplug a SATA cable from a motherboard and plug it into another mother board.  Not to mention he might actually want to us the OS on the HDD instead of having it be a secondary HDD.  The best solution is to get a new power supply unit, or to stick it inside the other PC as a secondary HDD, NOT to buy a SATA to USD cable connector and leave it sitting around to get damaged.  It's common sense.

[oldbuddy]

I'm not giving any advice at all, I just answered the original question.

It's not hard to sort out who the advice giver is.