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SATA/IDE USB Adapter

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788 views 18 replies 4 participants last post by  plodr 
#1 ·
After some delay I finally got my SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter early this month. I have set up the hard drive and adapter according to the instructions, but I have yet to complete the project. According the the instructions I have gone as far as connecting the adapter to the USB port (after disconnecting the keyboard).

step 11: When connected properly, the hard drive should be automatically detected showing the device in file explorer.

I find the file explorer under Windows System. Where should I be looking for the drive in the file explorer?

Also, under "disconnecting the adapter" I need to know where the system tray is, click the green "Unplug or Eject Hardware", "Safely Remove Hardware", click on "Stop".
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Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.4
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 Home, 64 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU N3150 @ 1.60GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 76 Stepping 3
Processor Count: 4
RAM: 4011 Mb
Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics, 1024 Mb
Hard Drives: C: 464 GB (407 GB Free);
Motherboard: Acer, IPMBW-BR
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Enabled and Updated
 
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#2 ·
Expand the entry for Desktop in the left pane in File Explorer and then double click on This PC. The right pane (center pane if file preview pane is showing) should have a section called "Devices and drives." Your external drive should show up as a removable disk.

You can right-click on the drive's icon in File Explorer and choose "Eject" from the pop-up menu to close the drive. You can then safely disconnect it.

Why did you unplug the keyboard when connecting the drive adapter? Are you using a laptop?
 
#4 ·
Q: Why did you unplug the keyboard when connecting the drive adapter? Are you using a laptop?

A: I unplugged the keyboard because I see only only 2 USB ports on this desktop (Acer Aspire Z).

I will work on this immediately and post again soon. I don't want to give my local computer guy $75 for data recovery when I have the adapter.
 
#5 ·
I see only only 2 USB ports on this desktop (Acer Aspire Z).
Thank you for the explanation. Very unusual for a desktop PC these days to have less than 4 or 6 USB ports since a keyboard and mouse each use a USB port. I could see a basic laptop having only two USB ports.
 
#6 ·
The computer he is attaching the hard drive to is this: Acer Aspire Z, AZC-700G-UW61
(I read thru his earlier thread on the problem XP computer).

It took me awhile to find the number of ports. It appears it has 4 x USB 3.0 ports, 1 x USB 2.0 port.
So there should be 5 USB ports available. Look around the unit to find them.
 
#7 ·
The other ports that I can see are HDMI out, Ethernet, and there is another on the bottom of the PC that I think is unmarked, I will take another look later.
I got the drive to appear in the file explorer, but I am prompted to choose one of two IBM Preload (E). Books, CFG Safe, documents and settings, drivers, etc. One Preload has 15 items, the other has 17. I need to know what to do next.
 
#8 ·
If you get a screen to pop open when you connect the drive, it sounds like you may have Autorun enabled for the USB ports. If you cannot simply close the screen with the prompts, disconnect the external drive, disable Autorun, and reconnect the drive. That should allow you to explore the contents. Here is information on Autorun and how to disable it.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/967715/how-to-disable-the-autorun-functionality-in-windows

I need to know what to do next.
That all depends on what you want to do with the contents of the drive and you would have a better idea of is stored on it than any of us. Exactly what is the project you mention in your first post?
 
#10 ·
If you check the pictures at the link below there are 2 x Usb 3 ports on the back and 2 more on the left hand side, as seen from the front.

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-AZC-700G-UW61-All-One/dp/B01BPMAZL0

No sign of a Usb 2 port but that might be the one on the bottom and since they are a black colour inside rather than the blue for Usb 3 it might be hard to see.
 
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#13 ·
Does the drive show in the left pane of Windows Explorer?

If so, right-click on it and choose "Open" that should show the directory structure of the drive. User documents would typically be in:

\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents
Where $USER$ would be the actual user name on the XP computer
 
#14 ·
Tried again before going back Online. With the adapter connected a prompt come on the screen: select to choose next what happens with removable drives. And another prompt that I wrote down is "Autoplay
perform the default action for the selected media or device." I will try again according to your last post.
 
#15 ·
I think I am seeing the list of windows documents that came with the drive, but I don't see any of my files. Are they still there? How do I locate them if they are. I do have the important files on floppy disks. If I have to I will buy a floppy disk converter, but I would like to solve this problem instead of that.
 
#16 ·
Do you see the directory path I mentioned in post #13?

Was the physical drive partitioned as one large drive or into two or more drives? If it was partitioned into two or more drives, do they all show up in Windows File Explorer?

If you know the name of one of your saved files, you could try a search for it.
 
#17 ·
In XP, you click to expand the drive letter, then you look for Documents and Settings. Click on the symbol in front to expand it and it might show a list of "users". Look for whatever username you chose on the XP computer. Click to expand. Go down to My Documents and click to open it. Your files should be there.
 
#18 ·
All done. Thank you all. I could not have done it without your help. I couldn't tell you exactly what I did, but I had to click something and the green loading line went slowly across the window adding to the suspense. I now have all my files on the new PC.
 
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