View Full Version : Retrieve photos from old pc
Captain Lampshade
20th Apr 2006, 11:00
A few weeks ago my old pc finally gave up the ghost and stopped working, resulting in me losing all my data but more importantly my family photos.
I have now purchased an all singing , all dancing machine and have been told that as the old platform was Windows 98 I may be able to retrive the photo files by linking the old box to my new one.
Can anyone confirm this, and more importantly if this is correct can anyone tell me how can this be done. At this stage I have to confess to not being the most technically minded.
Thanks for your help.
Gouabafla
20th Apr 2006, 11:13
It depends on how your old machine died. If it is the hard disk that died, then you may (only may) be able to retrieve the pictures, but you will probably need to pay a specialist agency to do it.
However, if the hard disk is fine (and it probably is) then copying the pictures onto the new machine shouldn't be too difficult. The way I would do it, is to remove the hard disk from the old machine (it isn't as hard as it sounds) and then connect it into the new one, boot up and Bob is your mother's brother. This isn't difficult as the insides of computers have dedicated connections and you can't connect things up wrongly (not without a lot of force). However, opening up your new machine will invalidate the warrenty. You might be able to pay someone to do this for you in such a way that the warrenty is preserved. Alternatively, you can get 'USB hard disk connectors'. These allow you to plug the old hard disk into your new machine via a USB port and without taking the back of the new machine.
Failing that, find a mate who is happy enough taking the back off their own computer to copy your pictures onto a CD for you.
Captain Lampshade
20th Apr 2006, 11:31
many thanks
under_exposed
20th Apr 2006, 11:50
You will need to set the old drive to be a slave. Info is usually on the manufacturers web site.
It's usually simpler to add the II drive to the secondary (primary, if it's a modern machine with a SATA drive) ATA channel, which is normally connected by the CD/DVD drive only. Switch the cables from the optical drive to the II hard disk and you should be all set.
A straight booting from the old drive on the new machine usually leads to a deadlock at booting to Windows due to the radically changed hardware setup.