win 7 and ide external HD enclousers

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Hello ~ All,
I’m in the market for a new Dell…I want to use my two ide HD’s – one for back up and one for Ubuntu…I know nothing about internal installation – cables, jumpers!!!! NO WAY…
So, I’m looking into external enclosures for my IDE hard drives…My research has proven several things – I KNOW nothing about what
I’m reading!!! I know the new machine will have controllers for the IDE drives, since everything now is sata, Don’t I have to have the
external units be able to have IDE connections??? I know they will run on USB 2 or 3.
Do I assume these enclosures will be plug and play? That sounds simple to me??? Am I on the right track here?
All new computers are 64 bit windows 7….Is that going to be a problem? I’m thinking the old IDE drives will be operating separately in their
own environment, so win 7 shouldn’t interfere at all, right???
Any help and suggestions most appreciated….What do I expect in problems regarding this venture???
Thanks / John in Dallas.

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If you put the IDE drives into external USB enclosures, you just need to make sure the enclosure is for IDE, not SATA, and you need to make sure the drive is jumpered for Master or Cable Select, and not Slave.

There should be a sticker on the drive itself showing you how to configure the jumper. It’s really not that difficult.

That last note of caution is to make sure that the IDE connector inside the enclosure is firmly plugged into the IDE receptacle on the drive before you close it up.

After that, it’s just another USB external drive.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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If you put the IDE drives into external USB enclosures, you just need to make sure the enclosure is for IDE, not SATA, and you need to make sure the drive is jumpered for Master or Cable Select, and not Slave.

There should be a sticker on the drive itself showing you how to configure the jumper. It’s really not that difficult.

That last note of caution is to make sure that the IDE connector inside the enclosure is firmly plugged into the IDE receptacle on the drive before you close it up.

After that, it’s just another USB external drive.

=========================================================================================
Thanks – bbearren,
Appreciate your help, here…you mentioned “make sure the drive is jumpered for master or cable select….? I still have to be concerned
about jumpers??? What do you mean “cable select”? I assume both IDE HD ‘s will be set as masters, right?
Is your statement “cable select” another type of connection? Will that eliminate the need for master designation?
Thanks / John in Dallas.

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Hello ~ All,
I’m in the market for a new Dell…I want to use my two ide HD’s – one for back up and one for Ubuntu…I know nothing about internal installation – cables, jumpers!!!! NO WAY…
So, I’m looking into external enclosures for my IDE hard drives…My research has proven several things – I KNOW nothing about what
I’m reading!!! I know the new machine will have controllers for the IDE drives, since everything now is sata, Don’t I have to have the
external units be able to have IDE connections??? I know they will run on USB 2 or 3.
Do I assume these enclosures will be plug and play? That sounds simple to me??? Am I on the right track here?
All new computers are 64 bit windows 7….Is that going to be a problem? I’m thinking the old IDE drives will be operating separately in their
own environment, so win 7 shouldn’t interfere at all, right???
Any help and suggestions most appreciated….What do I expect in problems regarding this venture???
Thanks / John in Dallas.

Hi John and welcome

EIDE>USB external enclosures fall under USB setup and so are plug and play. The electronics in the enclose to the heavy lifting. PLug EIDE into enclosure, ubs cable into computer, win 7 win load a driver and it should work.

Let us know if you have and minor grief, for we can fix it

Ken Johnston
MS-MVP

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You can see how the jumpers look here:

http://www.easeus.com/resource/install-ide-hard-drive.htm

There will be a diagram on top of the drive (or you may have to look on the manufacturer’s website) that will show the specific jumper location for your drives.

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How to use Cable Select:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCS-c.html

Also, some IDE disks have separate jumper settings for Master with attached disk and Master single disk. In an external enclosure, use the single disk option.

Some new motherboards have connectors for both SATA and IDE. Some have just SATA.

Jerry

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You know, it’s probably easier on a new Dell to install the HDs in the case. Since you have to set the jumpers anyway (really easy), all you have to do is slide them in place and hook up the 2 cables. Of course, with a new CP, the problem might be having IDE connectors available.

Anyway, it might be easier to install in the PC than in external enclosures…

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