How to connect a hard drive

[highlander]

Hi

 

I have a panasonic dvd recorder which has a fault and the authorised panasonic repairer can no longer get the parts. I have removed the hard drive which is a Western Digital WD1600BB WD Caviar 160GB internal hard drive - 3.5inch. The connections are 1 set of 40pins, 1 set of 10 pins (with a jumper on the two on the right I think) and 1 set of 4 pins( which I think are for power).

 

I would like to connect it to my home PC (windows 7), download the files then get software to extract the files and see if I can recover any.

 

I wondered if anyone could help please wit this and the following the question ?

- can I get a sata cable (or should that be pata ?) to connect to connect it to the PC, eg would a 40pin to usb be suitable ?

- does it also need external power ?

- do I need to do anything with the jumpers ?

- could I get an enclosure instead to put the drive into and then connect to the PC

- any recommendations for software to extract the files ?

 

or am I wasting my time and should I just give up ? (I know a wee bit about PCs, eg have added memory in the past but don't really know anything about the technicalities)

 

Thanks

[Plastic Nev]

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help Highlander.

 

From your description, especially as you mention jumper connections it sounds like the hard drive the older IDE type.

 

In your case and also so the hard drive can be useful as extra external storage later, I suggest obtaining an enclosure for it, you should be able to get one at a reasonable price and most come with instructions about how to fit the drive into its case.

For the size of 3.5 inch they usually are powered separately and come with the plug in type low voltage power supply.

They then connect to a USB port on the computer.

Something like this is what you need.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000JK769E/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_3?pf_rd_p=479289247&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0037JW1Y4&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=03SQS8TZ625XGP1V0A3R

 

Not being familiar with the file type these video recorders actually put on to the hard drive, it may be best to get that far, and plug it in to the computer, then if any problem viewing or dealing with the files, let us know and what file type they are, once we know that we can advise as to how best to either view or convert them.

 

Nev.

[highlander]

Hi Plastic Nev

 

Thanks for your reply - think I'll get an enclosure and see how I get on from there - cheers :)

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, once you have the enclosure and copied what you want, you can then reformat the hard drive and use it for external storage of important data as an external backup.

 

Let us know how you go on or if any video files aren't easily sorted out.

 

Nev.