About To Throw My Mac Out The Window!

I'm so frustrated right now. I could really do with some help, guys...

I'm new to the Mac having spent my whole life on a PC. I'd never go back now...
But I really need some advice. I'm trying to get some old photo's off an old PC drive I have. I would like to copy them, print them..do something with them because right now they're on the old drive and I can't do anything to get at them. I've tried to solve this problem for the last 9 months. I've bought Parellel to get Windows up to see if that would work, I've downloaded MacFuse and NTFS-3G (whatever the **** they do)...I'm just all so hopelessly lost. I feel devastated (wedding pics etc)

What can I do guys? I've no longer the PC tower, just the harddrive. I bought a IDE 2.0 cable system and even though the light is on on the drive, nothing is coming up on my Mac screen. I don't know what to do. I'm not so computer savvy..can anyone break it down for me on what exactly I should do?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

First of all you don't need any additional software to access the files on your old PC HD. Assuming it is an external drive (or that you have installed it in an external enclosure) your Mac will read the files just fine, whether the drive is formatted FAT or NTFS.

You need additional software only if it is formatted NTFS and if you intend to write to the drive.

If you are having problems reading the drive, the most like things are:
1) The Cable is bad
2) The Drive itself is bad
or
3) The Enclosure is bad

Please post a few more specifics and we will try to help

It sounds like it is an internal IDE drive. Unless you have a Mac Pro or some such - getting IDE to work on a Mac (as IDE) would be difficult. I'm not sure what you mean by IDE 2.0 cable system - but what you should get is an enclosure - that converts the IDE to USB
https://www.google.com/search?sourc....,cf.osb&fp=df41ee306381e0bb&biw=1092&bih=984
Then you can plug it into any USB system

Even with that you will need something like Paragon or NTFS-3G to write to the drive. If you only want to pull data off the drive - then you shouldn't need anything special - Mac should be able to read NTFS.

Razormac said:

If you are having problems reading the drive, the most like things are:
1) The Cable is bad
2) The Drive itself is bad
or
3) The Enclosure is bad

Please post a few more specifics and we will try to help

Click to expand...

Hi, thanks for your patience.

I bought an IDE USB connector. From the old drive, there is one wire to power it from a wall socket, the other; going directly into the Mac via USB. The light it on the drive which is telling me that it's getting fed power. But nothing is coming up on the Macintosh - no windows, no nothing...it's like it the IDE doesn't even exist.

I'm not even sure how to do it manually i.e - go looking for the harddrive that might show up somewhere. On PC I used to go to My Computer when things didn't start automatically as you do...

CAn you tell me what software I need to download?

I think by IDE 2.0 system he means an IDE to USB dock or enclosure.

Tell us exactly what you are using. Brand. Configuration,

IvanLasston said:

Then you can plug it into any USB system

Even with that you will need something like Paragon or NTFS-3G to write to the drive. If you only want to pull data off the drive - then you shouldn't need anything special - Mac should be able to read NTFS.

Click to expand...

Hi, I got one of those enclosures before and it was too small....obviously they come in different sizes? Because I certainly would need a bigger one. Oh, by IDE Cable system I mean the guy in the store just gave me a bunch of wires...no enclosure.

dtravis7 said:

I think by IDE 2.0 system he means an IDE to USB dock or enclosure.

Tell us exactly what you are using. Brand. Configuration,

Click to expand...

Hi, the guy in the store gave me this...
http://www.videk.co.uk/shopimages/sections/normal/2533A.jpg

To put into this....
http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00IMSEClGKnjop/Desktop-Optical-Drive-DVD-RW-DVD-Writer.jpg

Am I doing it right?

Well, if you've got a full sized drive, your USB bus won't power it. So if you have wires that hook from IDE to USB, that won't work alone. The drive will need external power.

Dysfunction said:

Well, if you've got a full sized drive, your USB bus won't power it. So if you have wires that hook from IDE to USB, that won't work alone. The drive will need external power.

Click to expand...

Hi, I posted up pics in a post but It says I need a mod to approve the post...

The external drive is powered by a power source (a wire that I got in the IDE box) and another cable runs from the external drive to the Mac via USB. I'm obviously going to need an enclosure? I bought one before but they are quite small...I could not fit the external drive into the enclosure.

CompletelyLost said:

Hi, I posted up pics in a post but It says I need a mod to approve the post...

The external drive is powered by a power source (a wire that I got in the IDE box) and another cable runs from the external drive to the Mac via USB. I'm obviously going to need an enclosure? I bought one before but they are quite small...I could not fit the external drive into the enclosure.

Click to expand...

You probably got an enclosure for a 2.5in drive, or laptop drive. You'll need one for a 3.5in drive.

CompletelyLost said:

Hi, I posted up pics in a post but It says I need a mod to approve the post...

The external drive is powered by a power source (a wire that I got in the IDE box) and another cable runs from the external drive to the Mac via USB. I'm obviously going to need an enclosure? I bought one before but they are quite small...I could not fit the external drive into the enclosure.

Click to expand...

We'll take a look once the post has been approved. There's a way around all of this, and get your data, to be sure

Thanks everyone. Feeling better already

In the Pic I can't tell. Does that USB/IDE adapter have a jack for external power?

I went to approve the message but it seems to be approved!

Wait, the second pic.. that's an optical media drive? That wouldn't have the same power requirements as a hard drive, but... if you have this on optical media, then this is a whole different question.

Dysfunction said:

Wait, the second pic.. that's an optical media drive? That wouldn't have the same power requirements as a hard drive, but... if you have this on optical media, then this is a whole different question.

Click to expand...

The guy in the store must have come down in the last shower....

This is most probably a stupid question but my pics are on that optical media drive, correct? Or have I taken out the wrong thing? That drive was the only thing in the PC tower that could possibly save anything. There was nothing else in there.

What do I need now to get my information off that optical media drive?

No, that optical drive would be what you'd read CDs/DVDs with. They store no data on their own. You'd need the hard disk.. which should look something like this..



btw, even with that cable.. you'd need power to the optical drive. *sigh* some days, I hate salespeople.

Dysfunction said:

No, that optical drive would be what you'd read CDs/DVDs with. They store no data on their own. You'd need the hard disk.. which should look something like this..

btw, even with that cable.. you'd need power to the optical drive. *sigh* some days, I hate salespeople.

Click to expand...

Do optical media drives also have these Power Connector Cable and IDE Cable sockets on the back of them? Because mine has....

CompletelyLost said:

Do optical media drives also have these Power Connector Cable and IDE Cable sockets on the back of them? Because mine has....

Click to expand...

It's an IDE drive, so yes. They do. The connections on the left are data connections, on the right is power.

Your files are stored on the hard drive, not the Optical drive.

I asked a question that I think you missed. Does that IDE/USB adapter have any kind of jack for an external power adapter?