rescuing files from sATA drive

[bob123]

Hi

my comp has bit the dust. Some helpful people on this forum say it is probably the PSU thats gone

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?p=1529700#post1529700

However im trying to recover the files from the sATA drive and put them on my new dell xps 430 machine. I originally thought that sATA were very easy to hook up so i tried to put them in my dell. first inserting the power cable and then inserting a sATA cable from the drive into a sATA port that i saw. However Vista doesnt seem to be recgnising it at all? Nothing on disk management either? When i power up vista it tried to install drivers for 'unidentified device' but cant and gives up? Not sure what im doing wrong here? was thinking about foning dell but im not sure they wud help? i dont have any other desktops. i dont knw how to check what motherboard the dell has as they dont tell u when u buy? i do have a laptop with a eSATA drive but i dnt know wht thats for. thanks for any help

[abigsmurf]

does it recognise it in the bios?

Try going to the HD manager and seeing if it will let you assign a letter to it.

[smouty]

You probably need to enable the specific SATA port in the BIOS. They are disabled when not used generally on Dells. When you reboot go back into the BIOS (F2) and drive details should now be shown if correct.

[bob123]

thanks a lot guys. i went into the BIOS and activated the SATA drive the HD was connected to. Seems like Dell turned them all off. BIOS then recognises the drive. thanks again!

[smouty]

thanks a lot guys. i went into the BIOS and activated the SATA drive the HD was connected to. Seems like Dell turned them all off. BIOS then recognises the drive. thanks again!

If you have the channel enabled with nothing connected the BIOS complains about missing drives