How to Access Data From an Old Hard Drive
The steps below are for Windows 11 and Windows 10 PCs but should also apply to older versions of Windows.
Connecting the Hard Drive to Your PC
Before beginning, you need to decide how you will connect the hard drive to your PC. It will depend on the connection standard it uses. This step could be the trickiest part of the process if you don’t have a cable that fits the old hard drive.
IDE/ATA/PATA: Internal hard drives from the late 1980s through the 1990s used IDE cables and, later, ATA or PATA cables. You will need an IDE to USB adapter or internal drive enclosure to connect the drive to a modern PC. Be careful to identify the drive you have before buying an adapter, as several IDE versions hit the PC market over its decade and a half of dominance.
SATA: Internal hard drives switched to SATA around the year 2000, and it remains the most common connector for internal hard drives today. You can connect a SATA drive by installing it on a desktop. Alternatively, you can connect it externally via a SATA-to-USB adapter or an internal drive enclosure.
eSATA: This standard was found on some external hard drives from around 2000 to 2010. Most new PCs don’t have an eSATA port, so you’ll need an eSATA-to-USB adapter.
FireWire: This standard was favored by Apple from 1999 to 2008 and used by some external hard drives. Modern PCs will need a FireWire to USB adapter.
USB: The most common standard for external devices, you may find USB on external hard drives from the late-90s to the present day. Some USB external hard drives use the USB Type-A connector, but others use the less standard Micro-B SuperSpeed connector (pictured below).
Connect the hard drive to a USB port on your PC (using an adapter, if necessary). Older, larger external hard drives may also need to be connected to external power. Wait for Windows to identify the hard drive. This process may take several moments. A notification will appear asking what you’d like to do with the hard drive. Select Open folder to view files.
You can now browse files on the old hard drive as you would any external hard drive or USB thumb drive.
How Do I Transfer Files From an Old Hard Drive to a New Computer?
Once connected, transferring files from the old drive to your current PC works as it would with any external drive.
If you want to transfer the hard drive’s contents in their entirety, read how to clone a hard drive on Windows. Cloning is helpful if you’re going to preserve the contents of an old drive on a newer, more reliable drive.
Is It Safe to Access an Old Hard Drive on a New PC?
Yes, it’s generally safe to access an old hard drive on a new PC.
Connecting an external drive to a PC is always a risk, as a drive may contain malware designed to transfer to any device to which it’s connected.
However, malware found on an old hard drive will be programmed to take advantage of an older machine. The malware may rely on exploits that are now patched or no longer relevant. Old malware is more likely to be identified by your computer’s antivirus software than a newer threat.
It’s not technically impossible for old malware to harm a new PC, but the risk is much lower than that of encountering malware while browsing the modern Internet.
