You need to provide more info. Is there a hard drive in the computer already? Is the hard drive you are holding in your hand a second drive that has files you want to transfer off of it? Do you want to install the hard drive in your hand permanently in Dell computer? What am I supposed to be seeing in the second photo?

If you are able to use google. Google: how do I connect a second (insert identification) hard drive to my ( insert identification) computer.

kudzu9-

Yes, there is a hard drive in the computer (PC)

Yes, the drive I'm holding is from an older PC that is trashed.

No, I do not want to install this drive, just extract some files.

Sorry, the 2nd photo is the usb ports to my current PC.

Jim-

Sorry to sound so illiterate with computers, (I am old), but what do you mean exactly by (insert identification)?

Thank you....

You're looking for a hard drive enclosure!

You insert the hard drive into the enclosure and connect to your pc with a usb cable.

You can then open the drive and select whatever you wish to transfer to your new drive.

Google hard drive enclosures for a better explanation.

Very inexpensive.

Insert identification. Name of equipment. If you do not know the name or identification of the equipment, you may not have the skills to perform this task. As an example, you may be trying to use a Toyota engine in Ford.

Ypu are looking for instructions on how to connect a hd to computer. Do you know which hard drive you are trying to connect to which computer. If you do, ask google, if you do not know, then you may not be able to perform this task. You will need cables and the ability to download drivers.

May I ask why you are trying to connect a hard drive to a computer. You do not need a hard drive enclosure, as you have a hard drive.

Joe, BIOS, Slave, Master. Are you still here?

Lot of wierd questions here. Joe, you have a 3.5” sata hard drive.

To connect it to your pc to extract files, you have two options.

#1. If you’re ok opening up the pc to add inside, you may be able to do it for little or no cost. You’ll need a spare sata cable, and sata power cable. More often than not, oem pc’s leave spares for power in the harness, but if not, you can use a sata power splitter. That likely leaves you with just needing a sata cable. If you still have the pc this hs came from, take it from that pc. Once you have your needed cables, power off and unplug your pc. Connect your drive to power and data bus and mount it temporarily. Button the computer back up and power it back on. Pc should see it as a second drive and you can grab files as needed. If you’ve never opened up a pc before, watch a video or two on youtube to understand the basics of what you’ll be doing. It’s a pretty simple task in the grand scheme of computers.

#2. If you’d rather not open up your pc, you can use a hard drive enclosure or a usb hard drive adapter, make sure to get one that supports a 3.5” drive and comes with a power cord. Either are fairly cheap. Connect your hdd to the enclosure or adapter and connect to your pc with the usb cable. Your pc will see it as a second drive as mentioned above.

Steve, what OS is Joes computer using?

Well, its a Dell, and given the nature of his question, i’d put money on at least a semi recent flavor of Windows. Doesnt really matter which one, they’ll all mostly behave the same way

Steve, will Joe be able to add a hd without drivers and changing his bios?

Jim, most likely he will not. Most drives install in any modern OS without havimg to install additional drivers, they’re pre loaded into Windows. And I’m making the assumption, again by the nature of his question, that the BIOS hasnt been touched, and all Sata channels are set to auto detect so no need to mess with that either.

The drive enclosure or adapter may possibly need a driver install, but the ones I’ve used have never needed it.

Thanks,

I'm using Windows 10.

I have a Western Digital hard drive that was pulled out of an old PC.

I think this is what I'm looking for:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MVRS38G/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B00MVRS38G&pd_rd_wg=sODbR&pd_rd_r=RAKD7F79EVETQ9XKD2PW&pd_rd_w=RnK5F

Almost any computer repair place can retrieve your files for less than the cost of the adapter or enclosure, and hand you a USB stick or smart card of files.

Lazy gardens, You're telling me almost any company would extract potentially gigs of your data, and hand you a $10-$15 usb stick for $20 total? So $5-$10 for their time? Right. There's not a compute repair place that could last working for that kind of money as they'd be losing money every transaction.

Joe, I have a similar one and use it every so often and it's quite handy to access drives. They work quite well, and this is of course assuming your old hard drive is in working order. If the drive is failing or heavily corrupted, your chance of recovery would be hit or miss depending on how bad the drive is. if the drive IS bad, then you may be better off bringing it in somewhere for data recovery, but it will certainly cost more depending on how big the old hard drive is, and how much data you need recovered off of it.

The computer repair places here would charge more than $20. Maybe it depends on the area where you live. I do know a friend had a computer place recover important files that got deleted and it cost her a few hundred but they got them back. Mary