Question: I found my old computer the other day, and realized that I haven’t turned it on in years. I wanted to turn it on to see what I could find on it, but realized that the power supply etc. is malfunctioning.
Now I want to access the old HDD from it, but I don’t want to plug it directly into my computer and motherboard.
Can I, with some gadget or cable, access this old HDD via an USB port?
Answer: If you don’t want to plug it directly to your motherboard, you will need to buy a SATA to USB adapter (or IDE to USB, depends on the HDD’s interface).
Regarding the power supply, these adapters come with it built in, like this one (just a quick product example, I’m not suggesting this adapter in particular).As you can see, there’s a USB cable and a power plug which connects to the adapter itself.