I've never used one of those cables so I can't say how they work.  I use an external enclosure such as THIS ONE for my IDE hard drive.

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 In 2003, I purchased a Dell computer. It was a Dell Dimension 2400. This unit is now working every third or fourth day, and I suspect a hardware failure of some sort. Recently, I purchased a Dell Inspiron 537 slim tower with an SATA HD. The old computer has an EIDE HD with a data cable and power supply receptacles. I need to retrieve data from the old hard drive. is there a cable available that will enable me to supply power and attach to the data port on the EIDE HD, and use a USB port on the new computer so that I may retrieve data from the old EIDE drive? I looked at the following item on amazon.com, but I am uncertain if this is what is needed as it does not have a power feed. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A1A874 Any suggestions, etc. very much appreciated.

I haven't used such a cable. In the past, when I wanted to migrate to a new hard drive or new machine, I'd temporarily install the new hard drive using conventional connections as a second unit into the source machine and use Norton Ghost to clone the old drive over.

I just noticed you are in South Florida.  If there is a CompUSA store near you, they have the enclosures in stock.

Dell : Apricorn DriveWire IDE/PATA/SATA to USB Hard Drive Adapter ...

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/External_Hard_Drives/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=A1164717

The DriveWire IDE/PATA/SATA to USB Hard Drive Adapter from Apricorn is an ideal solution for transferring the data from a desktop or laptop PC to a new hard drive in a few easy steps. With this DriveWire Adapter you can easily transfer your OS, data, applications, documents, address books, e-mail, settings and preferences - from the old drive to a new drive, in few easy steps. DriveWire Adapter is bundled with Apricorn's ‘Upgrade Suite’ which features EZ Gig II cloning software for Windows and Shirt Pocket's SuperDuper for Mac. Just attach your 2.5" or 3.5" hard drive to the appropriate connector on DriveWire's cable head. Then connect the AC power adapter and the USB cable. Now, boot up your computer using the "Upgrade Suite" bootable CD and make and exact clone of the old drive onto a new drive. After the transfer is completed, install the new hard drive into the desktop or laptop, and the computer will boot up just like normal.

This DriveWire adapter provides a SATA connector for the new style drives as well as 44-pin connector for a 2.5" laptop IDE/PATA Hard Drive and 40-pin connector for a standard 3.5" IDE/PATA Hard Drive, allowing you to connect a hard drive to any desktop or laptop computer with a USB 2.0 port. This adapter eliminates the need for a separate enclosure for every Hard Drive and is compatible with almost any 2.5" or 3.5" IDE/PATA or SATA Hard Drives. With all these features, this DriveWire adapter is an ideal solution for anyone needing immediate or temporary access to a Hard Drive.

Manufacturer Part# : ADW-USB-KIT
Dell Part# : A1164717

Thank you for your help. I haven chosen your solution. I must admit that the responses were quite surprising and very helpful.

JoAnneClemons

Happy to have helped.

Bev.