# What should I do woth this old hard drive(Windows ME)?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-woth-this-old-hard-drive-windows-me/408838>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 21, 2007, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-woth-this-old-hard-drive-windows-me/408838 "2007-06-21T12:27:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![False\_God](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee7513/32.png) [@False\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/False_God)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-woth-this-old-hard-drive-windows-me/408838/1 "2007-06-21T12:27:18Z")

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In preparation for moving next month, I gutted an old PC I had lying around the house. I salvaged the old hard drive and the RAM, and am now wondering what I can do with the old hard drive. It’s got Windows ME on it and probably some data. Can I just slap it in my new Dell Dimension 5100 running XP Media Center Edition, or should I try to mount it as an external volume? Any assistance is appreciated.

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-woth-this-old-hard-drive-windows-me/408838/2 "2007-06-21T13:25:27Z")

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The old drive is probably an IDE drive, so since the motherboard for the Dimension 5100 ony has SATA ports for addtional drives, using it in a USB external hard drive enclosure would be the easiest. Otherwise you will need to add an IDE controller card. Unless you are only using one CD/DVD drive, there might be an IDE connector open on that cable.