Cloning and IDE disk when all your computers now use SATA disk connectors

I’ve been recently asked to upgrade the system disk on someone’s PC. It’s an old IDE disk based computer, but has some old software on it that only works on XP and we don’t have the installation disks. An upgrade is out of the question. The only solution is to clone the system disk onto a larger drive.

I really didn’t want to do the cloning on the PC itself as I didn’t want any more risk of damaging anything in it than absolutely necessary. However, I did want to be able to use my laptop to do the job.

After a bit of searching, I found this device which is a simple IDE to USB adapter. It also comes with a power supply to the disk.

You simply plug it the correct connector on the adapter into the disc, plug in the usb to your computer and you have a new disk drive on your PC immediately.

The device is a lot better than a  hard disk enclosure as it works with 2.5 and 3.5 inch IDE/EIDE and SATA disks too.

The cloning itself is done using Macrium Reflect.

Cloning isn’t something I do regularly, but for £12.95, it was worth it for a one off. I’ve a feeling that it will be somnething I’m glad I’ve got some time in the future!