It was fun for awhile but after three weeks of frustration..

[Ray Montee]

I have my new Dell XPS 8500 and to that, I have attached an IMICRO external drive using my old hard drive from my earlier Dell 8200.

The New Dell recognizes the new unit and says it is functioning normally.

QUESTION: I can't get the external drive to download any of the music files, etc., from the earlier computer.

Not being a computer geek, I must ask: Can/will anyone please tell me step by step how to get a download operating. I really need to get to those old/recent MP-3 files.

I've found in Win-8 'disc management' and entry that says in essence the correct ID of my external drive, and also mention of additional USB ports listed as
H, I , J, K..........

What do I need to do that I'm NOT doing?

Many thanks in advance.

[Bryan Garvey]

Hi Ray

What was the operating system on your old hard drive, XP, Vista or Win7?
In win-8, what happens when you double click on your old hard drive? Does it
open at all?

Cheers
Bryan

[Dave Potter]

What do I need to do that I'm NOT doing?

From your description, I am inferring that you have two operable PCs, the old one, and the new one with the external drive attached. If that's correct, and all you want to do is transfer some files from the old one to any drive in the new one, one cheap and easy method to to buy an inexpensive external hard drive dock like the one at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817392022.

The rest is trivally easy; you would physically remove the hard drive from the old PC, drop it into the dock, plug the dock into power and either an eSata or USB port in the new PC, and voila', copy and paste away. Both USB and eSata cables are provided with the dock, and you can chose which you want to use. Either will get it done. With eSata, you may have to reboot the new PC to see the dock; with USB, you don't have to reboot.

It's less than $30, and useful for all sorts of similar things in the future - truly, a gift that keeps on giving.

[Chris Dorch]

It sounds to me like no drive letter is being assigned due to a possible conflict.. Make sure the USB drive is attached and is recognized by the OS.

In the disk management snap-in, scroll thru the list of disks.. In the left square, where it may say Disk 0 or CD-ROM 0, make sure all drives say either Online or No Media.. If you have any other status, you may need to import the disk...

If the above is correct, make sure all partitions except for the one that is on the same disk as the C: partition all have drive letters.. If one does not, right click on that partition and choose 'Change Drive Letter and Paths.' Assign it a drive letter that is not in use like L or Z and click okay..

Go back to the tiles and double click on Computer and you should see your new drive letter... Otherwise, you can right click on it again and choose Open or Explore...

Hope it helps...