Using an external HDD via USB for data transfer

Hey there.

Look, I’ll be the first to admit it—I am definitely not some tech wizard. My computer skills are pretty much nonexistent, so if anyone out there actually knows what they're doing, I could really use a hand here...

So, look, here’s the deal.
So, I went digging through some old, dead PCs I had lying around, and I managed to pull out a couple of hard drives. We're talking standard 3.5-inch SATA HDDs here—one’s a 1TB and the other is a 500GB.

If I’m reading this correctly, there’s actually a way to bridge those HDDs over a USB connection to another computer using... What a complete disaster.?

I’m looking to migrate some files—photos, music, the whole nine yards—over to a new computer.
Is just plugging that external enclosure in enough? Like, can I just hook it up, wait for it to show up like any old thumb drive, and then just drag and drop everything onto my new computer? Or am I oversimplifying things here? Is there some hidden layer of complexity involving OS compatibility or file system headaches that’s going to make this a total nightmare?

Hard to tell if that’s a 3.5" enclosure from the photo, but I guess it could be.

You could also just plug it straight into a new PC and grab what you need, assuming you have an extra SATA cable lying around somewhere.

fadedorca66 said:Hard to tell if that’s a 3.5" enclosure from the photo, but I guess it could be.

You could also just plug it straight into a new PC and grab what you need, assuming you have an extra SATA cable lying around somewhere.

Thanks 👍