Cost effective data transfer

[Brum Man]

Hi

Simple question, what would be the cheapest way to transfer data from an old desktop hard drive to a laptop?

I've seen HDD docking stations but at c.£15 it's a bit more than I want to pay for something that I'll probably use once.

Thanks.

 

[Semple]

I'm sure you could find a cheap second hand one on the bay, or even MM for less than 15.

Do you have an old machine or a friend/relative who could let you borrow theirs for a few hours. You just then need to wire them together with a network cable and copy the data across. Can't say i've seen any other options.

 

[Rroff]

Problem is the cheap ones are mostly naff - theres various IDE/SATA to USB cables for <£10 but I've seen them do stuff like malfunction (short circuit) taking out the drive before :S and often aren't detected by the OS, etc.

I use the Sharkoon DriveLink IDE / SATA (really handy) and also have a Sharkoon QuickPort but they are way too expensive for a one off transfer :S