Got 2 HDDs: 80 gigs and 250 gigs. Both have IDE for data transfer and molex for power. I made the move to laptops years ago but I keep an old PC tower just in case I need to rummage through an old HDD or read a CD (not connected to my local network btw). So I decided to connect these HDDs to that computer. If the 250 gb one is in working condition, I can wipe it and use it for yet-another-backup-drive.
That computer only has SATA connections. I have an adapter from IDE to SATA, which I used, and for power I connected one of the (many) old power units I keep (powered it up by connecting the right pins).
HDDs work (I can feel plates spinning), but are not recognized by the computer. Tried both with the onboard XP (they don't appear on disk management) and an ubuntu on a stick. Nada for both. BIOS doesn't recognize them. Tried playing around with the jumpers for Master/Slave. Nada.
I got tipped that I might need to enable IDE emulation mode in the BIOS, but I don't see that option. I learned from googling that that option might be under a hidden BIOS menu, but I couldn't get to it (maybe I don't have the right key combo, though I tried many).
Any ideas?