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[Grakelin]

I got a new computer a couple months ago, because the old one's Video Card died, and I thought "Hey, why not".

But now I want my old data back.

Is there a way to do this without tearing the old hard drive out of the old machine and slaving it into the new one? Like some sort of wired connection to the old computer?

[Sir Finkus]

Is the old one completely hosed, or can you boot it?  If you can boot it I'd just set up a share on your new computer and dump the stuff you want off the old one into the share.  If you can't boot it, but the os is otherwise shot, you could always use a linux live cd to do the sharing. 

If it's a hardware problem (it sounds like it is) and you have no display, you'd probably just be better off taking the drive out.  If you still want to try getting the data off without that, burn a gentoo minimal install cd (that's what these instructions will work for, you could probably use any distro, but the steps might be different), put it into your old computer and wait until it seems idle.  Type the following (on the old machine, obviously you won't be able to see it) pressing enter after each line

/etc/init.d/sshd start
<wait a few seconds>
passwd <type a password>

Get a copy of putty and use it to connect to the old machine through ssh (login info will be root and the password you typed earlier)  You now have a root prompt on the old machine, and you should be able to mount the drive and use pscp to copy everything back to your home computer.

I wouldn't be shocked if there was an easier way to do all that, but I haven't looked to be honest.  I'd just rip the drive out and put it in your new computer.  As a bonus, you get more storage space.

[nbonaparte]

And you can always take the old drive out after copying the data to the new drive.

[Grakelin]

Yeah, the problem with the old one was just that there was no way of displaying anything. The comp can still boot, I just wouldn't be able to see anything. I'll just slave the old drive into the new one to get the data off. I didn't want to risk losing my data on the new one, though.

[Sir Finkus]

Yeah, the problem with the old one was just that there was no way of displaying anything. The comp can still boot, I just wouldn't be able to see anything. I'll just slave the old drive into the new one to get the data off. I didn't want to risk losing my data on the new one, though.

Not much risk of that happening unless you're exceedingly clumsy.

[Sergius]

A middle point would be to buy one of those devices that allow you to plug any IDE/SATA drive to your USB. They're kinda cheap, basically a cable and a power source. This is specially useful if you get a laptop instead of a desktop.

Of course, just installing the old disk in the new computer gives you a bit of extra storage space. Even if it's small and you don't trust it because it's an old HD, it's fun to use it to install an alternate OS in it without partitioning your main HD.

[Argembarger]

TAPE THE OLD COMPUTER TO THE NEW ONE

VOODOO

ENJOY DATA

Nothing wrong with multiple HDs.

Of course, just installing the old disk in the new computer gives you a bit of extra storage space. Even if it's small and you don't trust it because it's an old HD, it's fun to use it to install an alternate OS in it without partitioning your main HD.

Truth.

[GTM]

Buy a $10 video card on craigslist and revive the old machine as an unholy homunculus... Then just network them normally and share the folder.

[Grakelin]

I must admit, it never actually occurred to me to scavenge a terrible card from one of my even older comps.

[eerr]

safe mode NEVER uses the graphics card.

I think it has cd-drive software at the very least.
Safe mode with internet?

With that, you should be able to disable the graphics card, ensuring that you won't use it, and I think the computer will display the largest screen possible with just the CPU


Failing those steps, try just removing the graphics card, to see what happens?

If I got my facts straight, you should boot up fine, with a useable, though shrunken, gui.

probably 640*400, or something.


Now, if you have a laptop, then I am fairly certain you are just screwed, as laptops have GPUs.

GPU's are graphics cards and CPUs combined.

[Sergius]

safe mode NEVER uses the graphics card.

Er... safe mode uses the graphics card. It doesn't use the specific graphics DRIVERS (just regular VESA or VGA mode or whatever it is nowadays), but if your mainboard doesn't include an integrated video chipset with its own separate output, your graphics card won't work in safe mode, or normal mode or AT ALL if it's toasted.

Yes there exist mainboards without graphics chipsets. They don't have anywhere to plug your monitor in. I'm guessing that's the case or the OP would have been able to boot using the integrated graphic chipset, safe mode or not.

[eerr]

Eh I knew there might be something wrong with what I was saying.

I haven't taken any hardware classes yet, I swear!

Don't ask me how I forgot all those monitor connections go through the graphics card.

[G-Flex]

I recommend the IDE/SATA-to-USB idea, since they're damn cheap and generally useful to have around. USB hard drive enclosures work too, being essentially the same thing, but that's more in case you want to turn a hard drive into an external USB one for more long-term purposes.

[de5me7]

I recommend the IDE/SATA-to-USB idea, since they're damn cheap and generally useful to have around. USB hard drive enclosures work too, being essentially the same thing, but that's more in case you want to turn a hard drive into an external USB one for more long-term purposes.

i do this all the time, IDE to usbs are soooooo useful, and cheap

[Dakk]

You can use a USB/SATA cable but the transfer rate would be too low. A regular network cable (the fiber wire thick network cables used in, say, networks) has a much faster transfer rate. Just boot the old one, connect them, interface with your old one using your new, and get the files you want. This might be a bit effy if their OSs are different though, and you might have to manualy configure a small network for it to work. Once you got it set up you can just copy all of your old stuff, it'll still take a while but the transfer rate is much faster then USB at least.