I have a new computer with Windows XP professional installed. The new motherboard (XFX GeForce 8200) is set up mostly for SATA drives with a connector for IDE drives. I have the computer set up so it boots up from the SATA drive.

I have an older hard drive (WD1200 – EIDE Drive) that used to be the C:\ drive on another computer. I want to copy some files from that drive onto the new hard drive. I had installed the drive into a hard drive enclosure that works off of a USB connection. I was able to copy the files without trouble using windows explorer. I copied about half the files I needed before I started deleting directories I did not want to copy. When I tried to delete some files from the \Windows directory the drive stopped being recognized by Windows Explorer.

To get around this I removed the hard disk from the enclosure and connected it directly to the motherboard via a standard 80 wire cable for an EIDE hard drive. I went into the setup mode of the computer, and it did recognize the old hard drive as being connected. After adjusting "setup", making sure that the computer would boot up from the new hard drive, I tried to boot up. Shortly after starting the computer, the motherboard ID & setup screen is displayed on the monitor as normal. Shortly after that the Microsoft Windows XP logo is displayed as it begins to load up into windows. Within seconds the monitor goes completely blank and the computer becomes dormant. The hard drive stops and the boot up process stops. I have to hit the reset button or do a hard shutdown at that point in time.

I have tried this multiple times including in safe mode (F8) with a command prompt without success. It reacts the same way every time.

Can you provide any assistance as to how I might try to retrieve the files on this old hard drive? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your assistance.
Jim