does this exist?
 

I've had several systems crash in the last year, total motherboard failure, but have since acquired new systems. I have the old IDE hard drives from the failed systems with no way to get the data off of them. Is there an external device that I can put an IDE HDD in it that will then hook up to another computer via USB?

yes it exists. you will need to either get a power coverter or to have the computer opened to get access to your power cable. as far as the IDE to USB, it's very simple: you just need to buy one. they are about 20$.

---------- Post added at 08:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:36 PM ----------

DealExtreme: $11.93 HY Compact IDE to USB Cable with Power Supply Kit

http://www.dealextreme.com/productimages/sku_8336_1.jpg

You can get an adapter cable for the purpose, but I'd probably just buy a hard drive enclosure. You can use it to retrieve the data, then pop the biggest drive in there and use it as external storage for backup purposes.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817193019

BTW, you might want to invest in one that does both IDE and SATA (since SATA is standard now, so you could get more uses out of it).
Newegg.com - VANTEC CB-ISATAU2 SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter - Adapters & Gender Changers

I use the adapters listed in this thread at work all the time and they work great. Total time savers for getting data off of HDDs.

thanks everyone.