I think it is unlikely to be an IDE drive .. '286 vintage is most likely MFM or RLL.. I don't know of any USB MFM controllers or enclosures.. and even then, MFM drives are at best "maybe" portable between controllers.. ...tom At 11:34 AM 6/10/2008, Greg Major wrote: >Don't make it so complicated. Get an external drive enclosure from >Staples (approx. $30.00) and put your old hard disk in it. Then it >will plug into any machine through the usb port and you will be able >to access all of the files on the hard disk. Just make sure you get >the right size enclosure.