I had picked up a cheap USB adapter that handles both ATAPI/EIDE and
SATA drives. I lent it to a buddy who was replacing the hard drive in
his desktop, and he had various problems getting it to work with the
drives involved.
Being a hardware engineer, he tried a solution that he considered
simple and obvious: He put the USB adaptor in a "zip lock" bag in his
freezer overnight. In the morning, it worked reliably long enough for
him to transfer the partitions he needed to.
I can't be certain that the same solution will work for you, but it
could be worth a try.
David Gillett
The NOSPIN Group is now offering Free PC Tech
support at our website:
http://freepctech.com