The dead computer is using SATA drives, not IDE. Since it is about 5 years old, I made the (false) assumption that since technology moves on the SATAs would not be current. I figured the new ones all use SATA II, or some other type drives that would not be compatible with mine.
It sounds like that if I buy a new workstation with SATA II drives, that I should be able to plug the older SATA drives into the motherboard anyway.
Is that correct?
One more question: I do have an older workstation that runs IDE drives - is there a way to connect the SATA drives to that machine to get the data?