Can't view contents of SATA to USB hard drive

Hello:

My mom's computer recently died so after she bought a new one, the task was to get the information off of her old hard drive. We purchased a SATA to USB cord (http://www.amazon.com/USB-SATA-5-25-Cable-Adapter/dp/B000YJBL78) to try to connect the hard drive to the computer via USB and although we can get to computers (we tried on her new Compaq running off of Windows 7 and my old computer running off of Windows XP) and both were able to recognize the attached hardware (USB Mass Storage) but we are unable to view any contents of the hard drive. Nothing appears under "My Computer" or any other method for us to view the content.

I've researched for hours via Google and other help sites but have found no solution and I'm very frustrated. If anyone has any suggestions or can assist, please do.

Thank you for your time.

 

Does the new computer support sata? If so, just use one of the onboard Sata connectors, and connect the power to the drive. Also, go into the bios and make sure this drive is not the primary boot drive.