Request for IT tech help!

Hi all,
Can you help me. My desk top went bang - Power Unit. I'm trying to access the HD using a IDE/SATA to USB. It's a IDE HD. My laptop doesn't seem to recognise it. I notice on the blurb it says 98SE/ME/2000/XP. I'm running Vista - is it the Vista curse? I've tried changing the HD to master.
Any ideas?
Tom