Laptop hard drive query

[jellybaby]

ive got the hard drive out my very broken laptop but there's data on it i want is there any way to retrieve it like using a plug in usb thingy or something


i know bugger all about computers far as I'm concerned there's little elf's inside the thing making it work.

[Wilberforce]

Easy one dave...
Just look on eBay for something like "SATA to USB adapter" or similar.

USB-2-0-TO-SATA-IDE-CABLE-FOR-HDD-WITH-POWER-ADAPTER is very similar to what I got when I wanted to extract data from old hard drives. It will deal with both sorts of drive, if you're not sure if the disk is SATA or IDE.

Having bare drives on your desk isn't exactly pretty but it gets the job done, and is pretty cheap.

[Drift]

I use this for hard drives, not sure if a laptop HD will fit though.

[brianw]

Hi Dave

Yes this is easy, once you have the right connecting system.
The hard disk drive you have there is a SATA 2.5 inch laptop drive.
The kit you've been told about so far is for 3.5 inch desktop drives and consequently won't be much use to you.

I pull data off old laptop drives all the time and I've found that the best bit of kit is a SATA USB hard disk caddy like [linkurl=http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-5-SATA-to-USB-HARD-DRIVE-CADDY-HDD-CASE-ENCLOSURE-/230830202991?pt=UK_Collectables_HardDriveEnclosures_RL&hash=item35be8d606f]this one on that well known auction site[/linkurl]. And at £2.50, it's cheap.

The beauty of this type of caddy is that the drive doesn't need to be physically inserted into the case, just plug the little circuit board onto the the hard drive and plug it into the USB socket of the PC. The drivers will install and you'll be able to view and modify the contents of the disk as you wish.
If the hard drive is OK but the laptop is toast, then you could fully install the drive in the case and format it (FAT32 not NTFS) and use it as an external storage medium.

Any problems then please pm me and I'll do what I can to help.

Brian

[jellybaby]

cheers folks yea just the lap top thats toast power plug came loose andso decided i would fix it myself now i have a pile of parts . the laptop had all the music and pictures on it

[adyclemo]

I use a device similar to this and fits both kind of laptop and desktop drives. Works realy well.

http://www.usbnow.co.uk/Hard_Drive_Encl ... wer_Supply)/product_info.html