My Final laptop Question (possibly, hopefully)

[Cybeat]

My laptop is finally over. Boom. Finished. Gone. Well, it can still turn on, but it won't even stay on for a minute. I'll be getting a new hard drive someday, but I still have all my important files and programs in my laptop. Is it possible to import all those data somehow, or is it too late?

[tigerrenko]

Depends on what died, if it starts up the system, should be able to pluck hd out and salvage data, but don't do it yourself...

TR

[N0UGHTS]

I'm not an expert on computers, so I don't know any other ways to save your files aside from getting an external hard drive and backing up as much as you can. I suggest something from Western Digital...

[PyTom]

Sure.

You'll need a set of jewler's screwdrivers, and a usb->hard drive adaptor. The former I got at a hardware store, while the latter I got from newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6812104062

Just unscrew the screws at the bottom of your old laptop holding the hard drive in, and pull it out. Often, it will be in a caddy of some sort, unscrew it from that, too. Then plug the hard drive into the usb adaptor, power it up, and plug it into your new laptop. It'll show up as another drive, and let you copy important data off.

(This assumes the hard drive is still working, but the part is cheap enough that it's probably worth the risk.)

[LVUER]

Instead of messing up with your HDD, just leave it to the experts. Only do it yourself if that is truly your last resort and you are ready to say goodbye to that HDD (along with the data).

Sure.

You'll need a set of jewler's screwdrivers, and a usb->hard drive adaptor. The former I got at a hardware store, while the latter I got from newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6812104062

Just unscrew the screws at the bottom of your old laptop holding the hard drive in, and pull it out. Often, it will be in a caddy of some sort, unscrew it from that, too. Then plug the hard drive into the usb adaptor, power it up, and plug it into your new laptop. It'll show up as another drive, and let you copy important data off.

(This assumes the hard drive is still working, but the part is cheap enough that it's probably worth the risk.)

This is a good one. I also use IDE-to-USB cable to make the HDD as a drive (so the HDD is treated as an external HDD) to salvage the data from almost broken HDD.

If all still fails, send it to experts. There are some people who can recover data from damaged HDD. But I must warn you that it's a very EXPENSIVE procedure!

[PyTom]

I want to point out that nowhere should you open up the hard drive itself. But opening a computer, even a laptop, and popping the hard drive out is not exactly a difficult problem.

It's even easier if you can find the service manual for your laptop.

[Cybeat]

@PyTom: Sounds good. I'm not getting a new laptop, though. I'm just replacing the old hard drive and tranferring the data to the new hard drive. Thanks again.

@LVUER: I'll send my laptop with the new hard drive to the experts first. I can't do it myself. Thanks for telling me.

[ficedula]

Uh, are you sure it's only the hard drive that's faulty, and replacing it will fix the problems?

If so, and you're really not confident using a screwdriver, then get a local computer guy to replace the hard drive and help transfer the files over at the same time.

[Cybeat]

It's what the local computer people said, yeah. I know what the problem is.

[LVUER]

I'll send my laptop with the new hard drive to the experts first. I can't do it myself. Thanks for telling me.

I think you just need to send the HDD only. No need to send it all along with your laptop. Remember to ask how much you must pay, since usually they will charged it according to the file size (and it could be very expensive for non-text files).

[Cybeat]

I'll send my laptop with the new hard drive to the experts first. I can't do it myself. Thanks for telling me.

I think you just need to send the HDD only. No need to send it all along with your laptop. Remember to ask how much you must pay, since usually they will charged it according to the file size (and it could be very expensive for non-text files).

I was planning on handing them my laptop too, so they can put the new hard drive in for me. Really I just need them to import the old hard drive data to the new one, though.

I'll remember to ask how much I must pay, because last time I had them check it for me, a man charged me $40 for "fixing" it. Turns out he was a liar that did nothing but unscrew my laptop.

[musical74]

Fair warning: you might want to shop a little on where you go...you WILL be charged for this <unless you get a friend to do it for you> but how much depends on where you go. Generally speaking *specialty* stores charge more