Extracting data

[Grey Merlin]

If I had an old laptop and I've been told that the motherboard is fried. How would I be able to extract the contents of the HD? Is there an enclosure that I could use to connect to a desktop?

[MercenaryForHire]

If I had an old laptop and I've been told that the motherboard is fried. How would I be able to extract the contents of the HD? Is there an enclosure that I could use to connect to a desktop?

1. Remove the HD from the laptop - the service manual should tell you how.
2. If it's an IDE drive, you'll need either:
2a. A 2.5" to 3.5" IDE adapter (aka 44-to-40-pin) for internal use
2b. An IDE-to-USB adapter with the 44-pin connector for external use
3. If it's a SATA drive, you can just connect it to an internal SATA port.

[movieman]

Note that if it's a really old laptop, the USB enclosures may not work: I wanted to read the drive from my old 486 laptop (which would no longer boot) before I moved to Canada and because it didn't support UDMA modes, the USB enclosure could see the disk but couldn't read or write to it. I had to buy an IDE adapter so I could plug it directly into my desktop PC.

[kenyu28]

1. Remove the HD from the laptop - the service manual should tell you how.
2. If it's an IDE drive, you'll need either:
2a. A 2.5" to 3.5" IDE adapter (aka 44-to-40-pin) for internal use
2b. An IDE-to-USB adapter with the 44-pin connector for external use
3. If it's a SATA drive, you can just connect it to an internal SATA port.

I think option 2 will work. I got an IDE to USB cable for around $20 on ebay. You might also need a laptop HDD jumper to set to "cable select". I did use this method to extract data.

[rabbit]

http://www.dealextreme.com/productimages/sku_10113_2.jpg (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10113)

[Grey Merlin]

Thanks. I will try it out.

[kenyu28]

http://www.dealextreme.com/productimages/sku_10113_2.jpg (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10113)

I have the exact same one. I live in toronto. Ordered for $20 from pennsylvania, free shipping.