Can I retreive data from laptop hdd?

[robbiex1]

I had a problem with my laptop hdd and I can't boot it. I'm wondering if I can connect it as a secondary drive or an external drive to another computer and retreive some pictured/video/docs and other files.

I'm running windows xp and I thought xp encrypts the driver data so I couldn't do this.

Any help? Thanks in advance.

[Matrixvibe]

Depending on how old your laptop is it could either be using a 2.5" IDE or SATA. If you have a sata drive, you can connect it to any pc with sata ports on the motherboard. Or if you don't have sata on your pc motherboard you can always pick up a IDE + SATA to USB 2 kit and that will get the job done. If your drive is IDE then all you need to get is a 2.5 ide pin converter to change it into a 3.5 ide.

[zoolander]

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1699339&CatId=3770
Except they're $12 at CanadaComputers (couldn't find it on their site).

[Blackjack]

You can use this: http://www.cty.ca/productdetails.asp?pid=1278
or
http://www.cty.ca/productdetails.asp?pid=1486

[Daijoubu]

You need this
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2246 $2

[robbiex1]

Thanks guys. It's a 2.5" SATA drive. Once I plug it in and try to read it on another computer, will I be able to simply copy my personal files over?

I thought Windows XP encrypts/locks the files so I can't access them that easily?

[Daijoubu]

Not quite, NTFS is flawed

You might have to change ownership of the files if you did make your "My Documents" private

As a admin, you can change the priviledges and/or take ownership of any folder