Rescuing Parts from a Laptop

Johnny · Mon 11 Apr, 2005 12.47

My laptop at home has died, It will no longer charge up as the part the lead plugs into no longer picks up the plug (if you know what I mean by that).

Othe plugs have been tried but no joy.

I have however files on there that I need to retrieve.

What I need to know is, is it possible to take that hard drive out of the laptop, place it into a PC & retrieve the files, or Have I lost these files forever!

I know a few of you guys on here are techincal

Any help is appriciated.

Orry Verducci · Mon 11 Apr, 2005 12.49

You can take the HD out and put it in a normal pc. You will also be able to load the copy of Windows that was on it too.

Johnny · Mon 11 Apr, 2005 12.52

Thanks for that quick response

Good to know that then, I will give the laptop an Autopsy once my brother builds that new PC he has started to do on Friday

Dr Lobster* · Mon 11 Apr, 2005 13.15

just bare in mind that some laptops have propriety interfaces, so whilst the drive will almost certainly be ide, the ribbon cable may be custom. you won't know till you open it, but i've torn apart an old compaq once, and there seemed to be only half as many lines going to the hard disk for some strange reason. i've still got the hard disk platter as a vanity mirror somewhere.

Sput · Mon 11 Apr, 2005 15.21

For a few quid you can get an adapter off eBay to change laptop ide to desktop ide. They have integrated power things, so if you do go that way make sure you don't plug in the wrong way round or the drive will be killed.

Nick Harvey · Mon 11 Apr, 2005 16.18

Don't know how easy this might be, but if you're planning going inside the thing anyway, to whip the hard drive out, have you considered cutting the plug off the power lead, cutting the wires off the socket inside the laptop and simply joining the two together with a choc-block?

Not elegant by any means, but quite possibly cheap and functional.

Gavin Scott · Mon 11 Apr, 2005 16.30

Nick Harvey wrote:Don't know how easy this might be, but if you're planning going inside the thing anyway, to whip the hard drive out, have you considered cutting the plug off the power lead, cutting the wires off the socket inside the laptop and simply joining the two together with a choc-block?

Not elegant by any means, but quite possibly cheap and functional.

I agree with that advice, but you must take extreme care when you are dealing with mains electricity.

If you can Johnny please ask someone to check what you have done before you connect to the mains.

It may seem like obvious advice, but I wouldn't like to tell you how many instances of injury I have witnessed in my years. Even qualified sparks make silly mistakes sometimes.

Nick Harvey · Mon 11 Apr, 2005 16.41

Indeed, good advice from Gavin there.

I should have made clear, however, that I was assuming that by the time the plug's going into the side of the laptop, we're down to 9V DC.

The polarity WILL be important at that point, though.

Gavin Scott · Mon 11 Apr, 2005 18.39

There you go: a fine example of a "silly mistake" on my part. Anyone would think I was trying to prove a point...

Well perhaps not.

Fiddling with the 9v end is unlikely to cause personal injury but could be very bad news for your laptop if you get the polarity wrong, as Nick said.

Johnny · Tue 12 Apr, 2005 08.25

I'm getting a bit confused here.

The problem is apparently the inside PSU. Either the contacts have gone, the joint shave dried up or it has burnt out. It will turn on without a plug but immediately switch off as the battery if flat.

My brother's mate phone dround & he said the cheapest quote he could get (from a guy he regulary uses) was £120 & advised it wasn't worth it.

I will try & get an image of the insides once or if I open it> I knwo you can get "static shocks" off of some PSU's which if that's the case I may not bother.

Thanks for the help though