Laptop wont boot- how to access hard drive

[Fenland]

OK, the HP/Compaq has gone down the pan with what I believe to be a fairly common problem i.e. it simply wont switch on...

So what do I need, and need to do, to get stuff off the HD???


....Or should I just bite the bullet and get someone to do it for me??:|

 

[paultnl]

Do it yourself it is easy. Full instructions here http://www.fonerbooks.com/laptop10.htm

 

[raff.me]

A USB to HD adapter was my first thought when seeing the title of your post as well.

Just make sure that the adapter you buy comes with a suitable connector for your HD. Some of them are only for the larger 3.5" HDs used in desktops.

The adapters are a good thing to have around, because they also allow you to use any HD as an external storage device.

Your HD may also be password protected. Which prevents data theft if the laptop is stolen (of course only if the system requires a password to login as well). In this case you would need that password too. If it's active but you don't have it, you would have to send the disc to a data recovery company and hope they manage to retrieve all the data that you need.

 

[chip_y2kuk]

You need to get a USB to HDD adaptor (that's compatible with the HDD in your laptop).

you will also need a working computer and a screwdriver to remove the laptops hard drive

remove the hard drive (turn the laptop over and find the one that has the 3 circles) remove all the screws and inside there is the hard drive it usually pulls out

Connect the hard drive to the HDD to usb adaptor and connect to the working computer.

then it's a case of magic!

you will need to know where your documents are stored

C:\documents and settings\ (username)\ My documents (the location of my documents on XP)

C:\users\ ( username) \ MY documents (the location of my documents on vista and windows 7)

hope that helps

joe

 

[wykthorr]

You should be able to get an adapter that allows you to use a laptop HDD inside a desktop computer. You can get one of those and then just hook it inside a desktop and it will work like any other HDD (just a bit slower probably )

 

[mit74]

You should be able to get an adapter that allows you to use a laptop HDD inside a desktop computer. You can get one of those and then just hook it inside a desktop and it will work like any other HDD (just a bit slower probably )

As mentioned here you do not need a USB adapter. If you HDD is SATA then you can connect it easily to your desktop computer no problem if you have one. All you need is a extra SATA connector cable. Your desktop should have a SATA power spare.

 

[leemason]

I'm sure you should be able to get your data back off the drive but in future I'd recommend some sort of regular backup as the next failure may be the disk itself and it's better to be safe...

 

[stugster]

I'm sure you should be able to get your data back off the drive but in future I'd recommend some sort of regular backup as the next failure may be the disk itself and it's better to be safe...

What he said!

 

[sidera]

and NEVER BUY an HP laptop again, they're rubbish.
Mine died after a few months, and they refuse to admit that their whole range had a defect causing the hardware failure.

my wife later bought another HP laptop and has also had lots of hardware problems. She's currently negociating a full refund.

apparently, the Compqa Pro line is supposed to be better, if you want to stay with that company.
I hope they go bankrupt.

 

[stugster]

My HP laptops are rock solid. But maybe it's how you treat them.

 

[mit74]

I repair laptops and HP are the worst for hardware failures. I have 3 dead ones in my lab where customers haven't even wanted them back after the motherboard went and told them the part is over £150. They also shipped a lot out with dodgy wireless cards a while back.

 

[sidera]

My HP laptops are rock solid. But maybe it's how you treat them.

I apologize for my ranting

I treated it fine, it was a big investment for me as I need it for my business.

My laptop was the victim of the overheating problem that they don't acknowledge.
just type "hp pavilion nvidia problem" in google.

I'll stop now, as I don't want to hijack the thread

 

[stugster]

I repair laptops and HP are the worst for hardware failures. I have 3 dead ones in my lab where customers haven't even wanted them back after the motherboard went and told them the part is over £150. They also shipped a lot out with dodgy wireless cards a while back.

Nothing to do with the fact they're the most economically priced and popular, thus more people have them, ergo you get more in for repair?

I've found that amongst all the brands, Sony, Dell and HP are of similar quality in terms of hardware. You'll find, as you repair them, that the internals of all these laptops are made by the same companies.

 

[mit74]

Obviously in terms of popularity I would see more but I've taken that into account. Proportionally I get more HP. I think Acer and Dell are more popular though.

 

[pcproblems]

Give me a Toshiba Satellite any day

 

[RBS]

OK, the HP/Compaq has gone down the pan with what I believe to be a fairly common problem i.e. it simply wont switch on...

So what do I need, and need to do, to get stuff off the HD???


....Or should I just bite the bullet and get someone to do it for me??:|

Just buy one of those external USB HDD cases off ebay for £ 3.50. Depending how old is your HDD, search for "IDE USB" or "SATA USB".

 

[pchealer]

A USB adaptor off ebay is your best bet or you could use a Windows PE 3 boot CD/DVD but this could be a bit fiddly for a non IT user.

 

[lucyrussell]

What is the best laptop brand at a reasonable price for business needs?

 

[RBS]

What is the best laptop brand at a reasonable price for business needs?

Best for business is Lenovo Thinkpad, T series, 14" T410 or 15" T510. Not cheap, but they have sold 60 million of Thinkpads to date. Most of the corporate sectors uses Thinkpad. Will last you years(honestly). You can go on ebay and buy 10 years old Thinkpad which still runs.

 

[leemason]

My last 5 laptops have been Thinkpads starting with an old 380z and the latest being the Thinkpad Edge 13. All have worked very well and when I sold each one on ebay I still got a decent price for it and it still worked very well.

Coincidentally I got an e-mail this morning about an offer on a new Thinkpad: http://uk.insight.com/apps/productp...86lJxpApfktNYmZp5oolC6k0gW4Ao4ZNek1zrliVs2inv

Under £400.00 so they don't have to be expensive either.

 

[pchealer]

Best for business is Lenovo Thinkpad, T series, 14" T410 or 15" T510. Not cheap, but they have sold 60 million of Thinkpads to date. Most of the corporate sectors uses Thinkpad. Will last you years(honestly). You can go on ebay and buy 10 years old Thinkpad which still runs.

It's just a shame the software " lenovo access connections" that comes with them to manage the wireless LAN and WWAN is rubbish we had to put users into a power user group just so they could enter the wireless network password.

Apart from that I agree they are good for business usage but there customer service is not good at all. You might want to check out the Dell Lattitude series very popular with businesses and there customer service was always very good I found.

 

[harrison8097]

remove the hard drive and put it into a hard disk case . and use usb to access it