How to extract data from laptop hdd

[dleigh]

I have dealt with HDD's in desktop machines and feel competent enough in that area to swap HDD's in and out. A friend of mine, however, has a dead laptop machine (that he's already replaced). He wants the data from his dead machine (cracked motherboard...won't even power on) and has given it to me to try my hand at. I don't mind opening it up but I thought I'd find out if it's even possible to take a hard drive out of a laptop and do the sorts of things with it that one can do with a HDD from a desktop machine. Surely they're not quite the same beast are they?

Any advice/tips would be quite handy!

Thanks!

 

[edfair]

They are exactly the same beasts, with a slightly different connector. Power and data go into the disk off a 46 pin header on different spacing than the .100 used on 3.5 drives.
You need an adapter kit, sells for about 25.00 that gives you 2.5 to 3.5 rails and the io adapter that converts from 40+power to 46.
Use google for hdd adapter. You should find several sources.
Then you plug it in, and you have a standard hard drive. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[dleigh]

Thanks Ed! That helps and I'll give it a try!

 

[conceptumator]

Another trick I have used is to install the old drive in the new machine, boot and transfer the old data to a server or ghost the drive (Norton Ghost). Then reinstall the new drive and repeat the procedure in reverse. You may encounter problems in compatibility between the two notebooks but the only thing you will get is a "no-workey" situation.