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Getting data from HD in a dead PC

F

furrod1

Junior Member
My desktop PC died. Motherboard.
My new computer is a laptop.
I'd like to retrieve data from the desktop hard drive.
As far as I know, the HD is fine.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I might do it?

Thanks in advance.
 
Blain has the straightforward, low-cost solution there. The other option for a bit more money might be to buy an external drive case and convert your old desktop's HDD into an external drive. Removing the HDD from the desktop and mounting inside the case is easy. To do this you must get a case with two key features:
1. Must accept (inside) a hard drive of the connection type you have - either ATA (aka IDE) or SATA (often now SATAII, but that will work for original SATA also).
2. Needs to have an external connection to your laptop that matches what your laptop can use. Almost everything these days has USB or USB2. Many external cases come with this interface plus one or both of: eSATA or Firewire (aka IEEE 1394). Your laptop may not have either of these latter two, but they both are faster than USB2 so use it if you have it.

Almost all external drive cases for 3½" HDD's (typical for desktop) come with their own power supplies (they don't draw from the USB connection), either built into the case or as a "wall wart" style. That is better - it's a bit of a strain to supply from a USB port all the power needed by a HDD.
 
Err, what you just posted is basically what Blain posted, except his doesn't have the accompanying picture of the case where the HD is stored 😛 But yeah, if you know the hard drive's data is still safe, some sort of hard drive enclosure is the cheapest/quickest way to retrieve the data.
 
Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
Err, what you just posted is basically what Blain posted, except his doesn't have the accompanying picture of the case where the HD is stored 😛 But yeah, if you know the hard drive's data is still safe, some sort of hard drive enclosure is the cheapest/quickest way to retrieve the data.
Click to expand...

Actually, what Blain posted was an even less expensive solution, a USB adapter. It is a cable that allows you to connect a bare hard drive sitting on the desk to a USB port. Not as protective and portable as an external enclosure, but works well for some situations.
 
Thanks for the info.

Yeah, I'm looking for the cheapest way to extract the data.

Since my motherboard is dead, I don't think I can turn on the desktop power supply to power the HDD. Is there any way to 'force' the power supply on without the mobo?

Once I have the HDD powered and the USB adapter cable connected tp the laptop, will the laptop automatically 'see' the HDD as an external drive without any further configuring?
 
Update:

I got the Rosewell RCW608 and I am now connected to the HD from my dead computer.

Problem: I can't seem to access the files in folders of accounts that were protected. Including my own. The dead computer was running XP. I can get 'permission' to enter the folders but I can not view or copy the contents. Is there any way to 'log on' to the old HD, via XP, so I can get to the files?
 
you'd have to boot from it. i doubt your laptop can boot from a usb device, but it's possible, maybe.

you shouldn't need to, though. are you getting 'access denied' prompts? if so, you just need to right click the files and change permissions. iirc, click the 'everyone' category and turn on full control.
 
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