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        New Message Board Archives >> 2006 General Board Posts >> Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
        
(Message started by: catlind on Jun 17^th, 2006, 1:47am)

Title: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by catlind on Jun 17^th, 2006, 1:47am

My 6 year old Dell laptop finally died. It won't start, we've torn it apart to clean the fan and the coils in behind, reseated the ram, battery, harddrive etc. etc. It will not boot. Doesn't even seem to get to the bios.

I have data on that hard drive that I need to recover.

Question, is there an S-ATA or firewire/usb converter to plug the old dell hdd into the new dell laptop so I can access the data directly from this laptop??

Any info is appreciated. I know I can do it to the desktop, but prefer to access it straight into the laptop.

Cat

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by Kirk on Jun 17^th, 2006, 3:43am

You can put it into an external housing and plug it into your desktop and run a data recovery tool.
[smiley=smokin.gif]
YMMV there are other options.

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by Paul98 on Jun 17^th, 2006, 7:22am

Hi Catlind-

You said S-ATA. If your old Dell is 6 years old, SATA???

Addonics makes a 2.5" USB enclosure that works well. Stay away from cheap or generic USB enclosures. I have found they are not PnP.

Beware that the Dell laptops have low power output to their USB ports. You may need a piggyback usb cable of an external power supply for the external USB drive.

Good luck,

-P.

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by ShadowLord on Jun 17^th, 2006, 8:17am

Prolly, she's talkin' about her new laptop having an SATA controller. If you can't find an enclosure for your old hard drive, you should at least be able to find a 44 to 40 pin converter (or whatever your particular case may be) and perhaps either an enclosure, or a 40 pin IDE to USB converter. Then again... If your old HDD is a standard 44-pin IDE drive, then you could try this... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812224001 Newegg has cheaper adapters, but this was the first one I found.

PFDAN.................................................... ShadowLord

P.S. There's also IDE to SATA converters, but most of the ones I've found are for 40 pin IDE, but I'm sure there's 44 pin IDE converters available.

SL

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by catlind on Jun 17^th, 2006, 10:43am

So bottom line is there is no way to have dual harddrives in a laptop unless you are running a dual processor unit that is designed for it?

Damnit, that means I'll have to get the housing to hook it into the desktop and then transfer to the external harddrive and plug the external into the good laptop.

Sheesh. And here I thought the duct tape and L bracket would buy it at least another 2 years.

Cat

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by Opus on Jun 17^th, 2006, 11:29am

on 06/17/06 at 10:43:35, catlind wrote:

So bottom line is there is no way to have dual harddrives in a laptop unless you are running a dual processor unit that is designed for it?

If you have one with 2 hard drive slots, it may have an SATA interface which will not work with the old laptops PATA IDE interface.

on 06/17/06 at 10:43:35, catlind wrote:

Damnit, that means I'll have to get the housing to hook it into the desktop and then transfer to the external harddrive and plug the external into the good laptop.
Sheesh. And here I thought the duct tape and L bracket would buy it at least another 2 years.
Cat

I think you are confusing us. If what you want is to get the data off the hard drive of your dead laptop and transfer it to the new computers hard drive, then all you have to do is take it out and get an adapter like the one ShadowLord suggested. The plug the drive into the adapter and the adapter into a USB port of the new laptop and you should be able to transfer the data over ( that is assuming your old hard drive is still working).

If you want to use the hard drive in the dead laptop as an external drive for backups and such then get a USB enclosure like this and continue to use it. (http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA39280)

Opus/Paul [smiley=smokin.gif]

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by ShadowLord on Jun 18^th, 2006, 10:15am

You can actually use the old drive in the new laptop, but it prolly wouldn't be purty... And you'd need an IDE to SATA adapter, and some duct tape to hold the second drive, and prolly some other hardware to plug both drives into the SATA controller. An external hard drive enclosure is much more recommended, and will be hot swapable, so should be as convenient as a second internal drive.

The old laptop drive most likely won't plug into your desktop's controller without an adapter. Notebook hard drives use a 44 pin interface (40 data and 4 power)... Desktops use a 40 pin interface with a 4 pin molex power connector. Adapters don't cost too much though...

PFDAN.................................................................. ShadowLord

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by catlind on Jun 18^th, 2006, 10:51am

problem solved, bought a new toshiba and will get an enclosure to do a usb transfer of the required data off the old laptop hdd then I'll take a hammer to the old laptop. I'll take video if anyone wants to watch ;;D

Cat

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by brewcrew on Jun 18^th, 2006, 10:56am

I LOVE to watch!

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by ShadowLord on Jun 18^th, 2006, 11:01am

on 06/18/06 at 10:51:21, catlind wrote:

The poor little laptop... What'd it ever do to you? I'd ask ya to send it to me, but postage would likely cost more than what an old laptop is worth.. :P Have fun!

PFDAN............................................................ ShadowLord

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by Opus on Jun 18^th, 2006, 1:00pm

on 06/18/06 at 10:51:21, catlind wrote:

then I'll take a hammer to the old laptop. I'll take video if anyone wants to watch ;;D

Cat

If the LCD is sill good you might want to remove it and the cable and sell on ebay, if not then hammer away.

Opus/Paul

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by catlind on Jun 18^th, 2006, 1:09pm

Please understand that I was not exaggerating when I said it is held together with duct tape and an L Bracket.

The LCD housing has completely seperated and is stuck together with duct tape and the lid won't stay open - hence the L bracket duct taped to the back so you can actually work on it. The tab key got chewed off by the dog (as a puppy) and now the extra alt key is in it's place. There is nothing where the other alt key was. There is a permanent thumbprint on the LCD from me using my fingers on the back and thumb on the front to open and close the lid. The cd drive falls out whenever it feels like it. There is a piece missing off the bottom that I have no idea where it went or what it was even for.

I'll pull the ram, the cd, and the hdd, and then it's hammer time.

Cat

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by catlind on Jun 18^th, 2006, 1:11pm

on 06/18/06 at 11:01:12, ShadowLord wrote:

And even if postage wasn't too expensive, you'd have to figure out how to make the damn thing turn on again.
According to the DellHell Blogs, the overheating that the 5100 is notorious for literally fries the processor.

Cat

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by Tom K on Jun 18^th, 2006, 1:11pm

on 06/18/06 at 10:51:21, catlind wrote:

...I'll take video if anyone wants to watch ;;D

Cat

This thread sucks without pix!!! [smiley=laugh.gif]

Glad you got your problem solved.

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by Jonny on Jun 18^th, 2006, 1:12pm

on 06/18/06 at 13:09:03, catlind wrote:

Sounds like you got your moneys worth and now the fun starts.....SMASH!!!!...LOL ;;D

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by Racer1_NC on Jun 18^th, 2006, 1:13pm

on 06/18/06 at 11:01:12, ShadowLord wrote:

The poor little laptop... What'd it ever do to you?

It was born a Dell.....that reason alone is enough to warrant a painful demise.

Of course after 6 years at Cat's house one could probably call it a mercy killing. ;;D

Bill

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by Jonny on Jun 18^th, 2006, 1:16pm

LMMFAO.....Good one, Bill!!! ;;D

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by Mattrf on Jun 18^th, 2006, 2:50pm

Your other option would be to find one on Ebay and just plug in your hard drive if cost is a factor and you can just put your harddrive in it and be up and running. Just a thought.

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by Opus on Jun 18^th, 2006, 8:24pm

on 06/18/06 at 13:09:03, catlind wrote:

Well then, sounds like it needs to be put out of your misery. Got any explosives?

Opus/Paul [smiley=smokin.gif]

Title: Re: Computer Geeks, Laptop specific
Post by Lizzie2 on Jun 18^th, 2006, 8:40pm

After going through 2 Dells in 2.5 years - both of which had had every single part replaced at least once - I will never buy another one. Both of them had the fan fry the processor. Stupid fan....why they put it where they did is beyond me. That and the powercord..... I originally had the 5100 and then when they replaced that one, they gave me a 5150, but that one was just about equally as sucky.

Each time my computer would fry and another part would be replaced, we took the computer to a PC repair shop where my dad knew the guy personally. This is important because sometimes people at chain stores where they will zip stuff off your hard drive also TAKE things off your hard drive for their own use....that's never good. So he burned all the documents, pictures, songs, and important files off my hard drive and onto CD so I could insert the CD and load it into my next computer.

Now I have a Mac PowerBook G4. The phrase "computer problem" doesn't exist for me now. I'm sticking with Mac forever! ;)

Best of luck with the new Toshiba!
Carrie :)