hard drive readers for broken computers

[boston3381]

just wanted to pass some info for all those that have broken computers.

i went and bought a (rocket-fish SATA)hard drive incloser kit for $55.00 at best buy. to use on my 2 broken HP laptops.

i was able to take the hard drives out of the laptops and put them in the rocket-fish incloser,then with a USB cable to my desk top computer.

in doing this i recovered abought 10 years of pictures (hundreds and hundreds of pics from old friends,wife,son being born,birthdays,etc.)

this was not hard to do at all!! didnt even have to use the software that came with it. (softwere just adds more crap on your computer anyway)

the incloser i used was for a SATA 2.5 inch hard drive. witch is the most common for newer computers.i all so have some real old hard drives
that i want to get a encloser kit for. these hard drives are abought 5" by 3" (FROM THE 90'S.. I THINK) if anyone has done this befor with the older
type plz let me know what type of reader or encloser you used..

ty

 

[Goose and Fig]

Could you use it on a laptop that has a virus? Or 78 viruses? My teenage son decided to bypass McAfee and completely destroyed my laptop with tons of pics. Sounds like it would be cheaper to get one of those things than pay somebody in India to get the viruses out.

My laptop is missing most of the letter keys anyway- so it's kinda painful to use.

 

[boston3381]

HappyMtn does your old computer still turn on with the virus??

if so you can use a USB to USB cable and hook the old computer to your new one.
then use windows wizzard on the new computer to extract files from the old computer.

i didnt have this option because my mother board was shot...
you should have a USB to USB cable some where..if not there cheep.or brower one!

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Quote:
You're awesome!

I've got two busted old laptops that I've been hanging onto so I can retrieve ten years of photos "some day", but I didn't know what to do other than pay somebody.

Thanks!

 

[boston3381]

napa valley chickens heads up!! if the computers turn on all you need is the USB to USB cable refer to last post..

if not what kind of lap tops are they? i will try to find out what type of hard drive is in them..so u dont go out and buy the rong type of inclosure

 

[boston3381]

LOL my wife loves my SPELLING

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I've done that before. The hard drive on my laptop was starting to get flaky and was having trouble spinning up so I bought a replacement hard drive and enclosure, mirrored the laptop drive to the external one and then swapped the drives.

Any computer store should be able to retrieve your data from old drives for $20-$30. They just plug them in and copy whatever files you want to CD or DVD. If you buy the external enclosure and do it yourself, when you are done you also have a spare external drive to store files or do backups on.

 

[boston3381]

mac in abilene ... plz take this lighty...

but, i dont trust the computer stores with any of my stuff ..its way to easy for them
to make a copy of my hard drive for them selves and steal all my personal info..
i dont even care if they do the copying right in front of me.its still on the stores computers.

in most cases you dont have time to delete your passwords or acc. numbers befor you
compurter crashes..when this happens, all your info is just sitting there weighting for some one to steal it..

P.S. keep that in mind when you throw your computer in the trash....