F-C

My old Dell laptop died. Is there an easy and cheap way to recover the hard drive?

I backed up my hd one week before it died. So I really didn't lose anything. However, during that one week, I sorted and organized hundreds of photos from my vacation. If I can't recover my hard drive, I'll have to redo everything.

WdnUlik2no

You can try Hard Drive Mechanic Gold first. It MAY help. I think I used it a couple of times and it seemed to help me recover some files, but to be honest, I am not sure if the hard drive was really that messed up to begin with.

The more expensive option is trying a Data Recovery Company. Much more expensive, I remember I messed up one of my hard drives with a lot of work data on it, as well as pictures of my son I hadn't backed up yet. It cost me $1975, but they did get the data back.

I also would like to know the answer to this question. I have a couple of hard drives I can't get the data off of. I haven't tried HD Mechanic Gold yet, but I contacted the same data recovery company again, and even though its a small drive (40GB and 1.2GB) it seems they still want to chage me over $1000 EACH to get the data. Definetely looking for a cheaper route this time around.

Billiam

F-C, what's the actual issue with the dead laptop here? Do you have reason to believe the data on the drive is mangled in some way, or do you just simply need access to what's on the drive since something else in the laptop has gone bye-bye?

If you just need access to what's on the drive, then there are adapters that will allow you to hook a laptop drive up as a second hard drive in a desktop machine.

WdnUlik2no

^^yeah, he's right. I have one of these for my desktop HD's.

http://microcenter.com/byos/byos_sin...duct_id=224062

It didn't work for the two hard drives I am trying to get data off of, but it has worked with other hard drives that weren't messed up.

But this one only works with desktop HD's. I'm looking for one that works with laptop HD's too.

BEETROOT

What exactly do you mean by the laptop 'died'? If the hard drive is ok, just pull it out and stick it in an external usb enclosure.

Check amazon or newegg for "2.5 external enclosure". Check your drive first to see if it is PATA or SATA.

WdnUlik2no

this is a 2.5 HD enclosure I found on newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817155602

F-C

External enclosures sound good. I'll give that a try. I'm not sure what's wrong with my computer, but it's the classic [computer makes weird noises for a week followed by ] scenario.

Thanks guys. rep points to all