Laptop Data Recovery?

Unhappy Camper asks: "I had a Presario 1800 laptop go bad. A couple of months out of the 1 yr warranty. The local Compaq approved repair shop blames a bad power connection at system board. Their proposed solution: $1500 replacement system board. I could replace the laptop for less. What are my options to recover data off of the functional hard drive? The computer works, but it doesn't get a charge from the battery or a wall outlet. Does anyone know of a $200 rig to allow me to connect it to a desktop IDE controller/USB slot/whatever?"

Comments

Just go buy an adapter

[Figaro]

I can only assume it's got a standard 2.5" IDE harddrive. Just go to a decent computer parts shop and buy an adapter, it'll cost like $20 bucks.

OTOH: If you want to spend $200, I've got one available.

How about $12.00 dollars...

[RadioheadKid]

Well I think this is what you are looking for. All its doing is supplying power to the 2.5" connector power pins from the desktop PSU and converting the form factor of the 2.5" to a 3.5" IDE connector...I've seen these things in other places too, you can probably get them even cheaper...

Re:How about $12.00 dollars...

[sigwinch]

Cablesonline has the electrical adapter by itself for $8. It'll work if you just need to hook the drive up for a few minutes to suck the data off. Just be carefult not to short out the exposed circuit board on the drive. FWIW, I ordered a buttload of IDE paraphenalia from them back in February and was pleased with the ordering process, merchandise quality, and delivery time. (Which I mention only because some of these online "stores" can't seem to find their asses with both hands, a map, an instructional video, and a 25 hour remedial course in applied ass-finding.) They also have all sorts of ribbon cable, IDC connectors, and gender changers for the 3.5" and 2.5" IDE standards.

Regarding the broken laptop system board, I'd see if somebody could repair it (somebody who actually knows how to use a soldering iron, not one of these swap-out-the-board-depot monkeys (no offense)). Unless the circuit board itself is broken, it's probably salvegable. (And even then, with a little bailing wire and luck.) If it was me, I'd already have the soldering iron warming up, but then I do have a rather hands on approach.

Another source

[pdawson]

Computergeeks.com has 2.5" to 3.5" IDE adapters for $3.65 +sh as well, which is what you want to use to plug your old drive into a standard desktop system.

http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HD-1 08

Don't forget!

[clark625]

Most everyone and his brother is recommending that you use a simple IDE adapter. Do this.

Once that's done, SELL YOUR FRIGGIN' LAPTOP! I'm not kidding here. Put the thing on E-Bay for $50 to start; say what's wrong and don't offer any guarantee :) If you're not wanting to fix that laptop, I can bet that someone will. Please, for the rest of us that love to play with "dead" electronics, sell this baby to someone that could get some use out of it. Or, if you prefer, try and fix it yourself. I'm sure you could get some help from those of us here on /. :)

Re:Don't forget!

[larien]

It's probably not a bad idea; someone might have a laptop with a bust screen, but the internals are fine. Take the two together and voila! A working laptop! Either sell yours or search for one with working bits.

It was useful to me...

[Mustang Matt]

The actual post wasn't, but someone gave me a new link (http://www.compgeeks.com) that I didn't have before and they have some great deals. I just saved about $40 on parts!

Sometimes, the main post itself isn't half as useful as the posts from the /. community.

Re:12$ Solution, Simple, but what if...

[penguinboy]

If you have access to a reasonably fast internet connection and CD burner, you can go download and burn the SuperRescue ISO. It's a fully-featured RedHat install put onto a bootable CD. You can start up with this in most any system, mount the HFS drive, and transfer the files elsewhere - either to another hard drive or to a location on the network. I did this exact procedure just last week. Granted, I do have working Linux boxes around, but the most convenient box to hook the drive up to didn't have a functional Linux install at the time.

Try calling Compaq

[duffbeer703]

and purchasing an additional two-year warranty for like $150, then wait two weeks and send the thing in.

Vendors love selling extended warranties!

TransMac

[stinkydog]

Download a Windows HFS conversion utility like Transmac. Copy the files. Done.

SD

LET this be a warning!

[His name cannot be s]

When buying a laptop, purchase at _least_ up to 2 years, and realistically 3 years of warranty protection.. Its quite inexpensive...

I Bought a DELL Inspiron 8000 laptop, loaded 512 mb ram, cdrw and dvd, 30 gig hd p3-850, 15" 1600X1400 screen, etcc.. cost me $8000 canadaian, including the 3 year complete care warranty($200ish)..

The complete care warrantee will replace anything that wasn't done on purpose... Accidentally drop the laptop, and break the screen, it's replaced.

what is covered

Don't be cheap, pay for the protection next time...

Re:LET this be a warning!

[Zurk]

yes..i'll second this. bought a panasonic toughbook and when the LCD backlight failed no one was willing to repair it (didnt have a warranty). either get an expensive laptop with a warranty or buy a dirt cheap one withouyt a warranty that you can afford to replace. My current laptop is now a P-100 which cost $150 (runs linux fine and does TCP/IP which is all i really needed). my toughbook is relegated to being a desktop with a full desktop monitor attached to it.

DN-Boy

[PhilHibbs]

I've got one of these little beauties in my machine. A bay with a removable cartridge that holds the 2.5" drive, and a PCMCIA card and cable that connects to the same cartridge. The only snag is that the cartridge is powered from a PS2 keyboard wedge when external, and my Vaio C1 doesn't have a keyboard port!

Suggestion

[biglig2]

See if you can borrow another laptop from someone else for a couple of hours.

Then drop your HDD into it, and squirt your data out via LAN, removeable drive, or even a null modem cable.

converter

[SuiteSisterMary]

Had this happen at me last job, and me boss (hi Jeremy!) found a really really neat thingy. You plug it into a laptop HD, and the other end is standard IDE and four pin AT/ATX power. Then you can plug it into any old PC.