How can I connect a laptop hard drive to a desktop computer so I can recover, transfer files?
Yesterday my laptop failed to boot. Everything appears to be normal but each time I turn it on it hangs on Windows screen with a running bar. I cannot boot my laptop to the desktop. I tested the hard drive and it passed the test. I think that my hard drive is fine and the operating system is corrupted. I have very important files in my documents and I need to recover, transfer them to the desktop computer as soon as possible. How can I connect the laptop hard drive to a desktop computer?
It is nice that your hard drive passed the test. I think you have very good chances that your data is still good and you would be able to transfer it to the desktop computer. Here are some tips for connecting a laptop hard drive to a desktop computer:
1. You can use 2.5” hard drive adapter and connect the laptop hard drive directly to a desktop computer through the IDE connector on the system board. The desktop hard drive would be connected to IDE1 so you can connect the laptop hard drive to IDE2. After you boot the desktop computer the second hard drive would be detected and you can access it as a regular HDD. Now you can recover, transfer all needed files from the laptop hard drive to the desktop hard drive. Here are detailed instructions with pictures.
2. You can use an external USB enclosure for laptop hard drives. I think that would be the easiest and fastest way to access your data. You can find an external USB enclosure in any computer shop and it would cost you about $20-$30 or buy it here for $10. After you remove the laptop hard drive, place it inside the enclosure and connect to the desktop or another laptop computer via the USB cable. It is not necessary to install any drivers for the enclosure if the desktop PC runs Winodws 2000 or Windows XP. If the desktop PC runs Windows 98, then most likely you’ll have to install a driver for the enclosure before you can access the hard drive. The USB cable and the driver usually supplies with the external enclosure. Now you can access the laptop hard drive as a regular drive on your desktop/laptop computer.
November 3rd, 2011 at 7:45 am
OK, i have a laptop hard drive and i need to transfer the pics to my desktop but my desktop hard drive isn’t big enough for the entire hard drive contents. I just need the pictures and I cannot get the desktop to read the laptop hard drive. I connected it using a SATA usb cable.
September 3rd, 2011 at 7:39 am
I recently bought a case for my laptop hard drive. I can connect it to my new laptop via USB. Every folder that I try to open says I do not have permission. I have many many pictures and audio files on the old hard drive. I tried to become the new owner for the folders and it still says I do not have permission. Help
February 26th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
Gavin,
Yes, you can.
If you had Vista/Windows 7 installed, you’ll find those files in Users on the C: drive.
If you had Windows XP installed, go to Documents and Settings on C: drive.
February 26th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Helpful psot my laptops donig same shit wont come bk on corrupted or missing registry files.. even tho i took it into a shop already n had it partitioned the problem is till there n thers over 250gb of shit i have to get to.
The shop can do this again but idf it keeps donig same thing i need a brand new hardrive and would cost me £114 as its so big 320gb hd altogether., but my question is, even tho ca access the c and d drie via a pc can i also access fles that are on the laptop screen page./desktop.
therse files on there and also all favourites of interent webpages etc. is it posible to access those?
need to know asap
Gavin
January 19th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
[...] can backup personal files from the hard drive using an external USB [...]
January 19th, 2011 at 12:00 pm
[...] the hard drive is failing, you still can try recovering data using an external USB [...]
December 12th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
[...] yes, the hard drive was damaged. Turn off the laptop as soon as possible. Hopefully you still can recover personal files from the failing hard [...]
November 21st, 2010 at 9:09 am
jts123,
You are right. It’s called external USB enclosure for notebook hard drives.
Nope, there are no jumpers.
If you cannot access files and get “Access denied” error message, you’ll have to take ownership over the main user folder.
Take a look at this tutorial explaining how to take ownership: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/recover-files-from-broken-laptop/
November 21st, 2010 at 5:23 am
The mainboard of my vaio laptop recently failed. As the cost of replacement and instalation ect is just not cost effective I still need to be able to recover data/files from the old hard drive.
Am i right to assume that if i buy an external hard drive bay(caddy) and install the old drive into it, then connect the caddy via usb to another pc I can read the old drive?
Also, when putting the old hard drivd into the new caddy, will I need to set any jumpers to ‘slave’ configuration or will it just work as is?
cheers.
October 30th, 2010 at 10:15 am
[...] Before you reinstall OS, don't forget to backup personal files. [...]
July 26th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Hello,
I am currently trying to connect a hard drive to an INTRAnet hard drive. An IT person at work said to make a shortcut-link between the hard drives. I am a little confused. Is there a way to connect one hard drive to an offsite hard drive to access the information? THANKS!!!
July 17th, 2010 at 9:41 am
I have an HP laptop hardrive that I have connected to my desktop but I get a access denied message when I try to access my documents. Any suggestions?
July 6th, 2010 at 6:28 am
How can I connect a desktop hard drive to a laptop computer so I can transfer files?
July 5th, 2010 at 10:57 pm
there are two cables on your desktop monitor…. 1 is the power cable and 2 is your vga cable…just plug it into the appropriate place on your laptop and viola
April 20th, 2010 at 10:42 am
[...] cannot find desktop documents on old laptop hard drive I have just purchased a laptop hard drive enclosure for my old laptop’s hard drive. It seems to work well however I can’t find some documents. Is [...]
April 20th, 2010 at 8:22 am
Dan,
Yes, it’s possible.
In Windows XP all desktop files could be found in: C:\Documents and Settings\User_name\Desktop\
In Windows Vista all desktop files could be found in: C:\Users\User_name\Desktop
I think you just looking in a wrong place.
April 20th, 2010 at 7:55 am
Hi,
Is this the right place to ask a question?
I have just purchased a laptop hard drive enclosure for my old laptop’s hard drive. It seems to work well however I can’t find some documents. Is it possible to see files that were on the desktop of my old laptop?
Many thanks,
Dan
April 13th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Shelia,
Read this post: http://www.asklaptopfreak.com/laptop-notebook-help/2010/04/13/what-is-vga-port-on-laptop/