Broken Laptop - Getting files from it

A

astras

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Hi,

I recently broke my old Dell laptop, she fell on ground, monitor all cracked from the inside so ive decided to buy a new one.

How might i get some of the files off the old one like pictures and other documents?

Is there a piece of hardware to do so? You cant see anything when you turn on the screen really.

Cheers...
 
It depends on how damaged the laptop is. You can put an external monitor onto the laptop to see if that can show you the screen.

If the above does not work, take the harddrive out of the laptop and bring it to a computer shop to see if they can retrieve the files.
 
probably a standard 2.5 inch ide drive.

It is possible to buy a USB adaptor that will let you plug in as an external HD to pull off old files.

As long as the HD wasn't damaged should work.

You could also try putting the old HD into another machine and get the info onto an external hard drive or memory stick.

try www.peats.ie and search ide to usb the first is 15 quid and leaves you an external HD.
 
Try google for a piece of software called Knoppix, burn it to CD, boot of it and it will boot into linux and let you copy and paste the files...depends how damaged the laptop is
 
milan said:
Try google for a piece of software called Knoppix, burn it to CD, boot of it and it will boot into linux and let you copy and paste the files...depends how damaged the laptop is
Click to expand...

this won't work - laptop screen is damaged.

as Frank said - pop out the drive - hook it up to a adaptor and away you go.
 
Two comments.

1 Most laptops have a connection (15 pin, 3 X 5) on the back to plug in an external monotor (often used with projectors) so you could try to plug in any old or spare monotor and see if it works. You may have to use one of the function keys to switch on e.g Function + F10.

2. I recovered files from a damaged Dell by removing Hard Drive and using external USB 2.5 inch housing as already suggested. However the My Documents folders were not accessable initally but required my computer to 'take ownership' of folders. (Windows XP security feature).You may need to Google to get instructions to do this. e.g.http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421
 
on another point guys, i bought office home and student to put onto my new laptop, but it only has word,excel,powerpoint and notebook or something like that! There is no Access or Publisher on it which I need too.

I think M.Office Professional has them all but thats out of my price range.
Is there any wau i might get access and publisher from the net etc..?
 
yeah try out openoffice.org They have the whole suit and for free.
 
Cheers for all the replies!

I am going to get a 2.5 IDE thing for a tenner. What do I do with it? Plug into old laptop, does it matter if i cant see the screen to save the files onto it?
 
astras - windows permissions will still apply if you mount it as a slave/external drive on another windows machine. You will probably need to take ownership of the files, however don't do this if you want to use that windows installation in another machine as it may corrupt the profiles.
 
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