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Dead motherboard. How to retrieve files from Hard Drive? - DBDJ My Acer (Win XP) laptops motherboard died. I am buying another laptop. New laptop will most likely be running Vista and will not be an Acer (is that already a problem???) The HD from the failed laptop is a: Hitachi ATA / IDE. 60GB Note: This HD was split 30gb on C: and 30 on D: ... and I think I converted D: to NTSF.... I cant recall, but Im almost sure I did. Now, is that a problem? Can I buy this ... http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-5-HDD-External-Enclosure-Case-for-IDE-Hard-Drive_W0QQitemZ350062621041QQihZ022QQcategoryZ74949QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem and use it as an external HD and be able to get the files from it (pics and movies, programs and music)??? What is the best way to get my stuff back using a new different computer? HELP!

Best Answer: hi yes thats a good idea buy one of them get it all working plug it in copy what you want to save on your laptop then go into control panel then administrative tools then computer management then disk managment and format the external drive through that and you can get rid of the partition then you will have a nice external hope that helps - vadajoe1

Hi, to get the data off your hard drive you need to first remove the hard drive from your laptop and plug it into an external enclosure, or hook it up directly to another computer via IDE cable or SATA connection (whichever one your hard drive uses). Once it is hooked up just cut and paste the files from the drive to the drive on your computer. If you're interested here are some more external enclosures that may suit you needs.. http://www.bestmatchcomputers.com/search.aspx?searchPhrase=2.5+enclosures - Kenpachi

You can do that. It is pretty easy. I'm not sure if I'd buy the enclosure off of ebay. I might go for this one on NewEgg instead... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182143 The split drives shouldn't be a problem either, it should just recognize both when it is plugged in. - Army Dude

The short answer is yes you can. The adaptors are cheap and very easy to use. They usually handle SATA, IDE 3.5" and IDE 2.5". - formersalt

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