Cpu Hard Drive Question

[robbcs3]

I know there are some computer guys on here so I wanted to ask. I have 2 old laptops both compaq one is a CQ60, and the other a C700. They both have issues but the C700 wont even come on, due to an ac jack problem. The CQ60 has the same issue but will come on. Can I take the hard drive of the C700 and put it in the CQ60 to get the info off of it? Are there other concerns with doing this?

[Twoo]

If you make the second laptop hard-drive the primary then I doubt it would work. Each laptop has different drivers, possibly different operating system, etc, etc, etc. Although, you won't hurt anything by trying. If you have a home computer you could hook up the old hard-drive as a slave on the system and access your files that way.

[flynismo]

You can try, nothing bad can happen, but chances are you will not be able to boot up the hard drive if you put it into another laptop due to different hardware/drivers. What is the problem with the jack? Is it a loose pin? If so, it is pretty simple to fix yourself if you have a solder gun and a couple hours of free time.

But here is a temporary solution for you.

First, download [url="http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora"]Linux Fedora Live CD[/url] and burn the .iso image to a CD or DVD. Then borrow/purchase a flash drive (making sure that it is large enough to contain all the data that you want to copy) or an external hard drive.
Then put the hard drive in the other laptop, as you were planning on.
After you swap the hard drive in, put the Linux Fedora Live CD into your CD/DVD drive. Restart the computer, and boot into your BIOS (hit either F2, F8 or Delete while the computer is first booting up, each computer varies. You should see a message saying "Press <whatever button> to edit settings...or something along those lines, when you turn your computer on). Make sure that the CD/DVD drive is selected as the first boot drive.

Restart the computer again (leaving the Live CD in the computer), and boot into Linux Fedora Live CD.

From there, you can mount the hard drive, and copy/replace/delete files as needed onto the flash drive/external hard drive, and transfer it to your other laptop.

That'll be $100 please

[purple.n.black]

If you have a desktop computer you can hook it up to that and copy the data to the desktop and/or an external hard drive.
Another, possibly better solution if you are fine with spending a little bit of money would be an external enclosure. You can put the hard drive in an external enclosure, making it a somewhat bulky external hard drive. You can then either copy all of the info to the other laptop from that external hard drive, and have a spare hard drive for important data for future occurrences like this. Or you can just keep the data on the external hard drive and access it from the laptop.

[flynismo]

If you're going to connect your hard drive to a desktop, you're going to need to buy adaptors in order to connect a laptop HDD to a desktop. If you spend $ on this, it would be better to get the flash or external drive and follow the method I listed above, that way you will have extra storage to keep a backup of all your files in case this were to happen again.


Also, you may want to run 'chkdsk /f' in a terminal (assuming you have Windows installed) and/or S.M.A.R.T. disc check (if your HDD supports it) if you plan on reusing the HDD or use it in another laptop.

[BohBalmerOsbohs]

refrain from calling a computer a CPU

[robbcs3]

[quote name='flynismo' timestamp='1291566569' post='559736']
You can try, nothing bad can happen, but chances are you will not be able to boot up the hard drive if you put it into another laptop due to different hardware/drivers. What is the problem with the jack? Is it a loose pin? If so, it is pretty simple to fix yourself if you have a solder gun and a couple hours of free time.

But here is a temporary solution for you.

First, download [url="http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora"]Linux Fedora Live CD[/url] and burn the .iso image to a CD or DVD. Then borrow/purchase a flash drive (making sure that it is large enough to contain all the data that you want to copy) or an external hard drive.
Then put the hard drive in the other laptop, as you were planning on.
After you swap the hard drive in, put the Linux Fedora Live CD into your CD/DVD drive. Restart the computer, and boot into your BIOS (hit either F2, F8 or Delete while the computer is first booting up, each computer varies. You should see a message saying "Press <whatever button> to edit settings...or something along those lines, when you turn your computer on). Make sure that the CD/DVD drive is selected as the first boot drive.

Restart the computer again (leaving the Live CD in the computer), and boot into Linux Fedora Live CD.

From there, you can mount the hard drive, and copy/replace/delete files as needed onto the flash drive/external hard drive, and transfer it to your other laptop.

That'll be $100 please
[/quote]


Been crazy busy, I should get around to trying the soldiering this week. I did pull it apart before and could not even get to the piece that needed replaced. If that wont work the disc seems like a pretty good way to go. I thank you all for the advice and will update this after I can get a moment to work on it.

[FerrariFan87]

Laptops are getting cheaper by the day... just buy a new one

Can't help with the hard drive issues haha

[robbcs3]

That's what will happen, I just want the info of it

[flynismo]

[quote name='robbcs3' timestamp='1292962537' post='582692']<br />Been crazy busy, I should get around to trying the soldiering this week.  I did pull it apart before and could not even get to the piece that needed replaced.  If that wont work the disc seems like a pretty good way to go.  I thank you all for the advice and will update this after I can get a moment to work on it.<br />[/quote]


I'm assuming the piece you are trying to get to is the jack connector ... you can remove the motherboard, and once it is out, flip it over and use your solder gun to heat the pins from underneath -- you can then just lift it out of the socket and replace it with a good one. The repairs itself only takes a few mins, but removing/assembling the mobo takes some time ... just be careful to keep everything organized as you go (putting the screws and components in their own plastic bag is a good way to go).