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Hi Guys,
I hope someone can help me.
I have a Pavillion laptop and there is a problem with the AC power supply, I have purchased a couple of new adapters as my original one blew, i bought replacements, offical HP ones recommended by HP for the problem, and two of these also blew, so i have something wrong with the laptop. However i had to back-up some music and pictures on the remaining battery life, which didnt give me enough time so i know have a 5 year old laptop which i cannot boot up to back-up the stuff. Now, because it's 5 years old i really dont want to spend anymore money on it and i was wondering if there is any other options that i have which wont cost me any money, as i dont want to waste any more money on an old machine.
What i was wondering was if i attached my laptop to a PC via a USB cable, would i beable to transfer the data on the hard drive of the laptop onto the Hard drive of the PC, in effect using the laptop as an external hard drive just like an ipod, or is there no way the power of a PC would be able to power my laptop without the Laptop having it's own ac supply.
Any help on this would be much appreciated.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Chris

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Short answer: a plain USB-to-USB cable won’t make the laptop act like an external iPod, but the low-cost, reliable route is to remove the laptop’s 2.5" drive and read it from a desktop — as suggested. The following expands that suggestion with safe, practical steps and pitfalls to watch for so the data can be recovered without buying a replacement charger.

Power and access: remove AC and the battery first. Locate the hard-drive bay on the bottom (small screws or a service hatch). Use a small Phillips driver, slide the drive/caddy out and lift the drive free. Check the connector to identify the interface: SATA drives have separate thin data and power contacts (small, separate plugs); older PATA/IDE laptop drives use a single wide 44-pin edge connector. Photograph the connector if unsure.

Connection options and file access: a USB-to-SATA/IDE adapter or a 2.5" external enclosure will let the desktop read the drive over USB — most 2.5" laptop drives draw power from USB and need no extra supply. Alternatively, mount the drive in a desktop using a 2.5"->3.5" bracket and connect to a spare SATA/data cable and power lead. After attaching, use the host OS disk manager to assign a drive letter. Important: do not initialize or reformat the disk if prompted — initializing will erase existing partitions. If the OS cannot read the files, booting the host from a Linux live USB often gives direct access for copying.

Cautions and traps: if the laptop had full-disk encryption or an HDD password, files may remain inaccessible without the original credentials. If the drive is not detected or makes clicking noises, stop and consider a recovery specialist. Multiple blown chargers may indicate a shorted DC jack or motherboard fault, but that does not automatically mean the drive is damaged.

Member Avatar for coolraj003

You would not be able to connect the laptop to the desktop to use it as external drive but you do have a choice of taking hard drive out of the laptop and use it as secondary drive within a desktop using an adaptor which wont cost you more than few bucks. As the laptop drive connectors are different than the desktop mobo ones.

Here is the one i was recommended for similar process, hope it ll be worth for the price you pay.

Best of luck

Raj

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