Hi,

 

Your data may be OK, you will need to tell us what model you have, and what happens when you try to turn it on, such as the lightss that come on and HDD noise. Also what is on the screen and any messages. The term " crash " suggests a HDD failure but this may not be the case. There are companies that can recover data from failed HDD's but I would try to work out what has happened first. Dell can diagnose it over the phone, which may not be free and there are other repair companies that can fix it. If the MBD has failed, replace it and you are as you were. Always back-up your Data, it is easy and cheap with writeable CD / DVD, USB keys and cheap external HDD's. Lap tops get stolen as well as fail, so plan around this.

 

                                                                       Regards Chris

Hi Chris,

 

Sorry for the long delay. My laptop is a Dell Latitude C840.

 

I ran a dignostics test and the results were as follows:

 

Hi,

 

You may be in with a chance, run the Hard Drive tests only, and see where you go. I would sugest you buy / borrow a USB Hard drive caddy, you can take out your HDD, remove the adapter and put it in the Caddy. Plug it into another computer, and it will be seen as a 2nd hard drive. You can access your files now. You will need a Caddy for a 2.5 inch IDE drive. Another option is get an adapter to fit it to a desktop, cheaper but more fiddling.

 

If you do have a failure with the HDD tests, I would replace the drive, reload it so as to keep using the computer then try to recover the Data.

 

                                                                        Regards Chris

Hi Chris-

What is a hard drive caddy? How does one take out a HDD (I assume HDD = hard drive?)? And what is the adapter that I will be removing and from what?

Will this be expensive?

Thanks again!

 

 

Hi,

 

A USB caddy is quite cheap, and you will find it handy for other things, such as copying large files from a computer without a CD writer [ as long as you have a spare HDD in it ] To remove your HDD, turn off the computer, remove all cables and the battery, take out the screw. The HDD is in the middle of the RHS. Lift the side up a little, and slide the cover of the HDD down, it will move around around 3mm. You can now pull it out getting purchase underneath. The drive is held in with 4 screws, and there is an adapter over the pins you will have to pull off. If you are not at ease, check the manual.

 

The HDD caddy is an external case with interface that you can fit a 2nd hard drive into. They are great to recover data from corrupted hard drives. USB is the connection type that will plug into another computer. You will need one for a 2.5 inch IDE drive, if you look through these Posts you should find some links.

 

                                                                                  Regards Chris

Hi Chris!

 

So I purchased a USB caddy. It was the right one and everything. I took out the HDD from the laptop plugged it in to the USB port on my pc. Nothing happened. I am not sure if my computer is not recognizing the HDD or it is not able to read it. The port did come with a driver, but the manual says that if I have MS 2000, then I do not to install the driver. I have MS 2000, so I did not install it. Are there ways to try to get the data on the HDD to actively move to the pc?

 

You have been so helpful already.

 

Thank you. .

Hi,

 

There should be a couple of lights on the Caddy, do any come on ? Can you hear the HDD spin up ? Does it show in My Computer ?

 

                                                                       Regards Chris

No lights come on. I do not even see a place for the lights. Basically, I have the HDD in its enclosure hooked to a USB adaptor. Where should the lights be?

I can hear the HDD spin.

It does not show in "my computer."

Thanks.

Hi,

 

Check the instructions for the caddy, most have a power and an activity light. It may be worth trying it with another computer, in case the port is bad. Do you have access to another drive ? If so you can check that everthing is working. Because USB supplies the power, some caddies have an external power socket as some drives need more than is available. If you have one, try it.

 

                                                                         Regards Chris