Storage Solutions Connecting a Laptop HDD to a Desktop

[nj_gamer]

Hi All,

One of my friend's laptop's HDD crashed and since it's under warranty, it will be replaced by toshibha. Only problem is that he has some important data to recover before exchanging it for a new one.

I googled a bit on the subject, and on many forums they've suggested using a 2.5' to 3.5 adaptor, and another suggested to use an external casing. I couldn't find much on ebay either. I could find only external casings which i don't need as this is a one time thing.
Now my question is can it be directly connected to my Desktop to recover the data?

this is one site i found
http://www.liutilities.com/how-to/install-laptop-hard-drive-to-desktop-computer/

Regards,
Nj

 

[Neo-N]

U cannot connect the drive to your desktop directly.

Moreover, if by crashed you mean Dead, then, even buying a adapter or an external casing won't help.

Your best option to recover the data would be to send it to a HDD Data Recovery Centre and they will charge you an amount that is much more than the price of a new drive just for data recovery.

 

[nj_gamer]

Actually I have the recovery software... I just tht i'd connect it to my desktop mobo and recover the data... But i guess thats not possible... I have informed him about it, It's upto him to make a decision.

Thanks for the confirmation.

Regards,
Nj

 

[deep16]

yes u can connect it..... u hav two options...

1.buy a sata to usb converter... it comes with a power adapter and a sata to usb converter... frontech wala allmost 350 rs + vat

2.if u manage a seagate external hdd.. then its better... dunno about old ones but recent seagate 500 gB xternal hdd has a sata to usb cnverter wth power adpater with them.... plug it with the hdd and attatch it with ur dsktp.. u r good to go

 

[Gannu]

U cannot connect the drive to your desktop directly.

And why not? If the laptop drive is a SATA drive he can indeed connect it to the motherboard's SATA port without issues and power it using the SATA power cable. The downside is he needs the adapter to fix it to the chassis. Don't think he needs an adapter now since he needs the connectivity temporarily.

Or a cheap USB to SATA converter. ebay retails plenty of those for as cheap as 450 bucks.

 

[adilj]

If its a sata drive why even waste 450 just directly connect it to the motherboard... am sure he would have an extra sata cable. Now the more important part is will his hdd be recognized or not. if its not recognized than the recovery tool wont even work

 

[nj_gamer]

@deep16

I Have a portable Seagate external HDD, have to check if i have any other cables than the one i'm currently using. Else i'll have to go for the converter as suggested.

@Ganuu, @lida

Well i do have the extra cable lying around, its just that i read in one of the forum's(i think tom's) and it was mentioned that the desktop hdd use the +12V line and the Laptop one uses the +5V one.I'm a bit confused about this. I do want to know if this is true, if it isn't true then i'll connect it directly. I don't want to lose the data. Its hardly 50 MB, but it's important.
Even i thought i'd just plug it in, but i did a search before doing that and i came across that info. Plus one guy 'killed' the HDD by doing that. So i didn't wanna take any risk, before being informed more.

Regards,

nj

 

[deep16]

it will not kill ur hdd... u can safely use any method discussed here..

1.connct via converter

2.directly conncting to desktop mobo... donot worry...

 

[Gannu]

Even i thought i'd just plug it in, but i did a search before doing that and i came across that info. Plus one guy 'killed' the HDD by doing that. So i didn't wanna take any risk, before being informed more.

Bullshit! Whoever killed that drive must have done something else. :|

I've plugged my WD5000BEVT drive to my desktop and it worked just fine. I had to transfer some files from the drive to the desktop drive and it did so without issues.

If it helps:

Despite their diminutive form factors, 2.5" Serial ATA hard drives actually use the same connectors as their desktop counterparts. These drives plug into standard SATA data and power cables, making them particularly intriguing options for small form factor systems.

There are plenty of those media players as well which use the same power port for connecting the 3.5" drive and a 2.5" drive with the adapter. And then, some of them uses a 2.5" drive for their HTPCs owing to their smaller form factor.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/9378

 

[nj_gamer]

@Gannu and deep16
Thanks for confirming that... Will go ahead and connect it once i'm home and update you about it

PS: I got that dead HDD info from here : Connecting 2.5" SATA Disk to Desktop Internal SATA - Hard-Disks - Storage

Regards,
nj

 

[nj_gamer]

Thanks guys, I was able to connect the Laptop's HDD easily and I copied the data too... Didn't even need any recovery software, the OS recognized the files.

Regards,
Nj

 

[deep16]

congo/// this happened with me too.. my hitachi 80 gB would nvr wrk as a primary boot drive but alwaya wrks as a seperate storage unit... dunno why this happens..

 

[nj_gamer]

Maybe the MBR is corrupted... or i guess you have to change the jumper settings, or try making the main partition of that drive active... I can think of only these things... I remember reading somewhere that if the first block of the HDD is corrupted, it can never be a primary HDD, only a secondary HDD

Regards,
Nj