Dad's computer, desperately want to save :(

Okay, about the external drive enclosures, I am confused about the sizes. There are 2.5" enclosures and 3.5" enclosures. My dads HD is 2.5" one way, and 3.5" the other. I really should know this

It's width not length. A 3.5 inch wide drive is normally what you find in a desktop PC. It has the 40 pin IDE connector and the 4 pin power connector. 2.5 inch wide IDE laptop drives only have the connector for the ribbon cable. Power comes in on that connector along with data. I don't remember how many pins are on that cable. From the sounds of it you have the smaller 2.5 inch drive. It came out of a laptop so it should be the smaller type drive.

EDIT: if it's a SATA laptop drive it will have two connecotrs, a SATA data connector and a SATA power connector. Just Google the part or model number on the sticker on the drive and you should be able to find all the info you need to nail it down.

alphanumeric said:

It's width not length. A 3.5 inch wide drive is normally what you find in a desktop PC. It has the 80 pin IDE connector and the 4 pin power connector. 2.5 inch wide IDE laptop drives only have the connector for the ribbon cable. Power comes in on that connector along with data. I don't remember how many pins are on that cable. From the sounds of it you have the smaller 2.5 inch drive. It came out of a laptop so it should be the smaller type drive.

EDIT: if it's a SATA laptop drive it will have two connecotrs, a SATA data connector and a SATA power connector. Just Google the part or model number on the sticker on the drive and you should be able to find all the info you need to nail it down.

Thanks for this :) It is a 2.5" IDE drive... about 40-45 pins.

alphanumeric said:

It's width not length. ...

Technically speaking, it's neither length nor width. It refers to the diameter of the platter inside the drive.

As BarMan and others have suggested:

Save the date, first and foremost. Concentrate on solving this problem.

Forget trying to fix the boat anchor. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. You do not want to destroy your own laptop also-don't switch components, adapters, batteries between the two.

LiquidSnak said:

StarTech.com 2.5in Silver USB 2.0 to IDE External Hard Drive Enclosure Storage enclosure- IDE

Startech will get it done

This is what you need to get the data off quickly and safetly.
If you use another brand it must have/be three things
1. 2.5in
2. Ide and NOT Sata
3. USB 2.0 NOT Usb 1.0 (too slow)

Thanks everyone :)

Karl, don't worry I haven't fried my working laptop All I have done with the old dead laptop, is take out all the components, take out the motherboard then rest it on my desk, and then put all the components back, with no original case. It looks pretty neat to me
Hopefully my dad will buy that Startech drive enclosure sometime this week, he's willing to do anything to get back precious photos of me as a baby and some important work files

That Startech enclosure will treat you right.

I use all Startech screws in my builds. Sorry to hear that the laptop is a doorstop now, but it's a good learning tool. (somewhat expensive though it may be)

LiquidSnak said:

That Startech enclosure will treat you right.

I use all Startech screws in my builds. Sorry to hear that the laptop is a doorstop now, but it's a good learning tool. (somewhat expensive though it may be)

Hell yeah I've learnt alot
Although, I could order these parts for more learning :-

Hynix 512MB DDR 333MHz PC2700S HYMD564M646A6 LaptopRAM - eBay (item 300486706959 end time Nov-27-10 11:29:08 PST)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ACER-ASPIRE-1360...#ht_1283wt_907

ACER ASPIRE 1360 1362LC 15" SCREEN CABLE 50.49I02.011 - eBay (item 140331033523 end time Nov-25-10 07:39:47 PST)

Toshiba IDE ATA MK2023GAS 2.5" 20GB Laptop Hard Drive on eBay (end time 01-Nov-10 17:06:33 GMT)

And maybe a new processor to spice things up a bit

NEW AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2GHZ Socket 754 ADA3200AIO4BX on eBay (end time 10-Nov-10 16:39:50 GMT)