Windows 7: Hard drive question

Im wondering whats a good way to get data from a hard drive? My current computer doesnt work and i have a 2nd HDD that ive had for a year and want to get the data from, ive booted from it and it just lagged so bad i think because of all the drivers needing to be installed into the pc for it. Should i just wait for my new computer and attach it as a secondary drive? or is there some way i can do like a data transfer without it being in a computer?

Sorry for my confusion but you say you have a 2nd HDD that you want to get data from. Then you say you've booted from it but it lags really bad. Is this HDD installed in the computer that doesn't work? Or is it in some other computer? You could probably buy a USB enclosure (2.5" if it's a laptop hard drive or 3.5" for a desktop hard drive), install the HDD, then connect it to a working computer just like any other external USB drive. The working computer should show its own hard drive as C: and the newly enclosed HDD as perhaps drive E: (or some other letter.) Copy the files from the new E: drive to wherever. I've seen 2.5" enclosures for as low as $10 and 3.5" for $15.

Okay thanks. and well, my current computer wont boot up, and i was wondering if it would boot up if i installed my older HDD as a second drive and booted from it. which worked but it lags. its a laptop drive so i guess ill go and buy a 2.5" enclosure.

If I'm understanding correctly, your current computer still has its hard drive installed but it just won't boot up. That would most likely mean that hard drive still labeled as the C: drive. If you installed the older HDD as a second drive, it would have to become the new C: drive and the old C: drive (the one in the computer right now) would have to be called something else - like F: drive. Because having two C: drives would totally confuse the the boot manager (which C: drive am I supposed to boot from?) And that could really mess things up.

Then there's the problem with drivers. If the older HDD (now the new C: drive) doesn't have all the necessary drivers that the computer needs, or if it has drivers from some completely different computer, you'd have even more problems. So I think installing the older HDD in an enclosure and plugging into a working computer would be the easiest way to go.

If you can boot from a CD or USB you could use a bootable Linux distribution such as Puppy Linux and use it to copy your files. Puppy Linux Community - Home