Data transfer from Windows 7 hard drive to Windows 8.1 Hard drive

[johan1219]

Hi everyone!
There's really no short way to explain my issue and though I tried, please bear with me!

My old laptop that I've had for about 6 years now finally bit the dust (nothing lasts forever, right?) It was an eMachines E527 series with a 64-bit OS Windows 7 (I believe with Vista) and x64-based processor. I depended very much so on this laptop while in college and it indeed was good to me, a reliable piece of equipment up until about a year ago when the battery needed replacing (saw that one coming) though being a broke college student I just never quite got around to buying one. Needless to say the battery was rendered shot and could not hold a charge by itself so as a result the only way I could use my laptop was if it was on its charger, remaining plugged in 24/7 otherwise the battery would drain within minutes and the laptop would die (I know this ultimately bad for it, though I didn't have a choice so I used my laptop like this for about a year and a half.) When the power cord needed replacing about 4 months ago, I gave in and managed a Rocketfish Universal AC Laptop Adapter with 8 different tips included. I found the tip for my laptop and was able to use the adapter for my laptop happily for about 2 months when suddenly it too stopped charging my laptop (I started having to literally hold the cord a certain way in order for it to work) and then it got to the point where the tip had to be pushed in VERY hard and firmly and literally HELD in that position in order for my laptop to detect a charge, and after trying several of the other tips with no luck, that's when I gave up and saved just enough money for a lower-ended but nonetheless new laptop from Bestbuy.

My problem arises here:
This old laptop, the eMachines E527, was the one I've used for college (and EVERYTHING else) up until about a month ago. As aforementioned, it's a 64-bit OS Windows 7 with a x64-based processor. This laptop has a number of things on it that I am not ready to part with and therefore still somehow need to retrieve: 1) Assignments, portfolios and data from last school year in Microsoft Office, 2) Five or so years worth of pictures that I'd like to still have/keep 3) Five or so years worth of iTunes music, and 4) A number of stored passwords on there that I've been struggling to remember since. The laptop itself I can't even turn on at this time.

My new laptop:
It's a Hewlitt Packard product that came equipped with Windows 8 of course but I did download the free upgrade to Windows 8.1.
"PC Info" gives the following information for Processor, RAM, and System Type, respectively: AMD A6-4455M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics 2.10 GHz, 4.00 GB (3.47 GB usable), 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor.

My question:
Is there any way I can somehow extract what I need from the eMachines E527 hard drive and transfer it my new HP laptop? *If so I'd appreciate any info very much on how it can be done and also what the process is like! Thank you!!

*Please keep in mind!
a) eMachines E527 cannot be turned on (no working battery nor power cord)
b) I'd be extracting from a Windows 7 OS hard drive and transferring the needed files onto a Windows 8.1 OS.

 

[Bumpkin]

You will need to remove the hard drive from the old laptop.

Purchase a hard drive enclosure or adapter, I recommend this one Sabrent USB-DSC7 Hard Drive Adapter - 2.5/ 3.5/ 5.25 SATA to USB 3.0 at TigerDirect.com.

There are a lot of less expensive (cheaper) products, but many don't work when you take it out of the box.

Be sure to get one that works with 2.5 inch drives.

Connect the old drive to the adopter/enclosure, connect the power supply and plug the USB connector into the new computer. Then you can copy your files from the old drive.

You cannot copy your installed programs, they must be installed again from discs or downloads.

 

[3D Jed]

I have saved jpegs, mp3s etc from a dead laptop a couple of times using the method Bumpkin describes. Usually the HDD was sata so fitted my USB caddy, but I was defeated once when the laptop HDD (actually a small netbook) had a connector I didn't recognize. I'd say take the HDD out first to check the connector type before buying a caddy. BTW my caddy was a lot cheaper than the adapter quoted - about £5 - £10 UK.

 

[johan1219]

Alright, thank you guys for your feedback, I really do appreciate it. I knew there had to be some way to retrieve the files! Doing so will save me on a lot of things as far as school and next semester... I will shop around for adapters and give it a try ASAP. Thanks again!