Solved I need to access the hard drive of a dead computer.

[retina]

There was a problem with my motherboard that I can't fix and I need to send my computer to the manufacturer under warranty for repair.
There is work in files that I desperately need and it can't wait for the repair which might take weeks.
I have a fully functional hard drive. How do I transfer files from it to another computer?
Thanks.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Put a USB thumb drive in the PC, copy the files to the USB, then take the USB drive to the new PC and copy them to it.

Or burn the files to a DVD.

Or temporarily connect the hard drive to the new PC and then copy.

Or copy the files to storage space in the "cloud" and then copy them back to the new PC.

And probably more. The USB method is probably simplest.

 

[retina]

Put a USB thumb drive in the PC, copy the files to the USB, then take the USB drive to the new PC and copy them to it.

Or burn the files to a DVD.

Or temporarily connect the hard drive to the new PC and then copy.

Or copy the files to storage space in the "cloud" and then copy them back to the new PC.

And probably more. The USB method is probably simplest.

The problem with my computer is that it will turn on but the display won't work and there are more problems with the motherboard. So I can't really use my desktop at all.
I'm planning on using a friend's desktop. I want to plug in my hard drive and access the files. Will I run into compatibility issues or is this possible at all?

 

[pricetech]

Should be possible. Just make sure your friend knows what he / she is doing so your drive doesn't get botched in any way.

Once you have your files, put them on a USB drive, burn them to disk, whatever to make sure you don't lose them.

Can you keep the drive and send the rest of the computer, or does the company require it "complete" ??

 

[retina]

Should be possible. Just make sure your friend knows what he / she is doing so your drive doesn't get botched in any way.

Once you have your files, put them on a USB drive, burn them to disk, whatever to make sure you don't lose them.

Can you keep the drive and send the rest of the computer, or does the company require it "complete" ??

If I plug in my hard drive with a data and power cable into my friend's computer I should be able to boot the system from my own hard drive without any problems?

The company annoyingly will not fix my motherboard issue unless I send the hard drive as well.

 

[tman69]

"I want to plug in my hard drive and access the files. Will I run into compatibility issues or is this possible at all?"

should work fine as long as your drive is SATA (or IDE and he has an extre IDE port) and his machine has an open SATA port on it's MOBO--your drive will show up in windows explorer as an additional drive--then just copy your files to his hard drive (of course this assumes both machines are running 64 bit sys and have the software available to run the programs needed to work on the files)

 

[retina]

"I want to plug in my hard drive and access the files. Will I run into compatibility issues or is this possible at all?"

should work fine as long as your drive is SATA (or IDE and he has an extre IDE port) and his machine has an open SATA port on it's MOBO--your drive will show up in windows explorer as an additional drive--then just copy your files to his hard drive (of course this assumes both machines are running 64 bit sys and have the software available to run the programs needed to work on the files)

That's great. I suppose I can just copy the files to a usb drive and be on my way.
Thanks.