Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Gadgets & Tech Broken Laptop Data Transfer

Can anyone recommend someone who can transfer data from a broken laptop to a new one and how much it would cost? I have been told tat the data is recoverable.

Most computer shops will do this, its quite an easy process for user data, program data is a bit harder.

If you really get stuck, give me a shout - I'm not really set up to do this at the moment (I've lost my adapter in my piles of boxes).

I'm not a pc expert but can't you take the hard drive out of broken one and put it into a usb external sata or ide case and then connect to your new laptop ( case about £3 on net)

pretty much this. if it's an SSD then i'm not sure, not had enough experience with these but if it's a HDD then i'm fairly sure you can take it out the old comp, put it in a HDD enclosure and transfer files across to the new comp via USB.

As above, buy the adapter from ebay about £5 and do it yourself.

If the old laptop is still working, remove all passwords from login accounts as this will prevent permission issues.

They can be sorted if not.

So if yu not in a hurry, do it for a few quid.

I managed to spill coffee all over it and it now won't power on. If I could get it working I'd transfer all the data over to my external hard drive and then onto the new laptop. I took it to a local computer shop who told me that it would cost £70 for the transfer which I think is overpriced. They looked at it and said that the data was recoverable but I was hoping I could get someone to do it cheaper or by myself with a little guidence. I didn't like the guy at the computer shop because he was trying to sell me a very overpriced laptop and his sales technique was full of bull. I think he was preying on people who didn't know any better. He also tried to tell me that I hadn't left the charger with the old laptop when I left it with them to look at and get very rude when I insisted on having it back.
Anyway, can anyway, given that it won't power on, can anyone recommend either some equipment which I can use to transfer the data and an idea on what to do or somewhere I can take it for a sensible price to do the same. I'm not looking to get the old laptop repaired as it's had a hard life. The cat managed to knock fish stock over it a couple of years ago and then about a year ago I dropped it and there is a large crack in the screen.

Uffda if your in no rush this is what we can do.

Link you to the equipment you will need (£5 - £10)
But we need to know what the hard drive looks like as they have different connections IDE and SATA.
We would prefer to be sure were advising you correctly.

Dont worry about not powering up the laptop thats not a problem.
Once the hard drive is out and you have the equipment, you just need to connect them all up then treat your old hard drive pretty much like a external hard drive, and we can advise you where to go to get the data you need.

I can remote connect and get it going for you, or im sure we can talk you through the process.

It could be this adapter you need £2.75 Click Me

Or this one will do both £11.95 I feel is a little over priced How ever is free delivery Click Me

Feel free to drop me a pm.
But i'm sure we can all help.

Laptop removal of hard drive : you normally remove a flap from the bottom of the laptop, but they scratch into it also a HD or an image so it could be on the side like the cd player would be, but there is always screws to keep the cover in place. Your not going to break anything by removing the cover. The hard drive will normally pull out in it position, then it will release and you can do anything you want with it then. It can come in a cradle which would be removed after you get it out from the laptop.

Finding your files : once you plug it in it's easy once you get to My documents it will all become familiar.

Random Hard Drive removal : Not yours



And this one : IDE loads of pins



Or this slide out one

I spilled coffee over it : Remove the battery and give it a go with only the power lead You never know.

Thank you SO much Mark. I'm a bit of a numpty with computer stuff but happy to learn and give stuff a go. I've removed the battery, plugged in the charger cable and got very excited when it appeared to start up but then just shut down. I've taken out the hard drive and ordered the adapter you recommended. When it arrives I'll try and work it out myself but if I come up confused I'll give you a shout and hopefully you'll be able to talk me through it. I really appreciate the advice as I'd have never have known what equipment to get. From now on all cats and drinks will be kept well away from all laptops!

I guess you ordered the £11 one ?
Its handy to have because if you forget about some data you can always just pug it in again and go searching.
If you pug that device in and your external drive you can transfer straight over but it will be slow, so if you have the space to your working computer / laptop first.

Look into dropbox, google drive and one drive, there all free for storing data.
And you can access the same files on any device.

Obviously you own back up is best.But its handy to have an off site back up.

Does your removed hard drive have lots of tiny holes where it used to be connected into the laptop or sata which is 2 thin slots with a kinda dog leg in it. ?

Just for reference yu see.

Not sure sure about the connection but hopefully the attached photo will help. I ordered the cheaper one as it looked like the connections were most like my hard drive.

Looks like you are getting the right one.

If it comes with instructions make sure you follow them. Some adapters are capable of destroying a hard drive if the power up or power down is done in the wrong sequence - never had this happen to SATA but certainly with IDE, better playing safe.

These sata adapters running off small laptop drived are powered via the usb, so you shouldn't have that problem. The desktop hard drives normally need external power with a usb connection.


Just looked at your image, the hard drive is upside down, and thats why its looks strange seeing the contacts, that cheap usb adapter should do the trick.

Follow the simple instructions, if any are provided.



Connect the adapter to the hard drive.
Plug into you computer and WAIT.
Its going to want to install the usb drivers for the first time.

Eventually the drivers will be installed, and you may get file explorer automatically open, and you can select view files.

What was the operating system on the broken laptop?
With that information we can tell you how to follow the folders to your My Documents.

Thanks Mark and everyone.
The operating system was Windows 8 and the new laptop is Windows 10. Hopefully the adapter will arrive in a few days and I'll try and work it out.