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Removing a hard drive from a desktop
A friend's eight-year-old Windows 98 SE Dell Dimension recently came to the end of its days. The hard drive stopped being accessible. She's throwing the computer out, but wants to keep the hard drive around for possible recovery of data at some point, namely her huge e-mail folder. I was trying to remove the hard drive. I disconnected all the cables, but the hard drive seems immovable. I thought that hard drives were supposed to be relatively easy to remove. I see no moving parts or clips or anything that would enable me to take it out. There are some small screw heads in the corners of the hard drive, but they looked too "locked" into place to be regular screws that can loosen the hard drive from the computer. Any ideas? Thanks, Larry |
#2
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Removing a hard drive from a desktop
Go he
http://support.dell.com/ Click "Manuals", then either select by Model or by Service Tag. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "Larry" wrote in message ... A friend's eight-year-old Windows 98 SE Dell Dimension recently came to the end of its days. The hard drive stopped being accessible. She's throwing the computer out, but wants to keep the hard drive around for possible recovery of data at some point, namely her huge e-mail folder. I was trying to remove the hard drive. I disconnected all the cables, but the hard drive seems immovable. I thought that hard drives were supposed to be relatively easy to remove. I see no moving parts or clips or anything that would enable me to take it out. There are some small screw heads in the corners of the hard drive, but they looked too "locked" into place to be regular screws that can loosen the hard drive from the computer. Any ideas? Thanks, Larry |
#3
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Removing a hard drive from a desktop
If it's like my old Dell Dimension, you first remove both the front and side
plastic covers, and then have access to two larger phillips screws on the front grille, just for starters. Those hold the primary HD in on my system. Larry wrote: A friend's eight-year-old Windows 98 SE Dell Dimension recently came to the end of its days. The hard drive stopped being accessible. She's throwing the computer out, but wants to keep the hard drive around for possible recovery of data at some point, namely her huge e-mail folder. I was trying to remove the hard drive. I disconnected all the cables, but the hard drive seems immovable. I thought that hard drives were supposed to be relatively easy to remove. I see no moving parts or clips or anything that would enable me to take it out. There are some small screw heads in the corners of the hard drive, but they looked too "locked" into place to be regular screws that can loosen the hard drive from the computer. Any ideas? Thanks, Larry |
#4
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Removing a hard drive from a desktop
"Bill in Co." wrote:
If it's like my old Dell Dimension, you first remove both the front and side plastic covers, and then have access to two larger phillips screws on the front grille, just for starters. Those hold the primary HD in on my system. Hmmm...I have a Compaq Presario that just died, and I'm probably going to have to do this. On that machine, there are several "trapdoor lids" on the bottom, held on by screws. I've had the one over the RAM off, when I added more RAM. There's one clearly marked with a disk drawing, so the HD would be under there. Exactly what would need to be done after remove the trapdoor lid, I'm not sure. Another thing I'm not sure about: I know there are external drive housings that connect to a computer via USB, and you can put a "normal" 3.5" hard drive in there. This drive would be smaller (2.5"?). And the machine is easily old enough that it would have to be IDE (SATA hasn't been around all that long, after all). So would one of these things be a good idea to try to recover the data? -- Tim Slattery MS MVP(DTS) http://members.cox.net/slatteryt |
#5
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Removing a hard drive from a desktop
"Tim Slattery" wrote in message
... Hmmm...I have a Compaq Presario that just died, and I'm probably going to have to do this. On that machine, there are several "trapdoor lids" on the bottom, held on by screws. I've had the one over the RAM off, when I added more RAM. There's one clearly marked with a disk drawing, so the HD would be under there. Exactly what would need to be done after remove the trapdoor lid, I'm not sure. What model Presario is it, Tim? Most laptops are similar in this respect. Here's a generic example: http://www.fonerbooks.com/laptop_1.htm The type of bracket and cable may differ, and the location of the screws....hence it helps to know the model. This might help also: http://www.cmsproducts.com/notebook_drive_removal.htm http://www.bixnet.com/copr30no800h.html http://www.bixnet.com/pres1216ser.html Of course, after you get a new drive in a Compaq, you have to find all the Compaq drivers for that model. Another thing I'm not sure about: I know there are external drive housings that connect to a computer via USB, and you can put a "normal" 3.5" hard drive in there. This drive would be smaller (2.5"?). And the machine is easily old enough that it would have to be IDE (SATA hasn't been around all that long, after all). So would one of these things be a good idea to try to recover the data? You can buy a USB 2.0 external drive housing that has a 2.5" adapter for installing a notebook hard drive. There are some on this page (along with some 3.5" enclosures): http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...asp?CatId=2777 I have this unit instead, which includes adapters for all drives, but no actual enclosure is used: NewerTech® USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adapt.php It's available there or at these online locations...I forget which resller I used,one of the Mac ones: http://www.newertech.com/us_resellers.php Of course, if the drive is too far gone, it won't read it or won't allow access, so it might be wasted money. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/ |
#6
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Removing a hard drive from a desktop
"glee" wrote:
"Tim Slattery" wrote in message .. . Hmmm...I have a Compaq Presario that just died, and I'm probably going to have to do this. On that machine, there are several "trapdoor lids" on the bottom, held on by screws. I've had the one over the RAM off, when I added more RAM. There's one clearly marked with a disk drawing, so the HD would be under there. Exactly what would need to be done after remove the trapdoor lid, I'm not sure. What model Presario is it, Tim? Most laptops are similar in this respect. Here's a generic example: Compaq Presario 1500. I really doubt I'll have much trouble getting it out, it's quite obvious which door I have to unscrew and open and I'm sure I can figure out what needs to be done after that. I also blew right by the fact that OP was asking about a Dell and that's exactly what you were describing. You can buy a USB 2.0 external drive housing that has a 2.5" adapter for installing a notebook hard drive. There are some on this page (along with some 3.5" enclosures): http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...asp?CatId=2777 I have this unit instead, which includes adapters for all drives, but no actual enclosure is used: NewerTech® USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adapt.php It's available there or at these online locations...I forget which resller I used,one of the Mac ones: http://www.newertech.com/us_resellers.php Of course, if the drive is too far gone, it won't read it or won't allow access, so it might be wasted money. Thank you for those leads!! It looks like these things sell in the neighborhood of $20, and a few are down around $10. I don't intend to use this very much, so maybe a cheap one would do the trick. I understand that there would be no guarantees. But after observing the way this thing failed, I *think* there is a very good chance that the disk is not at fault. And I'm quite sure that it would be worth spending $10 or $20 for one of these things to try to avoid a trip to the shop which would cost *much* more. -- Tim Slattery MS MVP(DTS) http://members.cox.net/slatteryt |
#7
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Removing a hard drive from a desktop
Hi Tim....replies inline.....
"Tim Slattery" wrote in message ... "glee" wrote: snip What model Presario is it, Tim? Most laptops are similar in this respect. Here's a generic example: Compaq Presario 1500. I really doubt I'll have much trouble getting it out, it's quite obvious which door I have to unscrew and open and I'm sure I can figure out what needs to be done after that. I also blew right by the fact that OP was asking about a Dell and that's exactly what you were describing. Here's what is supposed to be the service manual....it's in 4 parts thast must all be downloaded and extracted: http://www.eserviceinfo.com/download.php?fileid=9035 http://www.eserviceinfo.com/download.php?fileid=9036 http://www.eserviceinfo.com/download.php?fileid=9037 http://www.eserviceinfo.com/download.php?fileid=9038 You can buy a USB 2.0 external drive housing that has a 2.5" adapter for installing a notebook hard drive. There are some on this page (along with some 3.5" enclosures): http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...asp?CatId=2777 I have this unit instead, which includes adapters for all drives, but no actual enclosure is used: NewerTech® USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adapt.php It's available there or at these online locations...I forget which resller I used,one of the Mac ones: http://www.newertech.com/us_resellers.php Of course, if the drive is too far gone, it won't read it or won't allow access, so it might be wasted money. Thank you for those leads!! It looks like these things sell in the neighborhood of $20, and a few are down around $10. I don't intend to use this very much, so maybe a cheap one would do the trick. I understand that there would be no guarantees. But after observing the way this thing failed, I *think* there is a very good chance that the disk is not at fault. And I'm quite sure that it would be worth spending $10 or $20 for one of these things to try to avoid a trip to the shop which would cost *much* more. Agreed. I hope those links help you out. Good luck! -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/ |
#8
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Removing a hard drive from a desktop
On Sun, 14 Oct 2007 23:15:19 -0400, "Larry"
wrote: A friend's eight-year-old Windows 98 SE Dell Dimension recently came to the end of its days. The hard drive stopped being accessible. She's throwing the computer out, but wants to keep the hard drive around for possible recovery of data at some point, namely her huge e-mail folder. I was trying to remove the hard drive. I disconnected all the cables, but the hard drive seems immovable. You're doing good. I have a portable computer about 20 years old, weighs maybe 12 pounds not counting the power cord/transformer which is another 2, and I can't even get the cover off. A guy gave it to me maybe 12 years ago so I could take the hard drive out. He's never gotten back to me, but I saw him about a year ago and he didn't say anything. I got his address and phone to use after I made one final try, succeeded, and then surprise him. But I still haven't done it, and I've lost his number. My bad. At the time he didn't have enough money to pay someone to take the drive out, and he doesn't have such a great job now either. And I don't think he really needed anything on it, but of course he wanted to have it to be sure, just in case, etc. I can probably track him down through friends where he used to work. I wish I could spell his last name. It has lots of vowels, but I don't knjow which ones. It's not a Dell. I think it's named after a person, like Adams, or Gibson, or something like that. I thought that hard drives were supposed to be relatively easy to remove. I see no moving parts or clips or anything that would enable me to take it out. There are some small screw heads in the corners of the hard drive, but they looked too "locked" into place to be regular screws that can loosen the hard drive from the computer. Any ideas? Thanks, Larry If you are inclined to email me for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-) |
#9
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Removing a hard drive from a desktop
On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:44:47 -0400, "glee"
wrote: I have this unit instead, which includes adapters for all drives, but no actual enclosure is used: NewerTech® USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adapt.php This looks just like what I need, Glen, but it says: System Requirements: * Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP or Vista (No driver needed) Are they serious? Do I need something not included to make it work with win98SE? FWIW, I'm going to use this entirely with 3.5 drives, (Unless I can finally get that portable computer apart.) I have a USB port, version 1.something. Probably at least 1.1 and this it says is "Backwards compatible to USB 1.1 standards" It's available there or at these online locations...I forget which resller I used,one of the Mac ones: http://www.newertech.com/us_resellers.php If you're not near the east coast, you wouldn't have looked from a reseller near the east coast. Of the three they list, two require you to walk in, and the one in Philadelphia doesn't seem to sell the things anymore. You didnt' buy from the east coast, did you? If you did, was it Springboard in philadelphia? If you are inclined to email me for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-) |
#10
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Removing a hard drive from a desktop
On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:03:35 -0400, mm
wrote: On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:44:47 -0400, "glee" wrote: I have this unit instead, which includes adapters for all drives, but no actual enclosure is used: NewerTech® USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adapt.php This looks just like what I need, Glen, but it says: System Requirements: * Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP or Vista (No driver needed) Are they serious? Do I need something not included to make it work with win98SE? FWIW, I'm going to use this entirely with 3.5 drives, (Unless I can finally get that portable computer apart.) I have a USB port, version 1.something. Probably at least 1.1 and this it says is "Backwards compatible to USB 1.1 standards" To continue my own post, now, alas, I'm further confused. I thought for even less money than the Universal Drive Adapter above, I could get an enclosure that included the power and data cords etc. So I looked at the drive enclosure on the other url you listed and found one for only 20 dollars, like someone said: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...IN#detailspecs Unfortunately it doesn't say anything about what OS it needs, as if anything is fine, but it does say that it needs USB 2.0. I don't really know what version I have of USB, but I'm pretty sure it's not version 2. I got the driver here, because WiN98SE didn't have a USB driver. And surely it doesn't work with every OS. ?? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...4&Sku=ULT33052 Then this enclosure for 30 dollars in the paragraph says "supports Windows XP, 2000, ME" but in the Minimum System Requirements specifically says it will run on win98SE. It too only mentions USB 2.0 Unfortunately I need to read this hard drive some time this week or by next Wednesday at the latest, before I go out of town. I know I could plug it in to the Primary HD connector on the mobo, but because it is USB and it allows hot-swapping, that would mean that I wouldn't have to run this problematic HD more than the minimum. Should I buy the universal drive adpater, or one of the enclosures, or some more universal enclosure, or what?? :-) Thanks. It's available there or at these online locations...I forget which resller I used,one of the Mac ones: http://www.newertech.com/us_resellers.php If you're not near the east coast, you wouldn't have looked from a reseller near the east coast. Of the three they list, two require you to walk in, and the one in Philadelphia doesn't seem to sell the things anymore. You didnt' buy from the east coast, did you? If you did, was it Springboard in philadelphia? If you are inclined to email me for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-) |
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