So I have a six year old Dell laptop running Vista that’s on the fritz. It’ll boot but freezes shortly after any programs are open and start to run. Additionally, it won’t boot into Safe Mode and gets hung up in the process... I forget the name of the .exe where it hangs up. With it being an older PC I decided to just buy a new one (which I did this past weekend) rather than bothering to fix it. Honestly, an upgrade has been needed for a while. I do however want to retrieve all the data that I can from the hard drive and store it on an external. Anyone know of a way I can do this myself or I place that I can take it get it done? Any suggestions from experience? I know that the Geek Squad at BB should be able to do it for around $80, but I was hoping for a cheaper or more reliable option. I’ve never dealt with Geek Squad, but for some reason I have distrust in their services. Am I off base with them? Any useful feedback will be appreciated, thanks.
You just need to buy a storage enclosure for your hard drive (probably an SATA, but older could be IDE). You'll have to take the drive out to figure out which kind of drive it is. Drive enclosures can be had for a few bucks online, or 15-20 bucks at stores like Fry's. Removing hard drives from most laptops is pretty simple. 1-2 screws and then it slides out. I'd suggest heading to YouTube and searching the make/model and "remove hard drive" or just "hard drive." Someone probably has a video up on how to replace. Something like this - <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QLNv8RMzfjo?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
since it's an older laptop, it's probably running a 2.5" hard drive. Get one of those enclosures would be the easiest way. There are also cables where u could plug it in. Basically, you're plugging it in as a data drive where your current computer/laptop runs the OS. I went to frys.com and did a quick search on laptop hdd enclosure. It lists a bunch of 2.5" drive enclosures. Ask if there's uncertainty!
So it's as simple taking the drive out of the laptop and putting it into a case that turns it into an external drive? What would you suggest I do to scan the drive for viruses/malware before transferring data?
It is that easy as long as the original drive is still functional (undamaged). Boot in to windows, and then plug the USB in - don't plug the USB in and boot. Since the USB drive will have Windows on it, it could confuse the PC if the bios on your new PC is set to USB boot. So, to be safe don't plug the drive in until you have Windows booted. If you have Windows Defender or another anti-virus solution installed and up to date on your new PC, it should be fine. It would catch any viruses on the old hard drive.
Is there a concern your HD has viruses/malware on it? There's nothing wrong with scanning the drive before you start mucking around pulling files but why? I've pulled several laptop HDs, thrown them in external USB enclosures and used them as backup drives. It's really, really simple.
I'd suggest once all of the files they need off of it are removed, that they format the drive to wipe it and start fresh. You don't want Windows and program files installed on an external drive. This link explains how to format it - http://www.pcworld.com/article/248980/how_to_format_your_hard_drive_in_windows.html
I guess it's really just as a precaution. Rather be safe than sorry. THIS is the type of hard drive that I'm looking to retrieve. Would any 2.5" enclosure do the trick?
