my computer is broken and want to get files off of it?

Question

heres the thing, i had it at someones house for a couple of years and all i wanted to do was get pics or w/e i had on it. i only have the tower, just got it back and i borrowed a friends wires, monitor keyboard n mouse. i plugged it in and the light turned on in the back, made a very short noise (the one it usually starts when it turns on), but then it didn't turn on or make any more noise. im not sure what i should do, is there anyway i could bring it to a place and they could take off everything for me? or any other idea to get my data? ugh im so confused, please help. :(

its a windows xp i bought back in 2004

Answer 1

I have a set of following adaptor at home, and it works fine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=12-156-102-S05&ISList=12-156-102-S01%2c12-156-102-S02%2c12-156-102-S03%2c12-156-102-S04%2c12-156-102-S05&S7ImageFlag=1&Item=N82E16812156102&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=BYTECC%20BT-300%20USB%202.0%20to%20IDE%2fSATA%20Adapter

Take the hard drive out and connect the old hard drive with the adaptor to a working PC, the hard drive will act as an additional drive with all of your files.

Answer 2

Not really enough details to diagnosis the problem, so I will make a couple assumptions and suggestions based on them....



I am going to assume that the hard drive is good, but something is preventing the computer to complete it POST (a small utility it uses to check the memory, etc, and then load the hard drive). If the POST is failing, you will not get the manufacturer's logo or any kind of an error.



The most common cause of this is either loose memory or a lose card. As it sounds like the PC was moved just before the error began, odds are that either a memory chip or an add on card was knocked loose. If you are comfortable opening the computer. with the power off make sure the memory is properly seated and any cards are in tight. If you are uncomfortable doing that, ask one of your favorite "geeks" to help you. 10-15 minutes project. (Going price is a McDonald's meal or a video rental.)





If you are unable to get the computer to boot, you can recover the data by having a "geek" help you remove the hard drive and place it as a scone drive in another computer. They will be able to see the drive and copy off anything you need to CD or DVD. They can also do the same thing using an enclosure or adapter as listing by the first two postings.



If you take the computer into a shop, be aware that the most common way to fix ANY problem is to wipe the drive and reinstall Windows. If you take it in, have them put in writing that they will NOT wipe the hard drive without your permission.

Answer 3

why no longer in simple terms get a clean visual demonstrate unit? in case you do not care about a flat demonstrate screen you should likely locate one which ought to artwork at a storage promote for fantastically lower priced.... more suitable than in all probability to do what you want to do to hook up each and every of the community belongings you'll favor to work out the demonstrate screen on the laptop to setup permission and stuff also you would no longer have your community connection setup excellent and would favor to make some adjustments to the operating equipment to get it operating... both way you'll favor to work out what's on the demonstrate screen... an option decision will be to yet an exterior hardcontinual encloser that you'll positioned the pcs hardcontinual in and hook it to the computer using a usb cable.... for this function you'll favor to understand if the hardcontinual is PATA or SATA to besides the undeniable fact that the right encloser....

Answer 4

pull out the hard drive, plug it up to this:



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156102&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-12-156-102-_-Product



and plug that into a working PC and copy the wanted files. People charge so much to do this. It is very simple.

Answer 5

I would suggest to pull out that old hard drive and go purchase a hard drive enclosure.. its pretty handy and very easy to assemble.. this way your hard drive would serve as a portable drive