To connect a laptop hard drive to a desktop computer you have to use a Laptop IDE Hard Drive Adapter. You can easily find this adapter on the Internet for $10-$15. This adapter is very handy if you want to scan a laptop hard drive for viruses and spyware using antivirus software installed on a desktop PC, transfer data from a laptop hard drive to a desktop computer or create a ghost image from one hard drive to another. I also use this adapter if a laptop hard drive has failed and I have to recover data from it.
When you connect a laptop IDE adapter, a desktop IDE cable and a laptop hard drive to each other, make sure to connect pin 1 on the hard drive, pin 1 on the desktop IDE cable to pin 1 on the adapter. On a desktop IDE cable the side painted in red goes to pin 1.
On a laptop hard drive there are 2 groups of pins. One group has 43 pins and the other has 4 pins. The pin 1 is located on the side closer to the group of 4 pins.
After you’ve assembled everything together, connect the IDE cable to a desktop PC. Connect it to a free IDE connector on the system board. When you start the computer, you should see the laptop drive in BIOS and in Windows. You can treat this drive as a regular hard drive.
In the next post I explain how to access data using an external USB enclosure.
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September 20th, 2011 at 9:58 am
i got a laptop harddriver i want to put in my computer so i want to buy a adapter,were can i buy it @ nelspuit/mpumalanga/south africa,please
September 5th, 2011 at 4:05 am
I have one laptop model:-acer 5738 which have problem like this:-
when I plugin the charger then it is automatically power on but it is not on or off with the laptop power on/off switch.sometimes it is not start. sometimes when I remove the cmosbettery it is automatically power on .
so please give me the suggestion for above problem,I wait for your positive reply…….
July 18th, 2011 at 9:10 am
My hard drive couldnt read anymore i got a lts of important files,what should i do to recover all my files,there is a possible way to retrive all data/files again? Really very sad coz all files saved really needed and important to my life. Thanks Ibkhar
July 13th, 2011 at 11:50 am
Zubair,
Is your old laptop still bootable? Save data on an external hard drive or USB flash drive and transfer to the new laptop.
July 9th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
Dear,
i want to connect my old hard disk to new laptop to pick all old data via usb. please advise me how i will connect because i cant remove any thing its all in company seal. Thanks
February 8th, 2011 at 11:45 am
Al,
Enter the BIOS setup menu on your desktop and make sure the SATA channel you are using for the laptop HDD is enabled.
Most likely it’s disabled now.
February 8th, 2011 at 11:25 am
I’ve been trying to see if I can recover data from a laptop (SATA)hard drive by installing it in my desk top. I’ve purchased a data cable and a power cable and hooked everything up. When I power up the desk top there is no hint that the lap top drive exsists. I can feel the SATA running but only my desk top drives are detected.
February 3rd, 2011 at 8:09 pm
If you have a newer system capable of booting from USB, you can always purchase an external hard drive adapter. Stores near me carry them for around $20. We’ve found these especially useful when on site repairing or doing data recovery.
January 8th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
John Fahlsing,
I guess you have a SATA hard drive. You can connect this hard drive via an external USB SATA enclosure or connect it directly to the PC motherboard using standard SATA cables.
January 5th, 2011 at 5:18 pm
If i dont have 40 pins on the laptop hdd, Toshiba tecra, but it described as a slotted, rounded edge male into female slot.