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.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
June 11th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
[...] I think that would be the easiest and fastest way to access your data. You can find an external USB enclosure in any computer shop and it would cost you about $20-$30. After you remove the laptop hard drive, place it inside the enclosure and connect to the desktop or another laptop computer via the USB cable. [...]
May 21st, 2006 at 11:22 pm
Steve,
I haven’t created a guide for Toshiba Satellite A35 yet, but I can guide you how to access the hard drive. In this model the hard drive is located under the DVD drive. The DVD drive is secured by one screw on the bottom of the laptop. Turn over the laptop and remove a screw above the DVD drive. After that slide the DVD drive away from the laptop and remove it. Under the drive you’ll find the hard drive. There is no cable between the hard drive and the motherboard. The hard drive connects directly to the system board. The hard drive is secured by 4 screws. Remove 4 screws and slide the hard drive away from the system board to disconnect it. Now you can remove the hard drive.
May 21st, 2006 at 11:15 pm
Hey Supernova,
Sorry for a late response. You can connect your laptop SATA HDD directly to the desktop pc. You can use the same cables as for a desktop SATA HDD. With SATA drives you do not need an adapter, connect it directly to the motherboard.
May 21st, 2006 at 7:46 am
Same issue, HD isn’t spinning and CD/DVD won’t rev up after initial 3 second spin.
Unit is a Toshiba Satellite A35-S159.
I didn’t find the disassembly instructions here or anywhere else.
I’m thinking that I need to check the cables to the HD but don’t know how to get to the HD.
May 13th, 2006 at 7:27 pm
Hi!
I want to Connect a Laptop SATA HDD to my DESKTOP PC.
My PC is AMD X2 on MSI Geforce 6510 Mobo,that supports SATA 2 ports.
IS it possible to connect a laptop SAT HDD to desktop SATA ports this way?
May 1st, 2006 at 11:16 pm
Drew,
Make sure if the laptop hard drive is the only drive attached to the ribbon cable. It shouldn’t matter what cable you use. Make sure that you plugged the hard drive correctly. If you connected everything correctly, you should feel that the hard drive start spinning when you turn on the computer. If it doesn’t spin then most likely it’s dead. It is also possible that your hard drive IDE connector is bad.
You can also try to buy a USB enclosure, just to make sure. It’s about $20-25. You put the hard drive inside and connect to the computer via USB cable.
Your last chance is a clean room recover – VEEEEEERY Expensive! I’m not sure if then can get data from a hard drive that doesn’t spin, it depends on how bad it’s damaged.
May 1st, 2006 at 8:50 pm
Hi, I attached a destop cable (that was initially attached to a CDROM drive) to an adapter holding a laptor HDD. Nothing pops up anywhere…
I’m wondering if my HDD is dead? or if i can’t use a cable that was attached to a CDROM drive?? it seems like a valid option, just nothing pops up indicating an additional hard drive is found..
if my laptop HDD is dead, is there ANYWAY i can restore the data? please help
April 17th, 2006 at 5:43 am
I have a toshy m 30 s 309
it wont boot up to win xp. has a grey stripped screen image and flashes through a blue scree,
sees but does not run the CD/DVD, maybe needs a Bios update. but how do I do that with nil access to it.
maybe your adapter is the go?
please help out. do you know the toshibas faults in this area?
April 3rd, 2006 at 6:27 am
Hi Brad,
You definitely can remove the cracked LCD screen from the laptop and use it as a desktop. Here is my Toshiba Satellite A15 disassembly guide. This guide shows how to remove the system board. You can use the guide to remove the display and top cover assembly. After that you have to separate the display assembly from the top cover.
After STEP 18 you have to proceed on your own.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:29 am
I have an A15 satellite with a cracked LCD and use it with an external monitor, my question is this, is there a way to remove the LCD from the unit and not affect it functioning?