If for some reason your notebook fails to boot and you need to access data on the hard drive (I assume there is nothing wrong with the hard drive itself), you can use an external USB enclosure. This method is very simple and could be very useful when you need an emergency access to your data on the hard drive.
First of all you’ll have to buy an external USB enclosure for notebook hard drives. These enclosures are inexpensive and usually you can buy them in any local computer store. You also can find a wide variety of external enclosures on the Internet. Make sure to buy a correct one, enclosures for ATA and SATA hard drives are different (the connector inside the case will be different). Usually the enclosure includes the case and the USB cables.
Now remove the hard drive from the laptop. For this example I’m using an ATA hard drive.
Open up the enclosure case and connect the hard drive to the connector inside. After that insert the hard drive into the case.
After everything is assembled, you are ready to connect this device to any working computer (notebook or PC). The enclosure cable usually has two USB connectors on one end, make sure both of them are connected to the computer. You don’t need any external power supply for the enclosure because the hard drive gets power through USB ports. If the computer you are connecting the enclosure to runs Windows 2000 or higher, you will not need any device drivers. As soon as you connect the enclosure to the computer, the external hard drive should be detected and recognized automatically. After that the external hard drive will appear in My Computer and you can access it as any other hard drive in the computer.
If you are getting “Access denied” message when you are trying to access your files on the hard drive, you’ll have to take ownership of a file or folder.
My previous post explains how to connect a notebook hard drive to a desktop PC via IDE hard drive adapter.
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June 16th, 2010 at 9:03 am
I have a question I fear I know the answer to. I have just had to replace the hard drive on a relatively new Dell latitude. I have been down this road before, but had a little warning. My problem is that I have some e-mails, buried in Outlook (not exported into files) which I really would like to access. I don’t believe Outlook on a USB drive can be opened. They must be stored as a file, w a name in Outlook. Anyone know a way I can access them? names?
May 26th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Hey i am having the same problem as Tim and Derek…. i have a Dell and the adapter is covering it… Do i literally just pull the plastic piece off?? i really do not want to break the hard drive.. any advice?
April 27th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Derek,
You don’t have to search for this particular enclosure. Is it a 1.8″ hard drive you have installed in your laptop?
Just google for “1.8″ enclosure usb” and you’ll find it.
April 27th, 2010 at 8:35 am
Do you have a part number for this external HD enclosure? I have looked everywhere for one that specifically fits a Dell Latitude X1 laptop hard drive.
April 24th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Derek,
You’ll have to use an external USB enclosure. Install the laptop hard drive into the enclosure and connect to the USB port on another computer. The hard drive will appear in My Computer.
April 9th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Is there an adapter to plug the hard drive from a Dell Latitude X1 laptop into a usb port on another laptop? It has a female IDE connection of some sort.
March 31st, 2010 at 7:50 am
I had the access problem and rebooted with the enclosure plugged in.
XP ran the checkdisk program and fixed the security problem along with a few other indexing errors that occurred when the hard drive crashed.
After the checkdisk scan, I had no problems accessing the enclosed hard drive.
January 20th, 2010 at 6:21 am
Hi.I have a dead ACER ASPIRE 1642 with a damaged power connector and i want to take the data from the disk.But i cannot find what type of external usb enclosure i have to buy.I mean what type of hard disk has an ACER ASPIRE 1642?
Thanx!
January 20th, 2010 at 12:54 am
Hello again. I just put together my laptop HDD and the HDD enclosure but when I plugged it into my computer Windows XP automatically ran the add hardware wizard and says I need a USB to IDE bridge driver. it couldnt find the neccesary driver with windows update and the enclosure never came with software. I also cannot access the drive in My Computer. Do you know of any way to get this to work without a driver or know where I can get a driver? I have contacted the Hong Kong based company that I bought it from but hey go figure, they were no help. Anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciated. If you need more info or specs please let me know.
January 10th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
I have pulled my hard drive from my Pavillion 6000 series laptop.
Once I put it into a case and connect to my desktop via USB, will I be able to access the emails from my former Inbox (MS Outlook)?