Data retrieval from dead laptop

bscott at ntisys.com bscott at ntisys.com
Wed Jun 18 14:12:09 EDT 2003


On Wed, 18 Jun 2003, at 12:56pm, roger at bcah.com wrote:
> Once I figure out how to get the hard drive out (I've removed every
> screw in sight, but still can't get the clamshell apart)

  What brand and model?

  One common thing: On many laptops, you need to remove the keyboard to
expose more screws.  The keyboard, in turn, is held in by tabs, latches,
and/or screws.

> so I can verify that it's the standard 44-pin IDE interface

  Good idea, but they almost always are, in any laptop made in the last ten
years.

> A 44-pin IDE to USB adapter would be more convenient, but seems to be a
> lot more expensive.

  Yes.  The 44-pin IDE interface is just the regular 40-pin IDE interface,
in a slightly smaller form factor, and with four new pins for power.  The
adapters are typically just a PCB with two connectors soldered on to it.

  USB-to-IDE, on the other hand, will require a USB interface, an IDE
interface, a micro-controller to do the conversion, likely some buffer
memory, and maybe some other stuff, too.  That will raise the price
significantly.  Still not a lot of money, but when you're talking about
something you'll likely only use once, $5 vs $50 is significant.  :)

  For data recovery, I would prefer the plain IDE myself, anyway.  USB is
often slower, sometimes harder to get working, and always hides certain
aspects of the IDE drive.  For example, many OEMs provide utilities which
can talk to their drives and run proprietary diagnostics; such things won't
work with a USB adapter.

-- 
Ben Scott <bscott at ntisys.com>
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