Question How do I transfer data from a 'dead' laptop hard drive?

[Connor W]

How do I transfer data from a 'dead' laptop hard drive?

The hard drive in my laptop has been making ticking and scratching and I would really like to know how I could transfer my data from that hard rive to another hard drive.

 

[rgd1101]

take it out from the laptop and use an external dock

 

[AlHuneke]

From the noises you are hearing, it may already be too late. As the above says, get an external adapter that will allow you to play into the usb port on another computer. In any case, stop using that drive immediately. It will only get worse quickly.

If there is data you must have and can't recover, you can use a data recovery service. Big bucks but they have to dismantle the disk and mount the platters on a special machine to read the data. DO NOT try to run any kind of "recovery" software yourself if you plan to send it off to a professional.

 

[Connor W]

Ok, thank you for the help. I will try out what you have and see if it works.

 

[Etrius vanRandr]

Several companies make inexpensive USB3 to SATA adapters; StarTech, Anker, Onn (walmart), etc. They're usually like $20.

Remove the drive carefully and connect it to the adapter, and use software like EaseUS Todo Backup to clone the entire disk to a different disk.

A client of mine who has an autistic child had her laptop beaten to high hell and because of the damage, the HDD really suffered, and I ended up cloning the old 500GB Seagate drive to a 500GB Samsung 860 Evo.

Stuff gets old and wears down, nothing you can really do about it.