Laptop HDD not booting in PC bios

[feezle]

Awhile back i bought a laptop for the kids.i used it a little bit and recently...somehow..they crushed the screen

i took the HDD out (HM500LI) and bought a caddy so i could get some of my stuff off of there..

its a USB (2 usb to PC 1 to caddy) and when i plug it in...PC recognizes it as an "External HDD" but of course it has an OS on it and wont let me access the files

i went into BIOS and made the external HD my first to boot....but still goes straight to my current HD

the caddy HD is Vista...current PC is Win7

the external HDD is running and the light is green...but thats all i get out of it

any suggestions?

i can provide more info if needed

 

[hughva]

"but of course it has an OS on it and wont let me access the files"
Explain this a little more. Do you get an error message?

 

[feezle]

"but of course it has an OS on it and wont let me access the files"
Explain this a little more. Do you get an error message?

Well here is a pic of my device list:

nvm, i cant post pics or links til 5+ posts

but the options when right clicking the drive is "Eject, Create Shortcut, Troubleshoot and Properties (unlike my other external which has ALOT more options...one being to "Open" it lol

i figured this was because it has an OS with admin password...so its not going to let me access the files without booting up as the main HDD and signing in.

No error message...it just doesn't show an option to opening it (unlike the FreeAgent one next to is)

I have another questions...if i set the drive to be first to Boot in BIOS...and there is an error trying to open it...does it save a log on my computer somewhere that states why it wont open the external one?

 

[hughva]

This problem has nothing to do with it being an OS drive. It's just another USB drive as far as your present computer is concerned.
I think what's happening is that the enclosure is recognized, but not the drive, which may be damaged or mis-configured in some way.
Can you hear the drive spin? Does it have any jumpers?