My Dell inspiron 9300 won't boot

I have a 7 y/o Dell inspiron 9300 which froze for the first time. I had to restart. At the initial Dell start up screen the screen went black with the cursor flashing top left. I have tried to reboot from the o/s cd but after loading set-up files it only offers me the option of overwriting and deleting the partition with all my files and applications. I cannot get to the recovery console. I get to the c:\windows comd prompt but after that it says the command I type is invalid. I have tried ctrl f11 and f8 as advised by some forums, but the screen stays black with flashing cursor. I've removed the battery and run it of a/c power, no good. The computer is old and I want to replace it but I need to get all my files off it before I do. Anyone any more ideas?
 
Sounds like the hard drive has failed, but you may be able to recover files by installing a new drive. Remove the old hard drive and put it aside. Format and install Windows on the new drive. Buy an external USB enclosure and install the old drive into it. Attach the USB enclosure to the laptop and see if you can access the files
 
Thanks very much. I have a couple of regular external storage device. Will they do the job or is this model something specific for this purpose? Your help is much appreciated
 
Yes they may work if the drive is SATA (Serial ATA) or PATA (Parallel ATA) and external enclosures match the hard drive type
 
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