Data Extraction

lostviking

Posts: 23   +0
I have an old laptop HDD (I think it's out of a Dell Latitudes laptop) and I need to access data off of it. I have an SATA/IDE to USB adaptor that I've used successfully several times in this type of situation. However, this particular drive won't respond when I hook it up. It just doesn't spin. I took it to a computer shop to see if they could help me, but they weren't able to get it going.
My thinking is, if I was a bad guy and the F.B.I. confiscated this drive, how would they get info off of it? There must be a way. Any thoughts?
 
Buy the exact same drive on ebay. If the drive isn't spinning up it is a board issue (or a HORRIBLE spinny failure). So, get the exact same drive from ebay or somewhere else, and swap out the PCB. Problem solved.
 
I actually do have another one of these drives, and have wondered if there was a way to do something like you suggested, SNGX1275. The big question is, how is this done?
 
You just remove the screws, swap boards, put screws back.

Here you go:

Ignore the part with the master/slave jumpers for sata drives.
 
Back