Computer Power Gone, How to Transfer Files to New Computer

C

cardwellave

New Member
So on my Dell Inspiron 5160 laptop, the place where the cord plugs into the computer is broken. I heard this is a pricey repair, and due to how old the computer is and how many other problems it has, I have resigned myself to the fact that it needs to be replaced.

My question is, I only have about 30% of the battery left, and can't recharge it. How am I to transfer my files to a new computer? Someone on another forum suggested a " 2.5" EIDE external case" that I could plug the C drive into and then treat it like an external hard drive and transfer to the new computer. Does this sound reasonable? That computer is also password protected, so would I need to use some of the remaining battery power and go and disable that? And also when it starts off it has an error where it wants to check the C drive and even if I let it go it comes back later, so I have to cancel that when I turn it on. Would any of this be a problem to getting data off the C drive?

I'm really stressed over all this so I'd really appreciate your help. Thanks.
 
Using a 2.5" enclosure would work to get the files off. If they are stored in your My Documents folder for a passworded account you can still get them off without doing anything on the laptop. Just take ownership of it of the directories with an admin account (you need to boot into safe mode to do this with XP Home)
 
Could you tell me how that would work? I think my passworded account IS my admin account, I might have fixed it, can't remember.

But how does it work by just plugging it into the new computer?
 
So I bought a Rocketfish 2.5" USB 2.0 Hard Drive Enclosure Kit. It seemed to be all good, the thing cost $50, then I look and see that basically it has a female end that is like two rows of a bunch of square holes on a black piece to plug into, while my C drive is more like one bar of little plug things, so there's no way it would fit. What do I do?

I looked it up a little and there is something called SATA...but it appears to be much smaller. Mine is a single bar, but is as long as the plug for two bars.

The one that I bought in error today looked like the ones on the left. My hard drive is that size, but is the shape of the ones on the left. That is it is long, but has one pin, not two rows of small ones.

Not mine, but would fit the enclosure I bought:
supertalentFIDE8GB_pins1.jpg


This is what mine is like:
3%20-%20hard%20drive.jpg
 
Can you post the model number of your hard drive (it will be on the sticker) and the model of the enclosure you bought?
 
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