I have a laptop that WILL NOT want to charge. Took it to PC world, they tried ripping me off saying itll cost atleast £100 to replace battery. Even though its not the battery, its the port where the charger goes. :roll:

I have no power, so how do I take data from the HD? Im easily guessing I cant connect it to my desktop PC, I dont have another laptop either to put the HD into.

Also, Im not desperate enough to pay around £100 to send to a data recovery team.

Is it possible to take the data off in any other way?? 60 gigs worth.. :confused:

See if somebody has a battery you could borrow to use to get the data off your laptop a fully charged battery should give you just long enough. Pc medics on halifax road might even fix the laptop for a few quid.

You can get a converter that converts the lapotp connector to a standard IDE connector, then stick it in a normal PC as a second hard drive and access it that way. Ebay have them for about 4quid and I believe maplins sell them for about a tenner. I can't access ebay from work else I would have posted a link to one. try ebaying 2.5 ide converter, that might bring it up.

Not Ebay but this is the kind of thing neeeeeeeek is on about:

http://www.directusbstore.co.uk/cnb/shop/directusbstore?listPos=12&productID=375&op=catalogue-product_info-null&prodCategoryID=30

That's a really posh version, the one I was on about just has a standard internal ide cable and power connector. In it's most basic form:-
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/imgs/daughterboards/4044ide.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/store/accessories/40_44pin_cable&h=262&w=349&sz=5&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=NTgjInYr_7achM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3D2.5%2B-3.5%2Bide%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3D GGLJ,GGLJ:2006-32,GGLJ:en%26sa%3DN

Alchresearch's looks better though.
:)

How about a USB caddy for small form factor disks?
Should be able to get one for not a lot (£10-20?)

Example:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-External-USB-2-Harddrive-IDE-HDD-Caddy-2-5_W0QQitemZ190112194898QQihZ009QQcategoryZ86759QQr dZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Silly question, but have you tried powering on the laptop with no battery. As on some laptops if the battery is dead it will stop the laptop powering on, so if you take the batt. out it might power on.

Wouldnt advise powering without battery this could have bad consequences especially if you actually want the data.

Easiest option is remove drive and just remove data.

BE VERY CAREFULL WHEN CONNECTING THESE DRIVES AS THE RIBBON CONNECTOR CARRIES POWER AT ONE END.

Get it wrong goodbye drive.

If your struggling bring it to warehouse with another h/d i will copy it over for you for a fixed fee of £10 or write it to dvd for same price process will also check contents automatically for viruses etc.

I've never heard of a laptop that can be damaged by powering on with no battery.

likewise, infact, when im running on mains, i remove the battery, so not to over charge and reduce the battery life..

If it's a Li-ion battery (most are these days) then it's very unlikely that you'll manage to overcharge it as they have safety features to stop it happening. An overcharged Li-ion battery would probably ignite or explode.

It is a good idea to take the battery out when on mains power though as the capacity of a Li-ion battery decreases throughout it's life (from the point that it's manufactured) and the rate at which it decreases is affected by the temperature. The warmer the battery the quicker it loses capacity. Storing the battery in the fridge will help to reduce the effect.

Maybe new machines arent so fussy but i have infact toasted an old toshiba laptop (3120ct). Maybe it had other issues but basically it stopped holding charge so i removed battery (while disconnected) and when i plugged it back in it refused to come on and when i eventually got a battery it still wouldnt even though i knew the battery was good.

All i can say is it happened to me but without knowing specifics involved in someones machine should this be taken as precautionary not smirked at ?:confused:

The advisor at PC world said running the laptop with the battery charging reduces the batterlife. But my laptop wont run without it. It took 1 year to drain my battery life from 3 hrs to 10 mins. I also dont know anyone who has the same laptop battery as mine either.

http://www.directusbstore.co.uk/cnb/shop/directusbstore?listPos=12&productID=375&op=catalogue-product_info-null&prodCategoryID=30
Can just the one large port be used for the laptop HD to connect to the USB? This product is more expensive than the others but seems useful.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-External-USB-2-Harddrive-IDE-HDD-Caddy-2-5_W0QQitemZ190112194898QQihZ009QQcategoryZ86759QQr dZ1QQcmdZViewItem
This list on ebay says that the HD needs formatting for the desktop computer to work. Plus does this come compatable with my laptop HD? As its 44pin.

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/imgs/daughterboards/4044ide.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/store/accessories/40_44pin_cable&h=262&w=349&sz=5&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=NTgjInYr_7achM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3D2.5%2B-3.5%2Bide%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3D GGLJ,GGLJ:2006-32,GGLJ:en%26sa%3DN
Does that one support internal laptop HDs that fix inside the desktop computer (beaing in mind I already have a slave HD)? I dont want to fiddle with my current 2 HDs as these are needed. Also, Id need to check if the cables can reach to the correct places as my motherboard is large.

Please reply my questions and Ill then consider what to purchase. These are the best options for me. Thanks everyone for all the really helpful answers though! :D

If your laptop wont power on with no batt. its gonna be part of the Mobo that has gone, check how much a new one will be as there not always expensive.
Plus then you will have your laptop back and working.