I've been looking for some old pictures recently and have come to the conclusion that they must be on one of my two old busted laptops, neither laptop will start up but it's due to power issues the hard drives should be ok.

Has anybody used anything like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-to-SATA-IDE-Adapter-Cable-support-2-5-and-3-5-Hard-Drives-and-DVD-/290754177738?pt=UK_Computing_Drive_Cables_Adapters&hash=item43b24caaca

Or has anyone got any other suggestions, I dont really want to open my working laptop to insert the drives.

Thats a USB convertor, we use them all the time at work.

Take apart busted laptop, get drive. Plug into the adapter, plug USB cable into working laptop and voila the contents of the drive show up. No need to dismantle working laptop.

not used one but see no reason why it shouldn't do the job, it's even got a flashing LED light There should be plenty of caddies available from PC World or Novatech, if you fancy a short hop to Pompey?

HDD dockingstation is also a possibility.

Have one for my old 3.5 and 2.5" hdds.

Yep a 'drive caddy' is another option, especially if the drive you want to access is of a reason size. Would make a decent backup or secondary storage device then.

Thanks for the quick replies, think I'll get a caddy and use the keep the bigger of the two drives, next silly question, are all laptop drives 2.5"?

Yes they are, but they could be IDE or SATA depending on age of laptop.

Yes they are, but they could be IDE or SATA depending on age of laptop.

Am I right in thinking the difference is the connection type and will it say on the drives what type they are?

Am I right in thinking the difference is the connection type and will it say on the drives what type they are?

Probably easier to look at the connector than try and read the small writing on the label.

Am I right in thinking the difference is the connection type and will it say on the drives what type they are?

look at the drive, if it has seven small pins with an 'upside down L' surround, it's SATA, if there are ~40 pins in two rows, it's IDE

Thanks fellas I'll rip the laptops apart tomorrow

Thanks fellas I'll rip the laptops apart tomorrow

er, no need for that it's usually just one small X screw for the cover, then another one or two securing the HDD to the frame. Once those are out they usually just slide out.

Slightly disappointed I didn't need my lump hammer to get the drives out, but they're out and thankfully both SATA, just need to get the caddy now, thanks again for the help chaps