# Dead Laptop

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-laptop/525310>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 17, 2010, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-laptop/525310 "2010-01-17T13:06:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-laptop/525310/1 "2010-01-17T13:06:36Z")

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I’ve got an old HP laptop. It’s dead. It’s a paperweight.

There’s some stuff on the hard drive I’d like to salvage. Is there anyway to remove the hard drive and plug it into another computer so that I can save those files?

Thanks, everyone.

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-laptop/525310/2 "2010-01-17T13:22:51Z")

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Sure. You simply unscrew the HDD and put it in an external USB caddy. You’ll need to consult the manual to determine the location of the drive, but it’s usually just a couple of screws on the bottom of the laptop. And it will be a standard IDE or SATA (more likely the former) drive. The USB caddy will cost you a few dollars. Take the drive (in an anti-static bag) with you when you go to purchase the caddy.