Changing Laptops.

[Taff]

My old trusty Lenovo laptop seems to have given up after 5 or 6 yrs of faithful service. The battery hasn't held a charge for about a year, so we relied purely on the plug cable. Over the last few months, we needed to fiddle more and more with the cable (it kept saying it wasn't connected) but about a week ago, no amount of adjusting and coaxing would work. I can't tell whether the problem is with the male or the female connection.

We have now decided to upgrade and get a new laptop, but what's the easiest way to get the files on the old one onto the new one, given that we can't even get the old one started?

 

[John Armstrong]

I had a laptop die on me, it was the lead just before the plug that goes into the power socket as I guess that's where all the bending stresses get concentrated. Thought about looking on ebay for a replacement power lead, worked for me

 

[wessie]

Can't you borrow a power supply from another Lenovo user to diagnose the root cause? If you establish it's a power supply problem then you can get a cheap replacement from Ebay.

Whilst you are at it, buy an external hard drive and get into the habit of doing regular back-ups. Something like this from Amazon - if you fancy something bigger then keep on eye on the new listings on that Hot UKdeals site as they come in. £40 outlay to save a shed load of headache in the future.

 

[AberdeenAngus]

If you are really stuck, you can remove the hard drive from the old laptop and buy an enclosure kit to turn it into an external drive.
Enclosures can cost as little as a fiver on flea-bay.
Search ebay for "laptop hard drive enclosure"

Note: Make sure you get the right enclosure.

Here's a how to guide
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/hardware/articles/10251.aspx

 

[Myke Rocks]

Try this:

My old trusty Lenovo laptop seems to have given up after 5 or 6 yrs of faithful service. The battery hasn't held a charge for about a year, so we relied purely on the plug cable. Over the last few months, we needed to fiddle more and more with the cable (it kept saying it wasn't connected) but about a week ago, no amount of adjusting and coaxing would work. I can't tell whether the problem is with the male or the female connection.

We have now decided to upgrade and get a new laptop, but what's the easiest way to get the files on the old one onto the new one, given that we can't even get the old one started?

I do not know the type of hard drive in it. Pull it out & check.
There are two types:
Serial & parallel.
Serial has 2 blade shaped pin assemblys & a 4 pin power socket on it.
Parallel has 2 parallel rows of male pins only.
Go on Ebay. Type in "2.5 hard drive external caddy"
There are two types.
SATA = Serial
PATA = Parallel.
Buy one to suit your hard drive.
Pop the hard drive into it when it comes, and you can take all data straight off. Just plug it into the parallel port.
E,G ( SATA) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SLIM-USB-...es_HardDriveEnclosures_RL&hash=item19c3a6aad5
PATA ( Also known as IDE) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SILVER-2-...es_HardDriveEnclosures_RL&hash=item5d2fbe7926

Afterwards you have a portable hard drive.

Myke

 

[Bikerbuk]

If you are really stuck, you can remove the hard drive from the old laptop and buy an enclosure kit to turn it into an external drive.
Enclosures can cost as little as a fiver on flea-bay.
Search ebay for "laptop hard drive enclosure"

Note: Make sure you get the right enclosure.

Here's a how to guide
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/hardware/articles/10251.aspx

+1

Did that with a PC a few years back. Still got the hard drive and use it for back up now. Very easy to do.