Laptop screen dead - need to backup data

binary visions · May 17, 2005

Best way is to find a friend or someone at work with a similar laptop and plug your drive into theirs, then back it up in whatever way you see fit (burn CDs, plug it into a network, external hard drive, whatever).

That way, the hardware configuration will be similar and you won't have to deal with reconfiguring your entire Windows setup on boot.

Barring that, your drive should fit and work in most recent laptops, you'll just have to deal with a couple dozen error messages when you boot it for the first time. It'll change your Windows configuration, but it won't hurt anything, since HP will be reformatting your drive anyway.

edit: I just thought of something. When you plug in the external monitor, there's usually a key combination you need to hit in order to output it to the monitor. It's usually a picture of a small screen or something - for instance, on my Dell, it's a little blue square with rounded edges (looks like a TV screen) above F9 or something, and when I hit the function key then F9, it cycles through "Output to screen", "Output to external monitor", and "Output to both". Did you try that?

binary visions · May 17, 2005

pixelninja said:
I'm a bit leary of putting the hd in another laptop, as I don't know for sure if my hd will be reformatted or not. If it ends up not being reformatted, I don't want my Windows configuration to get screwed up.

Fair enough. It should "un-screw" itself, though, when it goes back into your HP. All your drivers will remain there, it will just recognize a different hardware configuration. When you put it back in your HP, it'll re-recognize your HP hardware.

However, as flakey as Windows is, there are no promises about how much hassle you'll have to go through to get it to recognize all of your old hardware. How comfortable are you with re-installing drivers and such? Like I said, chances are you'll plug the drive back in and it'll be fine, but there's a possibility you'll have to poke around in the Device Manager a bit.

Your other option is to call HP and tell them you're sending the computer back for warrenty, minus the hard drive because you want to keep it. See what they say.

binary visions · May 17, 2005

pixelninja said:
Yeah, I've already pressed them on this. They say that since they don't know if its a hardware or software issue they want everything, minus battery and power cord.

I'm thinking that I may go buy a 2.5" external usb case, pop my hd into it and hook it up to my desktop at work. PC Club just down the road has these cases for around $30. Do you think this would work? I hate to spend money that's not necessary, but I need my home computer back asap and I sure as heck can't lose my data.

Sure, that'd work fine. I thought you were looking for a free solution, though

Just be prepared to start the data transfer and go eat lunch, take a shower, go for a bike ride, remodel your kitchen, go to your kid's college graduation, etc. while you wait for it to move however many gigs of data you're trying to keep (if you are, in fact, trying to save a lot)

clancy98 · May 17, 2005

well you could also get an IDE adapter for a notebook HD for like 10 or 20 bucks and hook it up as a slave HDD in another PC, then copy the whole drive. Definitely the easiest and most reliable way.

Ciaran · May 17, 2005

You could plug it into an existing network and access it from another PC. START-RUN-<pcname>\c$ -ENTER. Should show you the contents of your C drive. Or you could use a remote control app to get to it.

binary visions · May 17, 2005

I guess you guys missed the part about how he found a solution, eh?

binary visions · May 17, 2005

pixelninja said:
Well, the IT guys were super slammed today, so I ended up running over to PC Club and buying the 2.5" external case. It's up and running in a back room right now. Quick and painless. I'm going to start transfering the data when I leave work today (36 GB). Not a single machine here has USB 2.0, so it'll take a while.

And hey, you've got the case for next time when you want to back your stuff up on a server.

Toshi · May 17, 2005

for future reference:

another solution would be to ssh in (maybe not an option with default windows install?), and slap vnc on there, and then use your newfound eyes to back up as usual.

binary visions · May 18, 2005

Toshi said:
another solution would be to ssh in (maybe not an option with default windows install?)

All of my default installs have it turned off.

binary visions · May 18, 2005

pixelninja said:
What the hell did you just say?

I think he was talking about what he was going to do to your wife :eek:

He was referring to making a remote connection to the computer, and installing a program that allows you to remotely control and see everything that goes on with the computer.

Cool program, actually. We use it at work.

Toshi · May 18, 2005

pixelninja said:
har har.

Is this something like VPN?

nope, VPN lets you connect to your company's (or your) network from outside the firewall, with the nify bits being that: a) it's encrypted/"secure" as these things go, and b) you have access to all network resources as if you were on the network physically (think network printers, file sharing, stuff like that).

VNC lets you control another computer, seeing their screen in a window on your computer. Gotomypc is essentially VNC + rudimentary encryption + central login server + monthly fee, and Microsoft and Apple have their own variants with extra bells and whistles, Remote Desktop Connection and Apple Remote Desktop.

su_root · May 28, 2005

i know most laptops have a key to switch to an external monitor i'd try that first, then send ti back.

Toshi · May 28, 2005

su_root said:
i know most laptops have a key to switch to an external monitor i'd try that first, then send ti back.

from above

pixelninja said:
Yeah, I tried that. Mine's Function + f4. Didn't do anything.

ALEXIS_DH · May 28, 2005

i once went to a technician, and he had a very cool little thingy, an adaptor that plugged into the standard desktop ide cable, and then to the little plug from my laptop hdd..

and my laptop hdd worked like a standard one in his desktop, just like a 3 1/4 hdd, with no software, no usb no hassle...

anybody knows what are those called? how much they run for???

binary visions · May 28, 2005

Something like this?

dogdude · May 31, 2005

plug an external monitor into the auxillary video port... as long as its the laptops screen that crapped out and not the video card.

pixelninja said:
Ok, I've got problem here.

The screen of my HP Pavilion laptop stopped working. Not only that, I tried hooking up an external monitor and it didn't work either. This isn't a big problem though, as its under warantee and HP will fix for free.

The problem is that I need to backup my data before I send it off. They tell me that my hd may be reformatted, and there's stuff on there I can't loose. Any ideas on how to do this without a working screen?

Laptop screen dead - need to backup data

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