Hard drive swap

From there you can access all of your files and programs.

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

The Coolmax adapter was recently reviewed at TR:

http://tinyurl.com/42vfbl

It is available for $25 at TigerDirect.com:

http://tinyurl.com/4vpu2o

Simply connect the hard drive to the Coolmax adapter, and connect the USB cable to a functioning computer. The hard drive will be assigned a drive letter in [i]Explorer[/i]. Transfer your files.

It would certainly be a lot cheaper than buying a Coolmax that you might never use again.

Sometimes called a 'Crossover' cable it will connect both computers together. Run the Network Setup Wizard on both machines, reset both machines, then access the hard drive in the dodgy machine from the file manager of your choice in the good machine.

File transfer speed is only as slow as your network card maximum throughput. That way you avoid removing anything from the machine or the risk of connecting cables incorrectly.

If you are going to repair it then all you need is a Crossover Cable and transfer your Data across the Network as described above.

It also depends on the OS that is installed on the Insperon and what was enabled. For instance if you had XP Pro loaded and EFS Enabled you need to use the OS Installed on the Insperon to Decrypt your Data Files or they will be transfered across encrypted and you will not be able to read them.

If you have switched from XP to Vista and where using Windows EFS again you need to run the Old OS on the Old Hardware so that you can extract your Encrypted Files to a readable format. If you have a Backup of the Encrypted Files and Encryption Key and are no longer using XP you need to copy the Files and Encryption Key to a XP Computer so that they can be Unencrypted and transfered to the New Computer where you can use a different form of encryption that is supported by the new OS.

If there was no form of Encryption used then it is just a matter of a straight Copy to the new OS though if you have Vista and the old HDD was formatted a while ago Vista may not be able to read it because of the new Security Measures that have been incorporated in it and then you will need a computer running XP to copy them to and then transfer the files across the Network tot he new computer or copy them to a External HDD that has been formatted with the Vista Computer then transfer that external HDD to the XP computer and copy them to the HDD then you can transfer the External HDD back tot he Vista Computer to copy the file to the correct Folders.

Don't forget the Favorites List and Stored E-Mail as well as the more obvious Data Files.

If you do not intend to keep the old NB then remove the HDD from it and fir it to a External USB Caddy which can be purchased from about $25.00 up and use the Old HDD as a Backup Device for the new computer. It's a very cheap way of instigating a Proper Backup Procedure and at the same time prevents the possibility of anyone stealing your details from the Old HDD when you dispose of the old NB.

Col