MORE PC advice please.....

i had both my home PC's go tits-up last week - i've tried to get them going again but it doesn't look promising

one of em just sits there like a dumb shit when i switch it on and fuck all happens (not even a beep from the MB).....and the other one seems to boot up but the monitor does fuck all.....

anyway, as we're hoping to be moving house and the PC's are about 7 year old i was thinking of maybe getting shot of em and getting something new for the new house....

so i am looking at getting a half decent laptop with touchscreen - nothing flash, just something for checking emails, facebook, youtube, skype, a bit of wordprocessing......the usual shite

but the problem is that the 2 PC's that shat themselves have a total of 4 hard drives in em and i would like to see whats on them and take off anything i think is important - is it possible to get something that i can use to plug them into my laptop and look at whats on them? getting them powered up shouldn't be a problem as i have a PSU that i removed from one of the PC's anyway......

all advice greatly appreciated as always

One of these will do what you need. Just pull the disks out of the computer, plug them in to that and plug that into your laptop.

Alternatively you could download a Linux live CD and boot from that, you can use the OS without installing it and it will let you copy stuff off your old drives onto a USB drive or over your network.

To try and get the machines going again, remove and re-seat any cards (GFX, sound) and also the RAM. I've seen PCs get bumped before and refuse to work because somethings become a bit detached.

that kit looks ideal mate

had a go at getting the up and running again today but to no avail - one of them is totally dead and the other says something about a disk error or some such bollocks

the father in law is gonna give them to some gadgie to have a look at and see if theres anything he can do with them but failing that i'll probably get one of them kits - but to be honest i back up the important stuff once a month anyway so shouldn't of lost too much

then it'll be a case of specing up a touchscreen laptop i think....

had the disk error thing before on my old pc
always been a connection thing check your leads
the ribbon thing and the power connections
always got mine going even though there ages old



yoda link looks good not got one but will for a ten spot
handy leads to have just in case

yeh mate checked all the leads and connections again yesterday - probably had something to do with the amount of dust in the fucking things!

anyway, i'm due something new so not bothered if i can't get these working

like you say that kit looks handy as fuck

options.....

http://www.ebuyer.com/544654-acer-aspir ... -maeek-003

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15r-5 ... overrides= (the £599 one)

not too bothered about the small HD as i have external hard drives that i use

thoughts please?

If you can cope with a "small" HDD then I strongly recommend getting an SSD drive (both of the machines you linked use standard spinning disks). SSD drives offer faster access (so boot time) use less power (so your battery lasts longer) and are less prone to shock (and in your case dust ) damage.

ok - will have a look for some with SSD's then and see how they stack up - cheers

can't find any with SSD's in em with that size touchscreen......anywhere else on the net i can look at other than ebuyer??

the only ones i can find are "ultrabooks".....they're a bit pricey - was looking in the £600 - £700 region

the only ones i can find are "ultrabooks".....they're a bit pricey - was looking in the £600 - £700 region

Same when I had a look, don't know why there aren't the options for SSD on more laptops. My SSD was an after-market upgrade but that'd be a waste on a new machine really.

thanks for the advice anyway mate

looks like the house move has been delayed again anyway (ANOTHER 6-8 weeks FFS!)....longest "no chain" house purchase EVER......wankers