Salvage data from a PC's failed HD

[kevin_476]

My girlfriend's Panasonic Toughbook's (laptop) internal hard drive up and failed out of nowhere today. She doesn't back up, so all her music, documents, etc.. is on that drive.

Is there a way to hook up her HD to my PowerBook (just as an external HD) in an attempt to salvage any data possible? We are more interested in getting the data than any other thing caz it also include some important company data in which works

Assuming I can get the HD out of her laptop, how would I go about hooking it up to my PowerBook as an external drive (I have a 200GB LaCie FW HD, so maybe I could just swap about the drives?) If it successfully mounted on my desktop, would I be able to just drag and drop files from her HD to my HD? I realize the disk needs to spin on both HD's for this to work, so I have my doubts, but I've gotta try something

or maybe there is an easier way?

[logan_657]

Well if you get her HD out, you would need an external HD enclosure to plug it in so you could connect it to your Mac to start with... And depending if it is formatted in FAT32 (you can read and write to it) or NTFS (read only) you get different results... But the start point is to get an enclosure to contain the HD... Don't neglect the possibility that there might be a Windows-specific way of dealing with this. I.e. ask on a Windows-related board, take the machine into a Windows shop, or just to your nearest Windows expert. Oh!!! I forgot to tell you. U can also try data recovery labs. One of the lab that I know is SAlvageData Recovery Lab Inc. I would suggest to give them a shot…If you wish you can call them at 1 203-973-0242. I hope you get your data back.

[soybean]

If you'd like to give an external enclosure a try, here's a good source: External Enclosures > size : 2.5".  But, I believe you should try using it with a Windows machine, not a Mac.  

[sneakers]

If the drive failed I, how is it going to work in another system.   If it is going to work try these:

http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=353&name=Adapters-and-Gender-Changers

[soybean]

Can you elaborate?  How would an adapter or gender changer work as a solution?  Exactly what is the purpose of these adapters?  How are they different from external enclosures?