Laptop

RJH_Glover

I bought a laptop last September from John Lewis and it's gone wrong for the 3rd time, in 11 months. This time it'll switch on but it won't boot up. Having been taking back to John Lewis twice (first time, won't boot up, second time corrupt C Drive). I'm going to take it back to the shop tomorrow and ask for at least a replacement because I'm sick of this happening. The only problem is there are some personal photos on there that I want backing up, I doubt mind paying a fee if need be.

Any advice?

Thanks

Leopard

You don't make clear what's "gone wrong" on the laptop.

If its DVD drive can be accessed, burn them on to a DVD or CD.

If not, open up the laptop very carefully, breaking no seals and leaving no marks, remove the hard drive, plug it into a USB to SATA/IDE cable adaptor (these cost only about £10 and are a very handy thing to have anyway), download the photos on to another computer (or use that one's DVD burner) and then replace the drive with the same care as before.

devizes18193

Leopard wrote: »

You don't make clear what's "gone wrong" on the laptop.

If its DVD drive can be accessed, burn them on to a DVD or CD.

If not, open up the laptop very carefully, breaking no seals and leaving no marks, remove the hard drive, plug it into a USB to SATA/IDE cable adaptor (these cost only about £10 and are a very handy thing to have anyway), download the photos on to another computer (or use that one's DVD burner) and then replace the drive with the same care as before.

Or a safer way ,open a email account with gmail or whatever your choice send pics to that then no seals need to be broken

Lum

Or buy a USB flash memory key for a tenner and copy them on to that.

Of course if what has "gone wrong" is a software issue, then you probably aren't going to have much luck taking it back. Especially if the issue is virus/spyware/malware related.

Leopard

If you do need to open it up and access the hard drive directly, it may (depending on the laptop) be possible to reach the SATA connectors on it without actually removing the drive from the computer. (But you need to be especially careful if you do that - you could damage an adjacent component, capacitor or chip if you are clumsy). It's safest to remove the drive completely if you can.

If seals are glued on, try using a ladies hair-dryer to direct hot air on to them while easing them off with a thin, pointed knife. They can then be put back intact and undamaged.

A friend gave me that tip and it worked a treat on both my netbook and our Freesat box when I upgraded their hard drives.

RJH_Glover

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