dell pc dead, anyway to fix or get data?

cleofish

Hi, wondering if anyone can help.

I have an old dell pc e520 dimension. We havent used it for years and ive turned it on today but theres no power. No lights, no beeps, no fans just completely dead. I tried a different power cord that i know is working but still nothing.

Ive tried when unplugged pressing the button to discharge the power and then plugging in and trying again but still nothing.
does anyone have any advice on what i can try now?

failing that how can i transfer data from the pc hard drive to my laptop? is there an adaptor i can get from the pc hard drive to the laptop (usb?) would the pc hard drive then need some sort of power source as well?

sorry for all the questions!
thanks for any help.

Browntoa

Get a caddy for the hard drive off eBay , plug into usb port on laptop

cleofish

Do i need a specific make/size or anything for the dell hard drive?

glentoran99

nah they are standard

exiled_red

cleofish wrote: »

Do i need a specific make/size or anything for the dell hard drive?

You just need to check whether it is an IDE or SATA connection, SATA are the new ones, but depending how old the PC is it could be IDE. You would need to know that before buying the USB connector.

This link shows the different connector types:
https://www.reclaime.com/library/how-to-tell-ide-from-sata.aspx

spannerzone

My old Dimension E520 had SATA connectors for hard drive so you'd need a 3.5" caddy for SATA and power connectors or get a dock that does it for 2.5 and 3.5" hard drives
https://www.7dayshop.com/products/7dayshop-usb-3-0-hard-drive-docking-station-for-2-5-inch-and-3-5-inch-sata-hdd-sata-i-ii-iii-supports-6tb-ds-298

Or if you still use a desktop PC, you could connect it internally using a cheap SATA cable (or even temp disconnect DVD drive sata cable and use that to power/connect the drive) to your desktop and then drag off files you need.

that

Browntoa wrote: »

Get a caddy for the hard drive off eBay , plug into usb port on laptop

Not so fast. Those boards supported ide and sata, so check first what drive you have.

Most around that era supported 3.5" drives, so need a caddy that is connected to an external power supply too. You can also use a disk docking station

Johno100

that wrote: »

Not so fast. Those boards supported ide and sata, so check first what drive you have.

Most around that era supported 3.5" drives, so need a caddy that is connected to an external power supply too. You can also use a disk docking station

Or buy a caddy/enclosure that supports both IDE and SATA, they don't cost much more and may come in useful in the future.

macman

Probably PSU failure. About £15 for a cheapo replacement ATX model. Fitting it is a 15 min job.