Getting data off an old Dell Inspiron 9300 hard drive
August 14, 2015 10:53 AM Subscribe
I've FINALLY gotten around to attempting to get the data off of a Dell Inspiron 9300 that died several years ago, but the USB adapter ... converter ... thing ... that I have doesn't connect with it. Can you tell me what I need?
It's been surprisingly difficult to find useful information about this hard drive, but it's the one that came with the laptop, and according to its label it's a 'Seagate Momentus 5400.2, 100 GB, Ultra ATA.' If it helps, here's a picture of its connector end.
Right now I have this magical connector thing that I was able to use to pull data off of an old desktop hard drive, but unfortunately it doesn't look like I can connect it to my Inspiron hard drive. I thought it would be easy to find a similar converter for this hard drive, but just going by the pictures I'm seeing on Amazon it really isn't clear what one would fit. Can you tell me what the heck I need? There are pictures on this drive that I would really like to get back (DingoMutt of the Past was very dumb about backups), so thank you very much for any help you can provide!
As an aside, since this hard drive has screws on it and I have a screwdriver, I'm mightily tempted to unscrew it and see if there is, mysteriously, a port inside of it that will fit with my current adapter ... I'm 99% sure that's a bad idea but if I'm onto something, please let me know.
It's been surprisingly difficult to find useful information about this hard drive, but it's the one that came with the laptop, and according to its label it's a 'Seagate Momentus 5400.2, 100 GB, Ultra ATA.' If it helps, here's a picture of its connector end.
Right now I have this magical connector thing that I was able to use to pull data off of an old desktop hard drive, but unfortunately it doesn't look like I can connect it to my Inspiron hard drive. I thought it would be easy to find a similar converter for this hard drive, but just going by the pictures I'm seeing on Amazon it really isn't clear what one would fit. Can you tell me what the heck I need? There are pictures on this drive that I would really like to get back (DingoMutt of the Past was very dumb about backups), so thank you very much for any help you can provide!
As an aside, since this hard drive has screws on it and I have a screwdriver, I'm mightily tempted to unscrew it and see if there is, mysteriously, a port inside of it that will fit with my current adapter ... I'm 99% sure that's a bad idea but if I'm onto something, please let me know.
oh, hang on. is that an adapter so you can use an IDE disk in a dell computer? or an adapter so you can use an IDE connector with a dell disk?!
posted by andrewcooke at 11:02 AM on August 14, 2015
posted by andrewcooke at 11:02 AM on August 14, 2015
Is that connector actually permanently attached to it? It looks like it might be an adapter that's fitted over a standard row of pins.
posted by Tomorrowful at 11:02 AM on August 14, 2015
posted by Tomorrowful at 11:02 AM on August 14, 2015
yeah, i think your disk has one of what i linked to already fastened to it. sorry.
posted by andrewcooke at 11:04 AM on August 14, 2015
posted by andrewcooke at 11:04 AM on August 14, 2015
Response by poster: oh, hang on. is that an adapter so you can use an IDE disk in a dell computer? or an adapter so you can use an IDE connector with a dell disk?!
Sorry for the threadsit, but to answer your question: my goal is to do the same thing I did with the other hard drive I needed to pull data off: connect it to a working laptop via USB (using the connector I linked above ... if it matters, the old hard drive I was successful with was from a Gateway desktop, and the working laptop was a Lenovo), such that it showed up as an external drive on my working laptop.
It was so ridiculously easy with that other hard drive that I was hoping I could do something similar with this one ... maybe I'm being overly optimistic here?
Is that connector actually permanently attached to it? It looks like it might be an adapter that's fitted over a standard row of pins.
That's where I was wondering if I should take my screwdriver to this thing and see what I can remove ... I have an unfortunate tendency to do this even when it's ill-advised, though, and I truly don't know much about hardware, so if anybody can tell me if this is a good or bad idea, I'd love the input. Thanks again!
posted by DingoMutt at 11:09 AM on August 14, 2015
Sorry for the threadsit, but to answer your question: my goal is to do the same thing I did with the other hard drive I needed to pull data off: connect it to a working laptop via USB (using the connector I linked above ... if it matters, the old hard drive I was successful with was from a Gateway desktop, and the working laptop was a Lenovo), such that it showed up as an external drive on my working laptop.
It was so ridiculously easy with that other hard drive that I was hoping I could do something similar with this one ... maybe I'm being overly optimistic here?
Is that connector actually permanently attached to it? It looks like it might be an adapter that's fitted over a standard row of pins.
That's where I was wondering if I should take my screwdriver to this thing and see what I can remove ... I have an unfortunate tendency to do this even when it's ill-advised, though, and I truly don't know much about hardware, so if anybody can tell me if this is a good or bad idea, I'd love the input. Thanks again!
posted by DingoMutt at 11:09 AM on August 14, 2015
Best answer: On the Inspiron 9xxx series, it's an adapter connected to the laptop drive's IDE pins (pins like the ones you see to the right of it in that photo) -- you should be able to pull it off the drive using only the force of your hands. Pull straight away from the drive to avoid bending any pins. You may need to rock the ends back and forth to pull it away from the drive.
posted by j.edwards at 11:17 AM on August 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by j.edwards at 11:17 AM on August 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Holy cow, j.edwards - my mouth is literally agape right now. I pulled gently but rather skeptically at the adapter, and it came off right away*! How ridiculous for Dell to give their hard drives an extra little 'hat' like that.
The hard drive now fits in my Connector Thing, so I'm going to go see if I can get those pictures off of it after all. Thanks so much for your help (and thanks, andrewcooke and Tomorrowful, for your input, too!)
(*I'm only a little disappointed that I didn't get to unscrew anything else, but hey)
posted by DingoMutt at 11:27 AM on August 14, 2015
The hard drive now fits in my Connector Thing, so I'm going to go see if I can get those pictures off of it after all. Thanks so much for your help (and thanks, andrewcooke and Tomorrowful, for your input, too!)
(*I'm only a little disappointed that I didn't get to unscrew anything else, but hey)
posted by DingoMutt at 11:27 AM on August 14, 2015
Response by poster: One last update, in case anybody is curious: I was indeed able to successfully get the pictures (and other files) off of my old hard drive after all - hooray! It's been wonderful to revisit pictures I haven't seen in years, including a few taken mere hours before my now-wife first asked me to go out with her ... such happy memories =) So glad I asked this question - thanks again, j.edwards and company!
posted by DingoMutt at 8:04 AM on August 19, 2015
posted by DingoMutt at 8:04 AM on August 19, 2015
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i think you want one of these, but the lack of a photo is troubling.
edit: yeah, the amazon page lists the dell inspiron 9300.
posted by andrewcooke at 10:56 AM on August 14, 2015