Resolved How can I recover files from laptop w/broken screen

Daughter dropped off her laptop in hopes that I can help find some information on how she can recover her personal files (music, pictures, documents, etc.) from her laptop that has a broken screen. The laptop itself works fine (she had it hooked up to another monitor at her home, but now has that monitor hooked up to her desktop).

I know we could connect an external monitor to the laptop so we can view and then copy the files she wants to keep, but if we don't have an extra monitor to use was wondering if there were any other options? (She has alot of files on that laptop, it's gonna take alot of cd's and time to copy all of them!)

Is there anyway to directly connect her laptop to her desktop to be able to transfer files that way? (They both use WinXP).

I've also heard of some type of device that if you remove the hard drive from the laptop (an external usb adapter?) you could do the same thing. Are there specifics to look for when purchasing one of those? But I'm not too confident about taking the laptop apart to get to the hard drive! (It's a Sony Vaio PCG-7R2L) so not sure if I'd want to go that route?

I'm not looking forward to this task, but certainly want to help her get her files off that laptop!

Thanks!

 

Screen repair sounds the best way to go. I did one recently - lots of U-Tube clips on how to do it.

In the meantime if it works to an external monitor probably a good idea would be backing it up to a portable external hard drive. Loads of them online and in the supermarkets.

 

I usually use a Apricorn USB 2.0 to SATA Adapter - $18.99 (including shipping) or the USB 3.0 version - $29.21 (including shipping) to connect laptop hard drives to another computer. (See pic below)

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See Step 11 and 12 on this page for a couple of pics on how to remove the hard drive.

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Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I'm leaning more to the connecting the monitor back up to the laptop and copy the files to a usb stick!

She's gone on vacation right now, but when she returns I'll discuss the option of getting an external adaptor (in case she'd prefer to go that route) and if she would want me to attempt to remove the hard drive (thanks SpywareDr. for that link....it could prove useful!)

The laptop is getting old, so I doubt that getting a new screen would be something she'd want to invest in. She's saving to get a new laptop someday anyway. She just wanted to get the important stuff off of it before she retires it completely.

Thanks again!

 

You're welcome.