Q: I have a Dell laptop that got broken and it will be too expensive to repair it (its warranty has expired) . It won't even turn on anymore (busted motherboard, etc). However the harddrive is fine and all my precious photos, etc are there. How can I retrieve them?
A: You may be able to connect the laptop harddrive up to your desktop computer. The main thing you need to find out are if the drive is IDE/PATA or if it is SATA. SATA drives are a lot newer, IDE/PATA drives are older. Then find out what kind of drives your desktop computer uses. (Many SATA based desktops can also use PATA drives.) If the drive's type is one of the types that the desktop can use you should be able to attach it. If it's a SATA drive you should be able to connect it normally as an internal drive. If it's an IDE/PATA drive though it'll probably be a 2.5" drive so you would need an adapter like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812119151 (That particular adapter plugs into a USB port, there are other adapters available for internal use but those would of course require opening the case. Likewise there are USB adapters capable of connecting a SATA drive to a USB port if opening the case is something you want to avoid.)