Hi, I had a computer repair person look at my HP Pavilion DV5000 tonight. It is barely over 12 months old, with a one year warranty so of course something just went seriously wrong with it. The repair person speculates either a motherboard or a cpu.

Anyway, rather than start replacing expensive parts, I'm just going to get another laptop. But I need my data off this one--tons of pictures, and lots of work (work-work, and school-work).

The guy pulled the hard drive out, then said it was a kind he'd never seen before. Instead of connecting with a bunch of pins, it had a slot or something...NOT a bunch of pins, anyway. Therefore, he didn't have an adapter to use to plug my hard drive into wherever he was going to copy the data to.

I hope this makes sense.

My questions are--first, do any of you know about this "weird" hard drive--how people can try to get the data off it, etc? Is there an adapter available for this kind of hard drive?

Second, if my repair guy can't find the adapter part he needs to get my data off (I'll see if he calls me or not), I've heard there are places that can get your data back off just about any hard drive. How can I find a reputable place? I really really really am desperate to get all my data.

Thanks so much for any ideas you have.

Hi bp13, my guess is the "Computer Repair" person had not seen a SATA drive before, this is what it sounds like you have. All you need to do is grab yourself a SATA external case and then you can plug it in to your new laptop when you get it. Thermaltake are a good brand, this is an example of what you could get. This way you can have it as a backup drive.

I think you need to either get yourself a new "Computer Repair" person, fire him and do it yourself, or demand he take an updated course in technology!

Hope this helps!