[wraith666]

i was wondering if anyone has some info on repairing a laptop hard drive when its connected to you PC desktop using a hard drive adapter and a USB to IDE drive adapter. my HDD system files got corrupted and my laptop has no way of reading the windows xp cd..so what im basically trying to say is if i can add the needed file on to the HDD by using hard drive adapter and USB to IDE drive adapter anyone with some insight would be appreciated.

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Hi there

Can I ask if you have already purchased the drive adapter kit that you referred to?

[Samm]

Hi there

Can I ask if you have already purchased the drive adapter kit that you referred to?

[wraith666]

Hi there

Can I ask if you have already purchased the drive adapter kit that you referred to?

no,im still researching to see if its even possible to fix the system file with it.

[Samm]

OK, whether it turns out to be possible to simply fix the system file remains to be seen. However, if soemthing more drastic is called for, such as reinstall of windows, you will still need a way of getting the files to the laptop.

The reason I asked whether you had already purchased that kit, was to tell you not to! It's much more money than you need to pay & personally, I don't like those 2.5in to 3.5in IDE convertors. Its too easy to connect them up incorrectly & cause damage to the drive.

I would suggest however that you buy a 2.5in USB caddy instead. This will do exactly the same thing but for a lot less money. Here's a link to one I found on newegg.com :
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817155704

This particular example is a very cheap one. It will no doubt work but you may want to invest in a slightly better one.

Once the laptop drive is in the caddy, simply connect it to a USB port on the other computer & it should show up in Windows Explorer (or My Computer). From there you can copy files to it from the computers CDROM drive or hard drive.

Before you buy anything though, I suggest you have a good look through the hard drive on the laptop. You may find that the basic install files for XP are already hidden somewhere on the drive.
From My Computer, click on Tools->Folder Options->View Files & make sure that 'View Hidden & System files' option is selected.
Next look through the drive for a folder named something like :
i386, cabs, options. If present, you should find that this folder contains the XP install files. If so, you should be able to run XPs recovery console & repair the files that way.

The other possibility would be to try XPs System Restore, assuming there is a suitable restore point available.

[wraith666]

thanks so much for the reply and help!! this has been driving me nuts for days im just glad to get a reply again thank you.

[Samm]

You're very welcome. Let us know how you get on