Is there a patch kit/adapter that will let me use a hard drive from a laptop to a desktop PC?
My laptop's optical drive is broken, and I want to load a different O/S in it, but can't.

I have a PC and want to use it to install a different operating system onto
a laptop's hard drive. Then re-install the hard drive back into the laptop.

My cousins ex-coworker had one of these kits where he would open up the
case of his PC, unplug the cables going to the hard drive, then plug in these
adapter/extensions between the the laptop's hard drive, and the existing
plugs. Then unplug the hard drive, and reinstall back into his laptop.

Anyone have any info/website on where I might find this "patch kit"?

Thanks

 

One way or another, I would try a USB enclosure. Either one for the 2.5" HD or a 5.25" enclosure, with that, you could pull the dvd drive out of your PC and run it on the laptop.

With the second method, you'd solve your problem of no CD/DVD for the laptop as well.

 

'ben,

Ask, and ye shall receive. . . .



http://www.drivesolutions.com/cgi-bi...emid&itemid=a1


The only thing that I can think of that would 'mess you up' on installing an OS that way is the configuration/installation would be for the desktop system.

You might try creating a partition and copy the new operating system in it's entirety to the partition and install from there.

Also, if your optical drive has become toast, you might look at an external drive for about $50 or so.

I can look up a site that carries OEM optical drives, if you want. (It's on my desk pc. . .using the laptop tonight.)







Keith

 

Most laptop drives that I've seen (in Dell, HP) have an adapter to change the IDE (?) pin arrangement to fit the connector on the MB (PCMCIA ?). If you remove the adapter, the drive appears to have a standard IDE pinout.

I've never had to do it (and never gave it any thought), but one of my co-workers had a laptop drive strapped to a desktop PC just the other day for data recovery. I wasn't really paying attention, but it appeared to be connected right to the IDE cable. I'm pretty sure the drive was just "hanging" on the end of the IDE cable with no sort of adapter.

I'm fairly new to laptops. When I saw the laptop drive he had in there, I just said "Hmm, ok. Makes sense." and walked on by. Now that you ask, I'm wondering about power, as laptop drives don't have a separate power connection. I'm thinking that they get +5V via the IDE conector, but I can't say for certain. If you have a spare IDE cable, check it out and see if the pinout is the same. Laptop drives have one row of pins exposed. The index tab on the IDE cable would go toward the opening. They also have the missing index pin IIRC.
Geez, I hate it when people pose questions like this on Saturday. Now I have to go to work on Monday and check it out. It's gonna bug me all weekend until I can see if I'm talking out my backside or not.
I'll find out how he had that laptop drive connected to the PC. You've piqued my curiosity.

You wouldn't want to fully install the OS with the drive connected to the PC. Copy the install disk to a small partition on the laptop HDD, then run Setup to the first reboot on the PC. (assuming Windows 2000 or XP). Then boot the drive on the laptop.
I "have" set up XP completely on one machine then moved the drive to a totally different machine with success when a better alternative wasn't available. It "can" work, and seemed to work quite well at the time. XP reconfigured all of the devices and most of the drivers. With that said, that's a lot to ask of any Windows OS. I can't help but think that the installation would become unstable eventually and problems would result.

 

'ben,

You might also try to copy the disk to a 'flash drive' and change the boot order to the USB port, and install from there.

I'm not sure 'bout what kind of 'issues' there will be with the install or 'activation', etc. . . but, if it works. . . it works, right?

 

Before doing anything, pull the HDD from the laptop, and google the drive by model number to see what interface it has. Laptop makers have not always used the same configurations.

Steve

 

Thank you very much, to everyone.

The info has been very helpful.

I'm computer challenged, but I'm trying to learn. It's fun, or I think it's fun.

I'll have to dissect the info you guys provided.

It's a bit overwhelming to me, but I'll give it a shot, or shoot the laptop.

projectSHO89, That's my next challenge, to pull the hard drive from the laptop.
I do have a real nice set crowbars and ball peen hammers at my disposal, along
with a drill press and a router; a Bosch router, that is.

Again, thanks everyone.

 

for example:

http://cgi.ebay.com/LAPTOP-to-DESKTO...QQcmdZViewItem

There seems to be a whack of them on there from different places for like under 5 bucks (postage in). I Quote the above link not as any special endorsement, just they have some nice pretty pictures to explain what hooks up where.

The laptop IDE connector is NOT the same as the Desktop IDE connector; for one thing the laptop connector integrates the power supply.

I picked up one of these a few years ago with little frame rails to mount the laptop (2.5") drive inside on of the PC 3.5" drive bays. If you are just bringing over data, you can make out OK with just the connector.

Caution: if this is a REALLY new laptop, it could have a Serial ATA interface, not a parallell ATA (IDE) interface This should not be a problem on anything older than a few months! (don't quote me on this, I don't do this for a day job and most of the stuff I get my paws on is 3-4 years or older.) If it happened (not so likely) to be a newer SATA drive, then ignore the above and start digging for info all over again (when you pull the drive, its label should say something about the interface)

Good Luck,
Bill

 

The adapter is the easy part. Fry's has them for probably less than $20.

The hard, actually impossible, task is installing an operating system onto a second hard drive and then transplanting that hard drive into another computer. There are actually some OS's that will let you do this, but if you knew how to install them, you wouldn't even be asking the question.

So the short answer is no. I would look at using an external USB cdrom drive.

 

" The laptop IDE connector is NOT the same as the Desktop IDE connector; for one thing the laptop connector integrates the power supply."

Yep. I was wrong about that. I checked it out today. The pin arrangement looks the same at first glance, though. As others have stated, there is an adapter available.
I learned something today.

 

I can't use the USB to external burner because the BIOS does not have that "boot" option to let me do this, according to my cousin.
He went into the BIOS and said that it couldn't be done.
Also the hard drive is empty, and is out of the laptop.

His co-worker did this procedure with the hard drives, and said it worked.
The pin arrangement of the pins look the same, but are different.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BTW, the laptop is 7 years old, so it may not really be worth investing too much $$$$$; a few bucks, but that's about it.

Thanks for the replys. I'm learning about this stuff, but will probably forget.
Dam CRS.

I also found this on the web.

 

" His co-worker did this procedure with the hard drives, and said it worked."

Not quite. He was just reading the drive to recover some data.

I "have" installed XP on a drive and then installed it into a different machine and gotten it to work. This was before I learned that it really doesn't work. It will normally blue screen on boot or just continually reboot. Even if it does work, I have doubts about the stability. It's possible that the machines I used were just similar enough that XP was able to untangle everything.

There can be some really convoluted work arounds, but have you considered just replacing the optical drive? What kind of laptop is it?

 

I'll have to talk to my cousin, and ask exactly what his ex-coworker did, and if it indeed worked.

I could buy a optical drive for my 2001 Sony Vaio (PCG-FX340), but they're expensive.

I don't think it's worth it, unless I can get/find a cheapo replacement.

 

'ben,


Try this place:

http://www.sparepartswarehouse.com/S...top,Parts.aspx


I have a Sony Vaio PCG-FRV340 that was an incredible machine.
Sony must have had a bad couple of years with their stuff. The solder joints for the memory slots are 'cold' and one place quoted me almost $700 for a new motherboard. (Just found one at the place listed above for less than $400.)
I think I'm gonna bite the bullet and get it fixed, though. It's a screaming laptop!
2.8 ghz processor, 1 gig of RAM, DVD burner.

That Sony should be able to change the boot order to boot from USB port. Mine would, when it was running. Dang, I miss that laptop!

 

Why not use an external cd or dvd drive that plugs into your laptop with a usb cable to install from the OS disc.