how can I get files off dead laptop

The left click button on my laptop broke. So, my husband pulled it out with his pliers. The laptop was up and running fine. But in the process, the laptop went off like it was rebooting. Anyway it won't boot up now but the lights turn on like its on. I guessing the motherboard is damaged.

So, today I went to Best Buy and they wanted me to buy another laptop and then transfer the files for about $100. However, if they fix mine, it will cost about $150 total.

What I'd like to do is download the files myself and put them on my desktop at home. Can I purchase some device and DIY the download? I mean, how are they gonna get the files off if the laptop won't boot? Can't I do that myself?

Thanks.
Barb

 

Best Buy's Geek Squad has equipment and software which enables them to extract information from the hard drives of non-functional computers even if the hard drive is unreadable by the system itself. It may be in your best interest to let them repair your computer for the $150.

There are numerous avenues you could try yourself. But if you should err during the attempted DIY, it could end up costing a lot more.

 

I would not let Best Buy's Geek Squad do anything. The drive can be pulled out, and placed into a USB enclosure like this http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s....5 hard drive enclosure&sprefix=2.5"+,aps,299 or if IDE/PATA http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...osure&rh=i:aps,k:2.5+ide+hard+drive+enclosure

 

Either way will work. Only thing I would caution when using the one you linked Plodr, is to place a clean mousepad to keep it from accidentally touching metal, if the person places the circuit board face down, but also it helps to quiet the drive some while running.

Both yours and the other are in a good price range. The enclosures are great if the drive is still in good shape and has life, so you can use it for an external drive.

Another item to add to your network arsenal is something like the Cirago NUS2000 for connecting a USB external hard drive on the network, so that you can share between computers and users.

Now of course the other part we left out for the OP, is how to fix the sharing permissions on the old drive, so that they can access it from the other computer.