view laptop hdd content thru another laptop

My laptop stopped working, I think it's an issue with the video card since that's what most of the threads are saying since it doesn't boot and just makes three beeping sounds at start up (one long followed by two short) and the screen remains blank after that. I don't believe it's the ram because years ago I upgraded my ram, but still held on to the old ram, I switched out the ram but the problem persisted, so I feel it's an internal video card issue.

But any way, when I upgraded my laptop, I also upgraded the hard drive, switching out two that came inside the laptop equaling 250gb for one hard drive that's 500gb. I used Apricorn notebook hard drive upgrade kit which came with an enclosure for the hard drive to transfer the data. It connects through a usb cord so essentially creating an external hard drive.

My question is, can I access my files on the laptops hard drive through another computer with the Apricorn enclosure kit? And if so, how would I go about doing that? Is it simply just plugging it in and all ready to go or is there something special I need to do or additional hardware I would need?

Both my broken laptop and the one I want to use to view my files use Windows XP.

Thank you.

 

You should not have a problem. Just put the old laptop HDD in the enclosure, and hook it up to the new PC.

If you do have an issue, please post.

 

You will have to take ownership of the rights on the other drive, when you go in to view the files. See the following: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753659.aspx

 

Thank you, I was able to just plug it in and it seemed to work, except that I cannot access the My Pictures folder. I had many photos in it, but it says the folder is empty and when I click on it, it says I cannot access. Any idea on why?

 

I'm working with XP, but even then, there is no security tab in the properties window.

 

That is odd.

You right clicked on "My Photos" folder (not a shortcut in the Desktop folder), clicked on Properties, and there's no Security tab?

 

Yea, there's only the General, Sharing and Customize tabs. It's the same for other folders I have checked, neither of them shortcuts. But all the other folders and files are accessible except the My Pictures folder.

This is my sisters old laptop the she never used. I'd say probably 5-6 years old. Dell Inspiron B130

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model ME051
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 13 Stepping 8 GenuineIntel 1596Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. A09, 6/29/2006
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)"
Total Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 320.01 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 2.39 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

My laptop that's having problems is a Sony Vaio VGN-AR170P running Windows XP Professional., though I wouldn't think that would be the issue.

So, everything on the hard drive from the Sony opens and is viewable or playable on the Dell, except the My Pictures folder.

 

When you say "all" the other folders are accessible, that includes all the folders under the user name, such as My Documents?

It is possible the folders were set to private, but I'm not sure that would be the issue. Have you tried taking ownership of the user folder and all objects therein?

 

Yes, I mean all other files and folders. I've been going through them and can't find any other that doesn't give me access.

And all the posts or articles about ownership say to go into properties and select the security tab, but this computer just doesn't have that option, so unless there's a way around that, I can't look into the ownership. I'm still looking for a way around that option but haven't found one.

 

You have to boot into safe mode, to take ownership, due to if I am guessing, you are using XP home.

Just press F8 after the bios screen, then log in with your username and password, follow the instructions.