Retrieving data/files from a broken laptop?

Carlo

Carlo

Messages
1,525
Name
Carl
Edit My Images
Yes
My wife managed to spill a glass of rum over her laptop the other night, which resulted in it breaking!!
It still turns on and loads, but the keyboard no longer works.
I assume the hard drive is OK, so was wondering if anyone knows a reliable way of rescuing her files.
She's a writer so the data is very important (No, she didn't back it up, even after I gave her one of my spare hard drives and badgered her to do it every month or so!!)
Think it's an Acer, windows 10. don't know the model no etc as i'm at work at the minute, but no point trying to fix it as we're insured and it only cost £190 new.
Any help would be very welcome
Carlo
 
Does it still boot into Windows and just the keyboard/mouse doesn't work?

If so, maybe a USB keyboard is the way to go....perhaps an external screen via HDMI/VGA if the screen doesn't work.
Worth a try as a first step anyway.

If not, its a hard drive out jobbie and get the data that way.
You can get some 2.5" laptop drive to USB caddy things that allow you to plug the hard drive into another laptop/pc via USB and access the files that way.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DIGIFLEX-Drive-Caddy-Enclosure-Laptop/dp/B002UZO07C

Thanks
 
I started typing a message very similar to the one above :LOL:

If the keyboard doesn't work, but the mouse does and need to type in her password, you should have the option on the login screen for "Ease of Access" in the bottom right near the power options. From there you can activate the on-screen keyboard to type in the password and hopefully get into Windows.
 
If / when you get into Windows using a USB keyboard / mouse install TeamViewer or enabled Remote Desktop on the machine. That way you can get to it remotely if you ever lose the USB function.
 
As above I would have the hard drive out and into a caddy - They are cheap and it's always useful to have on around. Take a hardrive out of an old, unused lappy and you've got yourself an on the go cheap portable backup drive.

Second to that, the minute the rum got spilled I would have powered off and pulled out the battery.
The laptop can be disassembled and affected parts cleaned with distilled water. Once completely dry and reassembled there should be no problem.
I've never needed to use contact cleaner or any other sort of solvent.

The reason to pull the battery and power off is that most spilled substances can short out components and cause electrolytic corrosion - This advice applies for cameras, phones and anything else with a battery in it. Once washed, cleaned and dried this problem goes away, as long as you powered off soon enough.
Laptop keyboards usually come out quite easily, and could be rinsed, or replaced.

I've rescued various laptops from such things as a bowl of milky cereal tipping over on the keyboard and also a box of curry splitting and draining onto a laptop.
 
Another caddy user here. Unless the machine is ancient or you hate it then it's probably worth just picking up another keyboard for it - did that with my old Philips (where the keyboard had worn out) and it's still good now.
 
Changing the keyboards on most laptops is fairly trivial. There's probably a bezel runnling along the top edge of the keyboard that just unclips. Under that, there are usually 3 or 4 sprung tabs with when pushed in simultaeously, will allow the keyboard to spring up. Behind the keyboard, if you lift it up carefully, you should see a ribbon connector attaching it to the logic board. There's usually a clip to loosen in order to remove the ribbon cable. Replacement is the reverse of removal.

Replacements are usually quite cheap from that popular auction site.

If the track pad is also scuppered, that can possibly be replaced too. although some are integral to the casing so require more spare parts. The laptop might need complete disassembly. This varies considerably, if you are lucky you will find an instructional video on a popular video site. If you take care, and layout all of the bits you remove so it's obvious where they go back (screws are invariably different lengths and using the wrong screw in the wrong place can be disastrous).

Probably a good idea to rescue the data before pulling the laptop to pieces.

When the situation is resolved, investigate an automated backup solution. If backups are not regular and automated, then they generally just don't happen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top