File retrieval

[kevinb]

My laptop has a cracked screen, which is very expensive to repair. About 2/3 of the screen is unreadable. I want to recover files from the hard drive, but first I tried adding an external monitor, and now the mouse pointer has "vanished". Touch pad does not bring pointer into view.

Can I download files from the laptop hard drive to my PC. Laptop has Windows XP Professional installed, and PC has Windows XP Home.

Detailed instructions required.


kevinb

[Banfa]

Are they networked ?

[kevinb]

Are they networked ?

Unfortunately not. I can boot up the laptop, but as the screen is cracked, I can only see about 3 inches on the left and the same width on the bottom right.

[Banfa]

In that case I would plug in that external monitor and see if I could work out why the touch pad has stopped working, try an external mouse to (if you have one).

Alternitively forget about the mouse, use the keyboard to start-up a command line and the use the command line to copy your files to whatever medium you intend to use for the copy.

[kevinb]

In that case I would plug in that external monitor and see if I could work out why the touch pad has stopped working, try an external mouse to (if you have one).

Alternitively forget about the mouse, use the keyboard to start-up a command line and the use the command line to copy your files to whatever medium you intend to use for the copy.

Have tried with external monitor, and external mouse - still no movement. As I am a bit of a "dummy" can you please describe in detail the steps to copy to CDROM using keyboard - remembering that I can only see a small portion of the screen

[Banfa]

Probably not since i have no idea what CDROM buring software you have and even if I did since I rarely burn CDROMs myself I have little experience of doing it. Also I am not sure that many CDROM burners have a command line interface.

If your laptop has USB ports buy yourself a USB memory stick, you can plug that in and just copy files to it using a simple "xcopy" command.

[kevinb]

Probably not since i have no idea what CDROM buring software you have and even if I did since I rarely burn CDROMs myself I have little experience of doing it. Also I am not sure that many CDROM burners have a command line interface.

If your laptop has USB ports buy yourself a USB memory stick, you can plug that in and just copy files to it using a simple "xcopy" command.

I have a memory stick. Where do I enter the command line "xcopy"? - do I have to start in MSDOS?

Your information is appreciated - thanks

[Banfa]

yes start a Command Prompt and enter a command similar to

xcopy c:\MyDirectory\ *.* e:\ /S /E /K

where I have assumed that the CDROM will be drive D so you memory stick will probably be drive E

[Cyberdyne]

You best bet is to connect the external monitor and an external USB mouse and copy all your files to the memory stick or a CDRW. If you have alot of files, such as music and video your best bet is to network with another computer and transfer all files over or use an external USB or Firewire hard drive and simply copy and paste all your files in there.

Good luck, let us know if you need any other help or suggestions.