How to get pics off an old computer that doesn't work?

Question

I have a ton of pics stored on a computer that is completely dead now. Is there a way to take it apart or something and get my pics off of there?

Answer 1

take out the Hard drive and put it into working PC.

make sure the pc your putting it into supports IDE and SATA so you dotn have any problems putting hte cables in, most modenr PC's do as Sata is used by new hard drives, and IDE is sitill used on DVD n CD drives(it used to be used on old hard drives too, so you cna use the DVD cabel if you ahve an old Hard drive)

if the computer recognizes the new disc then jsut copy the fiels form the old HDD to the new one.

Answer 2

You would need to be more specific about completely dead.  I am going to assume that you cannot turn it on and do anything usefull on it, and a rewipe would obviosuly not solve your problem.  Your only option is to open up your computer tower (or laptop whatever you have), and remove the hard drive.  From there you will have to buy an external casing for the hard drive depening on the size of it (3.5 or 2.5) to provide power to it.  from there you will need to plug hard drive into the external casing and plug that into a working computer.  then you are free to go about the hard drive and take anything you want off it and on to the new computer.  this also gives you a new external hard drive in the process!  

Check some sites on how to remove a hard drive and you are good to go! Hope I helped.  

Answer 3

Maybe.   It depends on why that computer is dead.   If it died because of the hard drive, the possiblity of recovering the images is uncertain.  

What you need to do is remove the hard drive from that computer and install it as a second drive in a working computer.   At that point, if the drive is okay and is configured properly, you should be able to catalog the folders and find your images.  

If the drive does not respond, and you are certain that it is properly connected and configured (that is, as a slave, or to use Cable Select - all assuming that this is an EIDE drive and not a SATA - if it is SATA, you just need to be sure it's plugged into an active SATA port), then that drive may be damaged.    At that point, the next step is to find out if that damage can be repaired or worked-around.   That may require running a recover utility on it, similar to the one that Gibson Research sells.   There is no guarantee that the data can be recovered, but if the GRC program won't do it, then at that point the options are limited to sending the drive to one of those recovery outfits that repairs the electronics (if the problem is electronic), or removes the platters and attempts to read the data directly off the discs using their own system.   Typically the latter is fairly expensive.

Answer 4

The easiest way i know how to do it is to use a Linux based operating system. Knoppix (http://www.knoppix.net/) is what i like to use. You will need a new computer though or access to one that works with. Download Knoppix and burn an executable disk(ISO disk) i perfer ImgBurn (http://www.imgburn.com/) Once you get an executable disk of Knoppix then put it in your computer's disk drive and boot from the cd-rom. This will bring up a whole bunch and follow whatever is onscreen. You will probably see 2 hard drive icons on the desktop once it loads up one of them is your hard drive the other is the linux one find yours and locate your files you can then transfer them to an external hard drive. Hope this helps if your confused let me know and i can clarify