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I have my mom's old Dell Inspiron 2650 model PP04L. She is passed away now but I'd like to salvage some of the old pictures and things she had on there. Is there a way to buy an enclosure and mount this with a USB connection so I can open it on my new computer?

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  • Why not just plug in a USB flash stick, and copy off the files? Disassembly is perhaps not required.
    – Whit3rd
    Aug 15, 2017 at 7:34
  • Thanks for your input. Unfortunately, the thing wont turn on. With the multitude of issues that could be causing that, I just want to skip directly to disassembly to get what I am looking for.
    – Ed L.
    Aug 16, 2017 at 18:45

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A laptop of the vintage you mention will most likely have a 2.5-inch IDE, PATA (Parallel ATA), hard disk drive. Of course, you will need to disassemble the laptop and remove the drive to confirm. Once removed, you can obtain a low-cost enclosure, such as this one from amazon, to connect the drive via USB 2.0 to a more modern computer. Most likely, the FAT partitions on the drive will be recognizable to your modern OS.

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  • With a PATA drive, always best to mind the jumper settings on the drive and how they will cooperate with a given adapter.
    – rackandboneman
    Jan 28, 2020 at 19:53
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My condolences. You can hook up that (assumed) ATA harddisk using an appropriate USB adapter (you'll need the 44-pin type for 2.5" drives, thx Brian) - many electronic shops still stock ATA/SATA-to-USB adapters.

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