I killed my laptop today by tripping over a cat and launching it to the tile floor in the basement (was bringing it down to hook the HDMI into the tv in the basement).
It's a Dell Studio 17 so the power switch is recessed into the hinge for the monitor and that's where it landed first, then it bounced and hit the other end just for good measure. I can't tell what all is broken since it won't even boot--which makes me think either the power switch is crushed or the whole thing is dead. The case is pretty messed up, monitor looks Ok, but could also be dead.
I pulled the HD and swapped it into my PC just to see if it would boot, and it did go into System Restore and then decide it can't fix the issue and go to options for Advanced Recovery (Memory Check, Restart, Restore Point, Remap from Image file or Shut Down).
Obviously, I didn't think it'd boot my pc to Windows, but I think that since it got that far the HD should be salvageable--Right?
Question is, can you still get USB enclosures for HDs, and can you for mobile HDs since they're smaller?
The laptop is, also of course, out of the Dell calamity warranty so I'm not sure it's worth trying to fix since that'd probably cost several hundred $$ for a now aged computer.
So, I may be forced to just buy a new one--but I'd like to get salvage the old HD if possible AND if anyone knows someone cheap/reasonable then I'd take it in to get looked at on the off chance it's something relatively easy to repair but I'd rather not just go to Geek Squad and get ripped off by the hour while they pad the bill to tell me it's dead...
Input/help/advice?