Question Broken BIOS and dead screen on old laptop, can I pull out the external hard drive and use a docking station to recover my files?

[notanexpert101]

I have a lenovo yoga 9 with Windows 11 that has a broken BIOS and dead screen. By broken i mean stuck in the blue screen on death and will not go into recovery mode, or do any function that is available in the blue screen mode. I have bought a new laptop but desperately need to access files from the old one.

Can I pull out the external hard drive and use a docking station to access my files? I am worried if the broken BIOS will not let me access anything anyway. Full disclosure, I know how to do this in theory but have never done this before.

Any advice is GREATLY appreciated!!!

 

[JeffreyP55]

I have a lenovo yoga 9 with Windows 11 that has a broken BIOS and dead screen. By broken i mean stuck in the blue screen on death and will not go into recovery mode, or do any function that is available in the blue screen mode. I have bought a new laptop but desperately need to access files from the old one.

Can I pull out the external hard drive and use a docking station to access my files? I am worried if the broken BIOS will not let me access anything anyway. Full disclosure, I know how to do this in theory but have never done this before.

Any advice is GREATLY appreciated!!!

External or internal? You need to pull the drive to access your files. To be continued..

 

[USAFRet]

Can I pull out the external hard drive and use a docking station to access my files?

You mean an "internal", and not external?

The only answer is....Maybe.

 

[notanexpert101]

External or internal? You need to pull the drive to access your files. To be continued..

yes sorry, i should have been more clear, i want to pull the internal and have it as an external

 

[USAFRet]

yes sorry, i should have been more clear, i want to pull the internal and have it as an external

And again, Maybe.

The fail of the laptop may be due to the drive.
The drive may be encrypted.
There may be other issues.

At this point, all you can do is Try.
See what happens.

If it fails, come back here and we can start to diagnose.

 

[notanexpert101]

okay understood. ill give it a try! thanks!