Toshiba satellite has died! Taking my unpublished books with it

CaptZ

Hi, can anyone advise me?
I’m a writer & I wrote three books on my Toshiba satellite a100-02m.
But last year the battery stopped charging & my local repair shop said they couldn’t replace it.
I kept running it via the mains BUT last week it would not switch on at all.
I’ve read the posts on the forum & tried to do some things. I removed the battery hoping the laptop would start up, but no luck.
Is there anyone out there who has experienced this or knows a company that specialised in resurrecting dead Toshiba laptops?
Sincerely,
CaptZ

Nom

Your books are saved on the standard 2.5" hard drive inside the Toshiba Satellite a100-02m - any knowledgeable IT guy can pull the drive out, and connect it into a USB case so that you can read your files on a working computer.
Once you've done this, then copy your files to at least three different places ! Use the free Microsoft OneDrive storage that comes built-in to Windows on your new computer, make a second copy somewhere local on the computer, and make a third copy on a USB stick. Otherwise you'll be in the exact same situation again the next time you have a hardware failure !

noiseboy72

Batteries are available for that laptop for £25 or so. Not sure why your local computer shop could not replace it. Running with a dead battery can put extra strain on the power supply and eventually cause damage to it or the laptop motherboard itself. You could try a new battery and power supply, but if the motherboard is damaged, this might be a waste of money.

As above, get a different computer shop (!) to remove the hard drive. Backing up elsewhere is crucial and One Drive or Dropbox both offer a good, secure service. If you are concerned about security, you can always put a password on the files.

EndlessWaves

I'd suggest using a proper backup program rather than copying manually. No only does it automate almost everything but it will also preserve older versions of files when there's free space (allowing to to recover from errors you don't discover for a while). The File History backup built into Windows does a decent job.

Also, the copy on the same computer is fairly pointless. If you want a 4th copy then an offline copy (e.g. external hard drive) at a friend or relative's house would be the way to go.  But it's unlikely you'll be burgled at the same time OneDrive etc. loses your data.

DavidG1

To be honest this was an accident waiting to happen. The laptop originally came with windows Vista so it must be at least 10 years old. If it still had the original hard drive then it has done well to survive so long. Putting three unpublished novels onto an old laptop without a backup is just plain foolish.
As others have said if the hard drive is still working then it can be removed and your files recovered by any good repair shop. If the hard drive has failed then you would need to send the drive to a specialist data recovery centre where they can rebuild the drive and recover what they can, they are not cheap. Just google hard drive recovery and your local city and you will get some hits.
It probably isn't worth trying to repair a 10year old laptop, it's more important to recover your data and back it up securely ideally off site.