How do I transfer files from my dead laptop's hard drive to my desktop?

puretppc

Commendable
Jul 21, 2016
5
0
1,510
My laptop for some reason just wouldn't start but I have some precious files that need to be transferred to my desktop.

Both my laptop and desktop run Windows 7. I have 2 internal storage devices in my desktop. One is the SSD, which contains the operating system and the other is my desktop HDD which contains extra files.

Can I simply just unplug my desktop's HDD SATA + power cable and replace my laptop's HDD on it and then send my files over to my SSD (not a lot of storage used on my laptop anyways)? But I heard that every HDD needs "partitioning" before you can install it right?

Or can I just simply plug it over to my desktop to retrieve the files?
 
Solution
Yes you can simply plug it over assuming they have that same SATA connection you then should be able to copy over most files (windows will complain about system files.) And you are good to go.