Recover Portable Hard Disk data

Hi all,

I have an old Dell Inspiron 7000 laptop.
It died years ago, some problem with the MB.
It was too costly to replace the MB out of warranty at the time.

I want to recover the data, and clear the drive, then trash the whole thing.
It's just gathering dust, so time to get rid of it.

So, how do I do this myself?
Is there a standard 2.5" drive and are there connectors on the market to
let me attach it to another PC through say a USB port? Anything else?

Has anyone done such a thing before?
Am I being realistic?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.