I'm excited to finish a PC repair that I started 16 1/2 years ago. I thought it would never happen.
It wouldn't have taken so long or been so worth it today if it wasn't my first laptop or one that runs Windows *without* Internet Explorer. (Yes, IE was actually optional back when I first got it.)
And repaired! (I made it mine in 1998; don't judge.)
?Toshiba T4600C repair (-)
Well, crap. I can't even test if my HDD is good or not (I have a known-working I can reformat if it isn't), because both the FDD inside my laptop & the spare I recently picked up have spindle drive belts that either slipped off the motor or just lost too much elasticity to grip the motor's spindle. Worse, the FDD is a slim model with ribbon cables, & IDEK if off-brand replacements ever existed. (Using a USB FDD is out because USB didn't exist yet.)
Toshiba T4600C repair (-)
@arielmt If worst comes to worst, a PATA expansion card and 3.5" to 2.5" PATA adapter might allow you to test the HDD externally? Kind of a tall order to get those so circumstantially though...
I'd offer the ones I had around but I think I recycled them when I moved. Plus it'd be hard to get a computer with a PCI slot these days. Hum.
@pettancow I did that about 8 years ago for basic data rescue. ISTR these types of HDDs draw more amps than later IDE drives, & I had a hard time finding a 3.5-2.5 adapter that could pump enough juice.
@pettancow Yeah. TBH, I forgot how much; the one I have that booted a few days ago draws 700 mA.
@arielmt Oof, power-hungry disks D: Well, using a straight mechanical adapter with a PATA card would hopefully mitigate the limits a USB-based one would have