Extracting info from laptop's HD

[Rudd]

I broke my laptop's power input thingy, so I'll have to take it in to be repaired.

But my mate has given me a SATA/IDE -> USB adapter.

The HD has Vista Home Premium, my PC is Vista Home Basic.

I connect it all up and its happy, says teh HD is half full. But then tells me I have to format it if I want to use it...

afaik formating is destructive and my data will be lost?

Am I missing something, or is there another way to acheive my goals?

[Robbi]

Can you read any of the data?

[Rudd]

Strangely, when I'm in my Vista, no. It says theres 40GB worth of data on it, but if I go in to the directory, it says "empty"

BUT! I loaded up the expressgate OS that I can use if my comp goes kabluee, and I can access the files on the HD on that...

[thepalerider]

Don't format! It will erase all data on HD.

If your expressgate OS can see the files
then you should be able to open it to at least copy your EA folders (app& docs) to your desktop.