Dell and the hot under the collar computer...

Yes. Mine, you pop out the battery and the hard drive lifts out. Maybe one or two screws.

 

Awesome.

I tried to pick up a duplicate machine on ebay, but was outbid at the last second... Duh.

Besides the fact that I like having two machines, I also have information on the Smart Step that I couldn't back up (the process would cause the machine to overheat... etc.)

What I'm thinking is this:
1) Pull the hard drive out of my Dell SmartStep
2) Plug the hard drive into my Dell Inspiron 6000 Laptop
3) Boot the Inspiron off CD (right? Different processor, etc.)
4) Back up the hard drive to an outside source
5) Shut down the Inspiron and put its hard drive back in.


That should work, right????

PLEASE point out any flaws to my thinking BEFORE I screw up ANOTHER machine!!!!

Or, is there a way to take the hard drive out of my Smart Step and mount it as an external drive to my Inspiron? Is there a USB interface or something? That way I can just copy the subdirectories I need!

Thanks,

 

I had this problem once too. I couldn't back up the smartstep. This was before I knew what was causing the overheating. If you wanna try cleaning it once more, take it all the way apart. Take the fan out, the cooling fins (copper colored) and wash them out completely. Once you remove the fan, there are no electrical parts attached. Then, when you put it all back together, put a glass of frozen water right behind the machine's intake. That'll give you a few more minutes. And elevate the machine as well. You might be able to burn some cd's.

I';m not sure how Dell's hard drives work with each other. Check eBay for an interface that will work.