Chosen Solution
My computer is water damaged and I need to get the hard drive out to get the data. Please let me know if there is a way.
@tiggyfox it doesn’t have one. It uses an SSD. For disassembly check this video
This is another one of those “future eWaste in 3-4 years” Celeron N4XXX series laptops with 64GB of eMMC (not upgradeable, soldered) and not enough RAM (which cannot be upgraded, as it is soldered). The problem is these laptops are so common because of people who do not know better, frankly. I’m not blaming you as they are very sneaky and hide this from the consumer, but they get away with pushing these bad machines because of price and parents who buy them for their kids and then blame them or call them entitled when they have an issue doing even basic tasks (or sell them as “just enough”). There was a reason I was picky, even in my public “education” days and I had an Asus X53E (K53E w/o dGPU) after coming from one of those “school laptops” with a Celeron 900 1C/1T CPU. Asus hasn’t been on my “good” list for quite a long time due to machines like this being too much of their lineup, and refusal to release a service manual or proper spec discourse that isn’t overly vague at times. Outside of an external SSD or SD card as a pseudo “upgrade”, there is no way to remove the drive or “upgrade” these eMMC/soldered RAM machines. These days, you have 4 choices: Unserviceable machines destined for the landfill (yours, $)New mid spec laptops with verified upgradeability ($$, not the best choice when compared to some older business class laptops which were very high end new but these are a better overall system regardless)Used high-end laptops like the 840 series with the 4K LCD ($$$, relative to the FHD spec price), or ($$) with a IPS FHD screen.Even if the 4K screen is very extra insurance, I’d pay for it to guarantee a non HP SureView machine.High end machines, upgradeable ($$$$)Gaming laptops, upgradeable ($$$$$) These cheap non upgrade friendly laptops are why my minimum base price is ~$700-800 with $100 both ways at the absolute most if I can verify the machine is upgrade friendly. I also write off anything without a service manual to check things. Yes, I have picked Ryzen 5 2-in-1s which were $850 for people just to be absolutely sure despite being more then they need. It’s gotten so hard to be sure with cheap laptops I avoid them altogether.
Here is a techie solution that requires basic soldering skills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny82c3wL… Quite clever actually. Or just to show people how a data recovery company with special eMMC reader would do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6cfVdUL… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhpRWvrZ…
