I have some files on a notebook hard drive, but no notebook computer.
How do I copy the files to, say, my desktop PC?

holstein-ga:

Thanks for your question!

By "notebook hard drive", I assume you are referring to a 2.5" IDE
hard drive removed from an 'IBM-compatible' laptop running MS-DOS,
Windows, or Linux. If your situation is different, please let me know!

The first thing you will need is an adapter to allow you to connect
your 2.5" hard drive to your desktop PC's IDE cable. You can find such
adapters by doing a Froogle search:

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=2.5+hard+drive+adapter

You may also be able to purchase this adapter from a local computer shop.

With this adapter, and following the example on this following page,
you can then physically connect the 2.5" hard drive to your desktop
PC:

http://www.laptopsforless.com/flash/hddadaptermovie.html

I hope that it goes without saying that any installation work that you
do on your PC, is done with the power off and the power cord
unplugged. Installing a hard drive in a desktop PC is relatively
simple, but if you are at all uncomfortable doing this, you should
take your computer, the hard drive, and the adapter to a small
computer shop in your area, explain what you are trying to do, and pay
their technician to install the hard drive for you to avoid the
possibility of damaging your desktop PC.

Now, assuming that you are using an operating system on your desktop
PC that is capable of reading the file system on the notebook hard
drive, when you start up the desktop PC after successfully installing
the hard drive, you will be able to access the hard drive as just
another drive letter. You will run into problems if the file system is
not supported, or if the hard drive has BIOS-level password protection
turned on; to avoid overly complicating this Answer, though, please go
ahead and follow the steps above first, then let me know if you do run
into problems related to the file system. If you run into problems due
to password protection of the hard drive, then that is a much more
complex problem.

Please let me know how this works out for you,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

The following website has information on upgrading a harddisk. You can
try to follow the procedure outlined in the webpage. If everything is
correctly done, the notebook harddrive will be recognized as a new
drive. You can should then be able to copy all files from one disk to
another.

http://www.mysuperpc.com/hdu/instructions_guide.shtml

Is this what you were looking for?

cosine!

cosine,
You may run into a problem getting your desktop to recognize the HD. 
In recent years, laptop manufacturers have changed the HD controller
circuitry so that it looks for a particular adapter (on the laptop)
and will not operate if it does not find it.

I run into this occasionally doing fornesic recoveries.  There seems
to be no workaround - as yet.

Regards
SW