I have an old laptop. About 4 years ago, the screen DIED, so I packed it away and forgot about it, planning to deal with it "some day". I forgot completely that I even had the THING until someone asked me for an old family picture that was stored on it. There are several pics/videos on it that I would like to get back. In the past 4 years, I have moved 3 times, and the computer has spent a lot of time inside self-storage units and most recently, my storage shed. It's in a box, but I know it has GOTTEN both extremely hot and extremely cold inside the buildings. No SUN exposure though. This past week it was 100 degrees with a heat index of 115, and that got me to worrying. I still need to go through boxes and find the computer, but assuming I do this, I have no way of knowing if it works or not because the screen died long ago. Is it likely that data from the hard drive data will be recoverable after all this time and temp extremes, or is the data likely destroyed? I have no idea exactly how cold or how hot it's gotten within the storage facilities, but I have to assume below 0 and over 120. I am not concerned about the computer itself, as it was already broken. I just want my data back All is not lost til you try...
See Here...

You will need a laptop to IDE converter cable... approx. 7 Bucks from any PC store...

Or the other option would be an external USB enclosure that accomadates laptop HDD's...more money...

Best of LUCK...Thank you Is it likely there is still data on there though? Or is it common for temperature extremes to cause the data to be lost? I'm sorry, I just really know nothing about this.Can't tell you til you try...