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Another option is
something like this, which you just plug your hard drive into and hook up to a USB port. I don't have any experience with external drives but it should work.
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This is probably the easiest solution if you don't have another desktop and a network. I often move working hard drives from dead systems into slaves in new systems to suck off the data. Since you have a laptop, however, the external housing is probably the best idea.
If you aren't a techie, and don't mind spending a few bucks, take the laptop and the drive to a computer repair place and they can do it for you, provided of course, that the drive isn't dead.