Question Adding Old PC SSD to new prebuilt

[G_T]

My mobo on my 11 year old PC (Dell XPS 8700, Win 10) finally died and I've purchased a new prebuilt PC (Win 11). There is an open HDD bay that I would like to add my old SSD to, a 1 TB Samsung EVO 860. This was the boot drive for the old computer.

The old SSD, in addition to Windows, has several video editing programs and games on it. Would the best way to add these to the new build be:

- use an adapter to transfer the files to the new computer (amazon link to adapter): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BIE996S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

-open the case and install the 'old ssd', go through the process for Win 11 to recognize it, then wipe the previous OS

-other ?

Since the Windows versions are different between PCs, as well as mobo and gpu, I'm guessing just adding the SSD as a secondary hard drive won't be plug and play, and the programs and games won't just work. Just a guess though.

Any help is appreciated, I've tried to find a cohesive solution but have found myself spinning in circles on the best method forward.

 

[RARRAF]

you should be fine just plugging it in to new prebuilt should just come up as secoundary drive the games not sure but worth trying out with steam they are fine normally.

 

[Lutfij]

You're advised to reinstall the OS if you intend to recycle the drive off the old system into a new one. If you have an OS on it...with all app's and games, then you're best off backing up critical data off of it, via a USB driven drive dock/adapter. Don't have both drives hooked to your platform at the same time prior to powering up the system, you will encounter an issue.

 

[G_T]

You're advised to reinstall the OS if you intend to recycle the drive off the old system into a new one. If you have an OS on it...with all app's and games, then you're best off backing up critical data off of it, via a USB driven drive dock/adapter. Don't have both drives hooked to your platform at the same time prior to powering up the system, you will encounter an issue.

Thanks for the reply.

I will not be booting from the old drive, but would like to use the programs and games from it. I'll use the prebuilts OS.

 

[G_T]

you should be fine just plugging it in to new prebuilt should just come up as secoundary drive the games not sure but worth trying out with steam they are fine normally.

Thanks for the reply. The games are not steam, but are Windows games, so not sure how going from a Win 10 pc to a Win 11 will work out. Hoping the programs will work smoothly as well.

Likely, I'll plug the old drive into the USB adapter, back it up, wipe the OS off of it, and try installing it into the new PC. If I need to reinstall things, at least I'll have the old files from the backup to add back in.

 

[Lafong]

From your explanation, I gather that the old SSD contains some installed programs and possibly some personal data...Word files, jpegs, mp3s, video files, etc.

I wouldn't expect the installed programs on the old SSD to work properly when booted from the new SSD. Those programs are candidates for reinstallation.

The PC should boot fine from the new SSD when both drives are connected. You can copy any personal data files from old to new directly. I don't see why you'd need the adapter.

I don't think you can "wipe the previous OS" from the old drive without wiping whatever else is on that OS partition. Drive wiping is typically a wipe everything or wipe nothing proposition.

 

[G_T]

From your explanation, I gather that the old SSD contains some installed programs and possibly some personal data...Word files, jpegs, mp3s, video files, etc.

I wouldn't expect the installed programs on the old SSD to work properly when booted from the new SSD. Those programs are candidates for reinstallation.

The PC should boot fine from the new SSD when both drives are connected. You can copy any personal data files from old to new directly. I don't see why you'd need the adapter.

I don't think you can "wipe the previous OS" from the old drive without wiping whatever else is on that OS partition. Drive wiping is typically a wipe everything or wipe nothing proposition.

Appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Sounds like I will need to reinstall the programs, which include video editing, finance, and gaming, onto the new PC's hard drive. Once the actual programs are installed on the new SSD, do you think it will be easy to use the old files to upload the data from the previous 'old' drive? Hoping I don't have to start over on the video projects, years of financial data, and game save date.

I clearly misused the term wipe. I was wondering if I could remove the OS from the old SSD in order to prevent any problems the computer might have with a secondary drive containing a different OS. Once I've backed everything from the old SSD up, and have the programs up and running, I'll format the old SSD and start from scratch.

 

[PsychoPsyops]

If you can locate the files that aren't programs, there shouldn't be a problem dragging and dropping them over to your new drive.