Question Can I just plug an old ssd hard drive to my existing PC?

[JoshMcD]

I have an old ssd hard drive that has data on it that I would like to use. I remember it was from my previous system and the user account for windows had a password on it that I do not remember anymore. My current system already has a ssd hard drive but my user account for windows does not have a password.

Would if be possible if I just plug the old ssd hard drive and access the data without any problem?

 

[USAFRet]

Would if be possible if I just plug the old ssd hard drive and access the data without any problem?

Probably.

Try it and see.

If you have any problems, come back here with details, and we can diagnose.


If this was the OS drive, don't try to boot from it.
And if this "data" was in the default Libraries, you will probably run into permission issues. Can probably be worked around, but try it first and see what happens.

 

[JoshMcD]

Probably.

Try it and see.

If you have any problems, come back here with details, and we can diagnose.

Okay thank you I will give it a try.
It's just I wasnt sure if that is something possible or it required something to make it work.
Like if the data on it would be restricted as it has an existing operating system on there where the account is locked with a password.
Or if I need to go into the bios or mess up something that makes my PC not working.

 

[USAFRet]

Okay thank you I will give it a try.
It's just I wasnt sure if that is something possible or it required something to make it work.
Like if the data on it would be restricted as it has an existing operating system on there where the account is locked with a password.
Or if I need to go into the bios or mess up something that makes my PC not working.

See the additions I made to my post.

 

[JoshMcD]

So I plugged the old ssd in and check that it did not boot as the primary drive in the bios.
I can see the files but I can not access them or move them to another external drive. So I guess the old ssd that had a copy of windows and had an account that had password is restricting me access to the files.

 

[Misgar]

Unless the files are encrypted with Bitlocker, I can usually access files on drives from another PC with a different User Account name, simply by granting permissions when prompted.
https://www.easeus.com/data-recover...user-folder-on-old-hard-drive-windows-10.html