Can I move dell hard drive to another same model dell

[tiffany36105]

Hi.I have a Dell precision Workstation 380. OS is XP Professional.It didn't crash but will not not boot to windows and suddenly won't recognize its hard drive. I have alot of programs and important documents on that computer. So I would like to know if I can literally take the hard drive from this computer and put it on another Dell precision Workstation 380 to "be" my computer? Thanks.

 

[Sleetz]

It would not hurt to try if you have important data on there.

 

[USAFRet]

Hi.I have a Dell precision Workstation 380. OS is XP Professional.It didn't crash but will not not boot to windows and suddenly won't recognize its hard drive. I have alot of programs and important documents on that computer. So I would like to know if I can literally take the hard drive from this computer and put it on another Dell precision Workstation 380 to "be" my computer? Thanks.

Probably not, but you could try.

Exact same system, IF the drive actually worked properly before you moved it...maybe.
Different system, or the drive is a bit toasted? Probably not.

Best course is to connect that drive to a whole other system as a secondary drive, try to recover your critical data from it, and then see what you can do.

Actually, that is the 'second best' course of action.
The best course of action is to reconstitute your system from an image you made before it died, and also recover your personal data from the backup you made the other day.

 

[dish_moose]

If it's the same model you should have no problems.
-Bruce
I've done this at the University where I work - several times. Os boots up & works fine.
Edit: Assuming the HDD has not been corrupted.

 

[Nick80835]

If the hardware is identical, most likely, theres no harm in trying.