Can i swap my old hard drive into a computer

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
G

gudgean

Distinguished
Nov 4, 2011
4
0
18,510
my mother board in my hp died and i need the info on the hard drive . can i swap it in a older computer with similar hard drive and recover the content and use the other hard drive as a slave?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
well on further thought let me clarify.can i use a 160g drive from my original computer with the blown mother board, with xp installed as os, in place of a 40g hard drive with windows 2000 on it currently operating a perfectly good computer with an older athlon processor.i would like to use the 40g as a slave and reformat it and use the 160 as a master with xp?

any help is greatly appreciated as i am a newby tinkerer with an idea and a screwdriver
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Welcome to Tom's Hardware Forums!

Yes it will work. You can connect the drive as a slave; but makes sure the jumpers are set appropriately. You may also try and set the jumpers to 'CS' (cable select). Your manual will explain this in greater detail.

You cannot switch operating systems between computers by changing the drives.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
thanx for the reply. i did install the 160 as a slave and have been able to find most of my files. too bad i cant run the xp. i am totally flourescent green when it comes to inside the case so could you explain the differances?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

The OS is not transferable from one computer to another computer on OEM products. Most stores sell OEM; cheaper.

However, if you build your own, and opt for the full 'retail' version, you can uninstall the OS from one computer and re-install it on another computer. The retail version costs almost double the OEM version.

Also, on OEM versions, support is provided by the computer manufacturer, not by Microsoft.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom