[SOLVED] Found old hard drives, can I just plug them straight into PC?

[Marcodonna]

Hi, sorry for the confusing title.

My parents have found 2 hard drives from old family PC's. They want me to try and extract all the photos and documents and put them onto an external hard drive.
I'm pretty sure each of those hard drives has an installation of Windows 7 or XP. If I plug them into my computer will it ignore the instance of windows? or do I need to uninstall the hard drives I currently have installed then install the old ones?

Any help is appreciated!!

 

[USAFRet]

The best way by far is with a USB-SATA dock.
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Docking-Station-Support/dp/B0099TX7O4

You only power it up after the main system is already running on its own OS.
No conflicts, and much less possibility of virus action.

 

[popatim]

Definitely use a USB drive adapter, dock, or enclosure. Why risk plugging in anything that's in an unknown condition directly into your PC and risk frying it.