Hard disks storage

[Beastmode999]

I have a friend who's computer doesnt work anymore so i've come up an idea about his hard disk would it be possible that my computer can boot from his hard disk ? if not , would it be possible to access it through my computer ? by plugging it into my motherboard ? by not formating it ?

 

[bobmanuk]

it is "possible" and depending on the version of windows installed it "MAY" work.

unfortunately its not something that is recommended, or guaranteed to work.

So whilst you CAN, doesnt mean you SHOULD

 

[Beastmode999]

well my friends windows version was windows 7 ultimate 64 bit but i am using windows 7 professional 32 bit , will it work ?

 

[rhysiam]

Are you trying to boot his system up in your computer? Because that probably won't work.

OR, are you trying to get access to his HDD so you can copy off/rescue important files? Because that will work and is relatively easy.
If you're just trying the latter, **with your computer powered off** you should be able to just plug in a SATA power and data connection from your computer to his HDD. If you have a optical drive in your computer, it's often easiest just to grab the power and data cables from that. You don't even need to mount the HDD properly or put your side panel back on (just make sure the disk is not bumped while it's spinning, and obviously keep anything metalic on conductive away from the any exposed circuitry).

Once it's all connected, power your computer on and boot into Windows. If the disk doesn't show up in File Manager, you may need to go into "Disk Management" (for Win10, right click on the Windows key and choose "Disk Management") and assign the volumes on the disk a letter.
Read any warning messages very carefully, because some process in Disk Management will involve deleting data. But if you carefully read everything you should be fine.
Once the partitions have a Drive letter (Like E:, F:, etc), you should be able to browse through them and copy stuff off. You may need to "take ownership", but windows will prompt you about that. That's fine to do that as long as your friend doesn't intend to use the HDD back in his old computer again.

 

[bobmanuk]

whether you use the same operating system or not is irrelevant, windows 7 doesn't handle hardware changes very well and will most likely stop working when you swap them over, and may even not work properly when you put them back to the original PCs.

What are you trying to achieve by swapping the hard drives? there may be another solution that is less destructive.

There is a reason why people suggest formatting and starting again when upgrading or changing PCs.

 

[rhysiam]

So from your PM I understand you were just wanting to salvage some files of the HDD and you managed to figure it all out? Glad you got it sorted.