[SOLVED] How to add an old HDD which has an old Windows on it to a new PC running on an SSD with a new Windows and keep old data on non-OS partitions

[Cyruzeus]

Hi experts,

I have a few questions about adding my old healthy HDD (which has an old Windows on it) to my new PC which is running on an SSD with its new Windows.

1. Can I simply plug in the HDD without worrying about the old Windows files corrupting my new Windows?
2. If I choose my SSD as the boot drive, will my HDD come up on my PC (in disk management) so I can delete the old Windows and use the drive?
3. My old HDD had three partitions on one of which Windows was installed and the other partitions where other data, can I only delete the old Windows partition and keep the other two old partitions up and running on my new PC or do I have to backup my data on another external drive and format the whole HDD and rewrite the data I want to keep?

Thanks in advance.

 

[CountMike]

Hi experts,

I have a few questions about adding my old healthy HDD (which has an old Windows on it) to my new PC which is running on an SSD with its new Windows.

1. Can I simply plug in the HDD without worrying about the old Windows files corrupting my new Windows?
2. If I choose my SSD as the boot drive, will my HDD come up on my PC (in disk management) so I can delete the old Windows and use the drive?
3. My old HDD had three partitions on one of which Windows was installed and the other partitions where other data, can I only delete the old Windows partition and keep the other two old partitions up and running on my new PC or do I have to backup my data on another external drive and format the whole HDD and rewrite the data I want to keep?

Thanks in advance.

!. Yes, absolutely.
2. Yes but with different letter(s),
3, Yes you can delete partitions used for Booting from old HDD and merge them but that would take some shuffling of partitions. If you have some private data in C: partitions on HDD, you can move them to other partition and just delete former C: partition to get rid of all old windows parts and save ton of space.

 

[TerryLaze]

You can also just delete C and create a new partition in its place if you don't want to lose that space and also don't want to mess with joining partitions which can always be dangerous.

 

[USAFRet]

Is there a backup of the personal data on this drive? A second/third copy, somewhere else?

If not, there NEEDS to be. All this messing around with partitions, it is too easy to do an Oops, and lose it all.

If you DO have a known good backup, just wipe the drive clean. All partitions. Then, copy the data back and use as desired.

 

[dmitche31958]

Hi experts,

I have a few questions about adding my old healthy HDD (which has an old Windows on it) to my new PC which is running on an SSD with its new Windows.

1. Can I simply plug in the HDD without worrying about the old Windows files corrupting my new Windows?
2. If I choose my SSD as the boot drive, will my HDD come up on my PC (in disk management) so I can delete the old Windows and use the drive?
3. My old HDD had three partitions on one of which Windows was installed and the other partitions where other data, can I only delete the old Windows partition and keep the other two old partitions up and running on my new PC or do I have to backup my data on another external drive and format the whole HDD and rewrite the data I want to keep?

Thanks in advance.

How old is the drive? I see no one has asked this but is it a SATA, IDE or even older? There are PCI boards to overcome the first two.

 

[Cyruzeus]

How old is the drive? I see no one has asked this but is it a SATA, IDE or even older? There are PCI boards to overcome the first two.

It’s SATA. I think it’s about 3 years old and expected to work fine for about two more years.

 

[Cyruzeus]

Is there a backup of the personal data on this drive? A second/third copy, somewhere else?

If not, there NEEDS to be. All this messing around with partitions, it is too easy to do an Oops, and lose it all.

If you DO have a known good backup, just wipe the drive clean. All partitions. Then, copy the data back and use as desired.

That’s a good tip. As I don’t have a backup for the data I want to keep and absolutely wouldn’t want to lose them, I think I should get a backup onto another drive (I have an external hard which could fit them) just to be safe before messing with the partitions.