Old Hard Drives

[mapachex1]

I have a new computer with its own version of windows 7. I also have another computer i no longer use that has not one, but TWO hard drives, with one of them having their own operating system, another version of windows 7. I'm wondering if I can install both hard drives into my new computer without having to wipe data, since I have important data left on the old hard drives.

 

[mangaman]

You can install both drives into your system without wiping their data. I would recommend using an external USB hard drive docking station, for ease of use and simplicity. Something like this should do --> https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Dual-Bay-Function-Tool-Free-FD2002/dp/B00N1KXE9K/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1498159425&sr=1-5&keywords=hard+drive+docking+station

You could put the drives into your computer, but make sure your case has room and that your boot drive is the newer win7. If you take this approach, make sure your PC is turned off before installing and removing the drives.

 

[mapachex1]

You can install both drives into your system without wiping their data. I would recommend using an external USB hard drive docking station, for ease of use and simplicity. Something like this should do --> https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Dual-Bay-Function-Tool-Free-FD2002/dp/B00N1KXE9K/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1498159425&sr=1-5&keywords=hard+drive+docking+station

You could put the drives into your computer, but make sure your case has room and that your boot drive is the newer win7. If you take this approach, make sure your PC is turned off before installing and removing the drives.

so, if I were to install the hard drives but want to access the older drive, would that be a problem? Also, the older drives rely on eachother so if I were to boot into the older drives, they would still work together, right? Lastly, could all the drives access eachother, including the newer drive accessing the older drives?

 

[mangaman]

I am guessing the two drives were set up in a RAID 0 right? Can you still access data from one of the old drives with the os installed, using your old computer? If so, then you can put them into your computer or a hard drive dock for file transfer.

 

[mapachex1]

I am guessing the two drives were set up in a RAID 0 right? Can you still access data from one of the old drives with the os installed, using your old computer? If so, then you can put them into your computer or a hard drive dock for file transfer.

i don't know nor can i access the computer to know what raid config it was in but i know i didnt mess with it and my uncle who gave it to me wouldnt have a reason to mess with it because anything that is other than default was unnecessary. so i guess my answer is the default raid config.

 

[mangaman]

Was the old computer not powerful? As in using an inexpensive motherboard and some unknown PSU. If so then the computer probably could not have supported a RAID configuration. The second drive in the system was probably for storage. You could connect the drives to your current system, making sure that your newer PC is set to boot from the new drive. If you just want to get data from the old drives, I would still recommend that external hard drive dock I linked. But it is safe to say that the data from the drives will not get wiped.