Question Transferring Hard Drive from old computer?

Apr 18, 2019
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Recently my old computer died and I ended up getting a new one, the hard drives in the old computer still work fine and I was wondering if I took them out of the old computer and put them in the new one would all of the information transfer over?
 

Eximo

Titan
Ambassador
Yes. The information would be readable unless it was encrypted or was a completely different format type.

I would not recommend trying to boot from it, just use it as a secondary drive to retrieve files. (Though if the computers were similar enough you might get away with booting it, retrieve the files first though)

Unless that is why the old computer died.
 
Apr 18, 2019
7
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If all you want is the data off the drive, then yes that would work just fine.
You would just plug it in alongside the boot drive, and it would display as a second drive with all your files still on it.

You wont be able to use windows off of it though.
Alright because one of the two that I want to put in does have windows on it but the hard drive in the new computer already has windows on it, all I want are the files off the old hard drives would having windows on the old drive cause any issues with the new one?
 
Apr 18, 2019
7
0
10
Yes. The information would be readable unless it was encrypted or was a completely different format type.

I would not recommend trying to boot from it, just use it as a secondary drive to retrieve files. (Though if the computers were similar enough you might get away with booting it, retrieve the files first though)

Unless that is why the old computer died.
Alright, it was not encrypted or anything, and the reason the old pc died was from the motherboard. I'm not necesarily sure what booting means (sorry i'm a noob when it comes to this) but if I put the old drive with windows on it with the new drive that also has windows on it, would it cause any issues?
 

Eximo

Titan
Ambassador
So both drives are bootable volumes. Meaning it can load the operating system installed. The old hard drive is from a different computer with different hardware. It may not be capable of booting and the attempt could potentially make that copy of Windows, well, less bootable. If all you want is files, or to wipe the drive and use it for more storage just treat it like any other storage. It will show up as a drive letter.
 
Apr 18, 2019
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So both drives are bootable volumes. Meaning it can load the operating system installed. The old hard drive is from a different computer with different hardware. It may not be capable of booting and the attempt could potentially make that copy of Windows, well, less bootable. If all you want is files, or to wipe the drive and use it for more storage just treat it like any other storage. It will show up as a drive letter.
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Alright so if I put them in will windows load off of the old one or the new one? All I want is to have the files from the old drives along with the extra storage off them and to have windows run off of my new drive, would this work?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Alright so if I put them in will windows load off of the old one or the new one? All I want is to have the files from the old drives along with the extra storage off them and to have windows run off of my new drive, would this work?
This also means what you mean by 'the files".

Your personal files, OK. Doc, music, video, stuff like that.
Any applications on it, no.

ASsuming it isn't 'broken', it will appear as a secondary drive, with its own drive letter. D, E, F, other...
Copy whatever you needf rom it, then wipe ALL partitions on that drive.
 
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Apr 18, 2019
7
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This also means what you mean by 'the files".

Your personal files, OK. Doc, music, video, stuff like that.
Any applications on it, no.

ASsuming it isn't 'broken', it will appear as a secondary drive, with its own drive letter. D, E, F, other...
Copy whatever you needf rom it, then wipe ALL partitions on that drive.
Ok the hard drives themselves are fine, I just want to get videos, pictures, and documents. I do have roms for emulators and some programs like sony vegas and photoshop on there, would I be able to pull these as well?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Alright so just to make sure I'm understanding correctly, if I put in the two old hard drives all personal files such as videos, pictures, and documents will transfer but nothing else will?
Correct.
And you'll have to navigate around to locate those files.
Possibly even Take Ownership of particular folders.

For instance, if they are in the original Documents folder. This lives under the /Users/<you>/Documents. The permissions are tied to the original user account. Even if your new 'user' is the same name as the previous 'user'.
 
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