Using an old hard drive for a new laptop

[infectedbyzombie]

I recently found an old 2.5 inch Toshiba MQ01ABF050 SATA 500 GB HDD and I was wondering if I could use it as storage for files. I'm buying the Dell G7 laptop with 256 gb of SSD on it and the laptop has an empty hdd slot that fits 2.5 inch hard drives. I've noticed other people have had problems using old hard drives on their new computer because it used a different version of windows. My thinking is that since windows would be installed on the SSD I should be able to configure the Hard Drive for storage without any hiccups. I'm new to upgrading parts so any feedback or education on this would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

[USAFRet]

Yes you can.

Connect it, open up Disk Management, and delete all existing partitions on it.

New Simple Volume, Format, and give it a drive letter.
Done.

 

[infectedbyzombie]

I should reiterate. This hard drive was used before and has files and the OS from the old laptop, would your steps still work? I just don't want to corrupt licenses or something on the new computer.

 

[USAFRet]

I should reiterate. This hard drive was used before and has files and the OS from the old laptop, would your steps still work? I just don't want to corrupt licenses or something on the new computer.

It will still work. The old OS on it has nothing to do with the OS on the regular drive.

To be really safe, obtain a USB SATA dock. About $20
Connect this old drive only after the real system is powered up. The old OS and whatever else on it is "just files".