[SOLVED] What happens

[nbartolo7]

if I were to connect my current C:drive that has windows on it, to another computer that already has windows on it:

- Will the system not know what to do with it and crash? Or will it be considered a secondary drive and I will have access to some stuff?

- Will I be able to copy paste stuff to and from it?

I am asking before trying, because I want to do a fresh Windows install on a new SSD drive I got, but don't know what I should do with my current C:drive. Back it up and wipe it, or leave it as is and connect it as secondary drive?....

Any recommendations?

 

[mu_p1]

You will have a dual-boot setup if you install a drive with Windows on it onto another computer.
But you may have some issues.

 

[kanewolf]

if I were to connect my current C:drive that has windows on it, to another computer that already has windows on it:

- Will the system not know what to do with it and crash? Or will it be considered a secondary drive and I will have access to some stuff?

- Will I be able to copy paste stuff to and from it?

I am asking before trying, because I want to do a fresh Windows install on a new SSD drive I got, but don't know what I should do with my current C:drive. Back it up and wipe it, or leave it as is and connect it as secondary drive?....

Any recommendations?

You should be able to copy to/from the drive. Assuming you don't change the BIOS, the PC will ignore the second drive from a boot perspective and assign it a drive letter as a data drive.
The above statement of "dual boot" is not accurate, in that most random motherboard changes (which is what moving a bootable hard drive around really is) results in a a non-bootable situation. So it is likely that even if you changed the BIOS to try and boot from the "foreign" drive it would not succeed.

 

[mu_p1]

You should be able to copy to/from the drive. Assuming you don't change the BIOS, the PC will ignore the second drive from a boot perspective and assign it a drive letter as a data drive.
The above statement of "dual boot" is not accurate, in that most random motherboard changes (which is what moving a bootable hard drive around really is) results in a a non-bootable situation. So it is likely that even if you changed the BIOS to try and boot from the "foreign" drive it would not succeed.

I didn't mean you could take a drive from another system, I mean getting a blank drive and installing Windows to that.

 

[nbartolo7]

You should be able to copy to/from the drive. Assuming you don't change the BIOS, the PC will ignore the second drive from a boot perspective and assign it a drive letter as a data drive.
The above statement of "dual boot" is not accurate, in that most random motherboard changes (which is what moving a bootable hard drive around really is) results in a a non-bootable situation. So it is likely that even if you changed the BIOS to try and boot from the "foreign" drive it would not succeed.

Thank you. Ok. And what from the old C drive which would now be recognized as the D drive like you said, could I access? Pretty much all files, except system files?

Also, stupid question, but, is wiping a drive and doing fresh windows install on it, produce the exact same result as installing windows on a brand-new drive?

 

[kanewolf]

Thank you. Ok. And what from the old C drive which would now be recognized as the D drive like you said, could I access? All files?

Also, stupid question, but, is wiping a drive and doing fresh windows install on it, the exact same as installing windows on a brand-new drive?

As long as it was not encrypted with bitlocker or something. If you just want to access existing data, a USB dock is more convenient.

 

[nbartolo7]

If you just want to access existing data, a USB dock is more convenient.

More convenient than?

 

[kanewolf]

More convenient than?

More convenient than?

Hzving to open the case, find power and data cables, etc.

 

[nbartolo7]

Since I'm anyway gonna format my drive or install windows on a new drive, can i switch to W11? Or will that cause problems when I will try to restore my backup from my windows 10 stuff from old drive?

 

[nbartolo7]

Hzving to open the case, find power and data cables, etc.

Right.