Changing Hard Drives

[dscott84118]

I have a older computer that stopped working (power supply burnt up) but
would like to put the hard drive in another computer. Is there an easy
way to do this without having much knowledge of computers?

Thanks

 

[Dave B.]

The methods of doing it are the same whether your knowledgeable or not, best
bet for you would probably be an external USB enclosure.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have a older computer that stopped working (power supply burnt up)
but would like to put the hard drive in another computer. Is there an
easy way to do this without having much knowledge of computers?

I don't how much knowledge you have, but there's only only one way to do it,
and it's not difficult. Remove the drive from the old computer and install
it in the new one.

The drive is physically held in place by a few screws (usually four) and
connected by two cables-- a power cable and a data cable.

The only other issue to be concerned with is the jumper on the drive. The
jumper has to be in the correct position (Master, Slave, or Only) to match
its use on the IDE data cable you will connect it to. Also if there is
another drive on that cable that is presently jumpered as Only, you will
have to change that to Master.

If doing that sounds daunting and beyond your skill level, either get a more
experienced friend to help, or pay a professional to do it.

 

[Anna]

I don't how much knowledge you have, but there's only only one way to do
it, and it's not difficult. Remove the drive from the old computer and
install it in the new one.

The drive is physically held in place by a few screws (usually four) and
connected by two cables-- a power cable and a data cable.

The only other issue to be concerned with is the jumper on the drive. The
jumper has to be in the correct position (Master, Slave, or Only) to match
its use on the IDE data cable you will connect it to. Also if there is
another drive on that cable that is presently jumpered as Only, you will
have to change that to Master.

If doing that sounds daunting and beyond your skill level, either get a
more experienced friend to help, or pay a professional to do it.

dscott84118:
While the physical installation of the HDD is simple enough (usually!) as
Ken points out, there's a strong likelihood that you will need to perform a
Repair install of the XP OS following the installation of that drive in the
new computer. I trust you understand that. In addition, you will probably
need to install necessary drivers from the new computer's motherboard's
installation CD or from whatever source you can download them from.
Anna

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

dscott84118:
While the physical installation of the HDD is simple enough
(usually!) as Ken points out, there's a strong likelihood that you
will need to perform a Repair install of the XP OS following the
installation of that drive in the new computer. I trust you
understand that.

That's true (in fact it may be more than a repair installation; occasionally
that doesn't work and a clean installation is required) *if* dscott means
that he wants to run Windows from that drive. My interpretation of what he
meant (not necessarily correct) was that the new computer already had
Windows installed and he wanted to install this drive as a second drive to
be able to access the data on it.

I n addition, you will probably need to install
necessary drivers from the new computer's motherboard's installation
CD or from whatever source you can download them from.

Again, only if his plan is to run Windows from the drive.

 

[Anna]

Ken:
Yes, I think you're right. I just assumed that the OP desired to use his old
HDD as a boot drive in the new computer. But assuming his *actual* intention
is to install that HDD only as a secondary drive then the simpler operation
as you pointed out would be all that's necessary.
Anna

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Ken:
Yes, I think you're right. I just assumed that the OP desired to use
his old HDD as a boot drive in the new computer. But assuming his
*actual* intention is to install that HDD only as a secondary drive
then the simpler operation as you pointed out would be all that's
necessary.

Yes, and which one of our assumptions was correct only the OP knows. Perhaps
he'll post back and let us know.