Can I switch hard drives?

paddy · 07-01-2009, 05:56 PM

Hi. At the moment I have a two year old Dell Inspiron 6400 running on Vista and I am thinking about buying a new Dell Studio 17. If I do buy it can I take my 500GB Hard drive with all of my files and the OS on it from my old laptop and switch it with the hard drive in the new one? The new laptop will be running on Vista SP1 if that matters. Will i need to install new drivers and shit?

**johnb35** · 07-01-2009, 05:58 PM

With it being a totally different laptop your best bet would be to backup any data you need saved and do a fresh install since the hardware is all different on the laptop. You can try doing a repair install but I would do a fresh install.

Springy182 · 07-03-2009, 09:06 PM

Just moving the drive rarely works because it's a different motherboard, that introduces several problems, like johnb35 said, backup your data and do a fresh install, always

To move data around you could buy a cheap ethernet cord and setup both computers for filesharing and move the data you need around

hesham80 · 07-04-2009, 05:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnb35

With it being a totally different laptop your best bet would be to backup any data you need saved and do a fresh install since the hardware is all different on the laptop. You can try doing a repair install but I would do a fresh install.

that is true

good luck

Euklid · 07-03-2009, 11:00 PM

I just did a HDD transfer from one computer to the other. One was even 64-bit, and now
it's running on 32-bit. It worked right away - it just had to install all the plug-and-play
devices that it found.

Springy182 · 07-05-2009, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Euklid

I just did a HDD transfer from one computer to the other. One was even 64-bit, and now
it's running on 32-bit. It worked right away - it just had to install all the plug-and-play
devices that it found.

Then you're lucky, for me it's ranged from running slowly and not working properly to Windows not even booting

64 to 32 doesnt mean anything, a modern system can run either

07-01-2009, 05:56 PM	#1 (permalink)
paddy New Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1	Can I switch hard drives? Hi. At the moment I have a two year old Dell Inspiron 6400 running on Vista and I am thinking about buying a new Dell Studio 17. If I do buy it can I take my 500GB Hard drive with all of my files and the OS on it from my old laptop and switch it with the hard drive in the new one? The new laptop will be running on Vista SP1 if that matters. Will i need to install new drivers and shit?

07-01-2009, 05:58 PM	#2 (permalink)
johnb35 Moderator Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Near Joliet Illinois Age: 39 Posts: 3,612	With it being a totally different laptop your best bet would be to backup any data you need saved and do a fresh install since the hardware is all different on the laptop. You can try doing a repair install but I would do a fresh install. __________________ Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R CPU - E8400 Memory - 2GB Corsair XMS2 (2x 1gb) Graphics - ATI HD3870 Hard Drives - 250GB Seagate DVD Drive - Lite-On DVD Burner - Lite-On Power Supply - Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W 22" Acer widescreen AL2216WBD

07-03-2009, 09:06 PM	#3 (permalink)
Springy182 Gold Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 300	Just moving the drive rarely works because it's a different motherboard, that introduces several problems, like johnb35 said, backup your data and do a fresh install, always To move data around you could buy a cheap ethernet cord and setup both computers for filesharing and move the data you need around __________________ CPU: Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 3400MHz 1.25V RAM: OCZ Reaper 4GB DDR2 1066MHz 5-5-5-15 2.1V HDDs: SATA 1000GB Samsung, SATA 500GB 750GB Seagate, IDE 500GB PSU: 600W OCZ StealthXStream ODD: LG SATA DVDRW GPU: EVGA 9800GT (Dual slot) 750-1875-2000 Mobo: EVGA 780i SLI "FTW" Case: Coolermaster NV-690 (NVidia Edition)

07-03-2009, 11:00 PM	#5 (permalink)
Euklid Platinum Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Age: 22 Posts: 581	I just did a HDD transfer from one computer to the other. One was even 64-bit, and now it's running on 32-bit. It worked right away - it just had to install all the plug-and-play devices that it found. __________________ Web Developer Buying a domain? Dynadot.com; better value than GoDaddy. Reliable hosting? 247-host.com; 24/7 support, GREAT prices.

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