For clarity... the first paragraph is simply an introduction. My question about a perfectly functioning/readable/writable HD is in the second paragraph! thanks!! 
Hi everyone! I just joined to ask this one question and I might have a few more down the line! First off an intro so we can communicate most efficiently... I am 45 years old and have owned a few dozen notebooks in my life as I make my living traveling. Over decades of use and boredom I have learned to do most of my own trouble shooting and inevitably ended up taking most of my old computers apart just for the fun of it. I am proud to say I got about 3 of them back together and working.
I program HTML and have taken DOS programming courses, decades ago and recently retook and intro to computer course and my courses for Software troubleshooting and hardware repair certification but never got my certification. I can install OS's and typically understand anything a pro says but I am not a pro by a long shot! I would rank myself as an amateur user who is willing to try about anything, safely. My question...
My most recent notebook went hinky (no more details necessary) and i took the HD out to pull the info off. I put the HD in an external "case "and my other computers recognizes it and everything is there and functioning perfectly, as far as I can tell over the last few hours. My question is (and I think the answer is yes!?)... as this is a HD that had/has an OS on it, and now I have simply put it in a "shell" to use as an external will it be safe for me to just start moving data on and off of it? Do I need to prepare it in any way? Maybe remove the partition with the OS on it? As I said, all the info that was on the HD before I removed if from the notebook is still there so can I just continue using it as an external? I have yet to write to it or move anything off! Well, I did copy my favorites folder to a different computer! Thanks! I would welcome any advice! All the best!!
Hi everyone! I just joined to ask this one question and I might have a few more down the line! First off an intro so we can communicate most efficiently... I am 45 years old and have owned a few dozen notebooks in my life as I make my living traveling. Over decades of use and boredom I have learned to do most of my own trouble shooting and inevitably ended up taking most of my old computers apart just for the fun of it. I am proud to say I got about 3 of them back together and working.
I program HTML and have taken DOS programming courses, decades ago and recently retook and intro to computer course and my courses for Software troubleshooting and hardware repair certification but never got my certification. I can install OS's and typically understand anything a pro says but I am not a pro by a long shot! I would rank myself as an amateur user who is willing to try about anything, safely. My question...My most recent notebook went hinky
(no more details necessary) and i took the HD out to pull the info off. I put the HD in an external "case "and my other computers recognizes it and everything is there and functioning perfectly, as far as I can tell over the last few hours. My question is (and I think the answer is yes!?)... as this is a HD that had/has an OS on it, and now I have simply put it in a "shell" to use as an external will it be safe for me to just start moving data on and off of it? Do I need to prepare it in any way? Maybe remove the partition with the OS on it? As I said, all the info that was on the HD before I removed if from the notebook is still there so can I just continue using it as an external? I have yet to write to it or move anything off! Well, I did copy my favorites folder to a different computer! Thanks! I would welcome any advice! All the best!!
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