Failed PC. Move hard drive

Norman_Castle

My pc failed recently. No power anywhere. I'm guessing its the psu. I have been given a pc of similar age, 2004 which is ok but I would preferably like to use my old hard drive. Swopping the psu is a possibility but the newer pc has a better cpu and the potential for more memory. I understand I cannot simply swop hard drives as the new one would not be recognised. Is that right? Can I install the old drive as a second drive and access it this way. Both drives have XP on them, my old drive also has Ubunto on it. Deleting anything from either drive is not an option at present.

Yorksboy

Hi

In the first instance I would just swap it and see what happens. You may need to load some drivers etc. you may also find hat Windows needs reactivating, if this fails online then you will need to call Microsoft. Please be aware that if your Windows license is an OEM version then it is licensed to the original PC. Microsoft may consider that this is a major hardware change and not want to reactivate your license key!

victor2

If the new computer's motherboard has connectors compatible with the old hard drive (look at the old drive to see), then you can probably install it as a second drive, using the connector(s) from the old PC if necessary. You may have to change a jumper on the second drive to indicate it is not a master drive, if it is an older one.
Alternatively, you could buy a USB caddy and connect it as a second drive that way.

almillar

Can I install the old drive as a second drive and access it this way

This is the way forward, subject to the right connectors. Open both computers up.
Ideally, both hard drives are SATA. Google it to see what it looks like). They may be IDE (or ATA or PATA) which would be the older style, long rectangular plug with loads of pins and a ribbon cable.
You're only really stuck if the 'new' computer doesn't have IDE, but I'm sure it will. Use the ribbon cable from the 'old' pc if you need to.
Here's the important part, once you've worked out you can physically connect the drive. BEFORE you start your computer up with them both connected, make sure you know how to get into the BIOS (usually banging away at Delete, F2, F8, F10 or F12 at the very start when you turn the computer on). When you're in there, you want to familiarise yourself with the startup disks. It varies from computer to computer, but you need to find out how to decide which HARD DRIVE (not CD etc) starts first. When you connect the new drive, by whatever method, the computer may try to start from it. DO NOT LET IT. Connect it, turn it on, go STRAIGHT into the BIOS, and make sure the drive that 'new' PC's original drive is the one it starts from.
Then you can boot into Windows, and it might need to install drivers and reset for the newly installed drive, after which it'll appear as 'E:' or similar in My Computer and you can get in there and start copying stuff over. (don't just copy stuff from Program Files to Program Files though).