Is it easy to install hard drive from one laptop to another? Cracked screen on laptop!

sunni

Is it easy to install hard drive from one laptop to another? Not that techie minded but will try to do it myself as have personal work info on it.

Cracked the screen on my laptop which is 10 years old & just going to buy another laptop.

Hopefully can install the hard drive myself, any tips?

DE_612183

Why not just transfer the files to the new laptop?

sunni

DE_612183 said:

Why not just transfer the files to the new laptop?

Can't do anything with current laptop as screen damaged. How do I transfer files?

Vitor

It's very unlikely simply swapping the hard drive would work, not least a new laptop is almost certainly using an SSD not a hard disk. Buy a USB caddy suitable for disk in the old laptop, install the disk, plug that into new laptop and copy contents of Documents, Pictures etc. NB You may need to set the permissions in File Explorer to 'full control' to access the contents.

Alternatively you could copy contents of Documents, Pictures etc. to a cloud store like OneDrive, then download to the new laptop if you can plug the laptop into an external monitor.

DullGreyGuy

sunni said:

Is it easy to install hard drive from one laptop to another? Not that techie minded but will try to do it myself as have personal work info on it.

Cracked the screen on my laptop which is 10 years old & just going to buy another laptop.

Hopefully can install the hard drive myself, any tips?

Depends on the laptops, you say the old one has a HD, its fairly likely the new one will have a SSD instead and so wouldnt have space for HD and fairly likely has a different connection type. 

You're better off following the suggestion of using an external caddy, get the hd out first to confirm the connection type and then just put it in an appropriate caddy.

Outside of the physical considerations you also need to consider encryption, some forms are device specific so only your current laptop can decrypt the contents so even if you could get it to fit in a new device then it may not be readable anyway. That won't be fixed with using a caddy. 

sunni said:

DE_612183 said:

Why not just transfer the files to the new laptop?

Can't do anything with current laptop as screen damaged. How do I transfer files?

The laptop doesnt have a HDMI port? You dont own a TV with a HDMI input? 

MikeyPGT

If you want to see what you are doing on your old laptop even with a cracked screen, why not plug in an external monitor (you can probably pick one up from a charity shop for cheaper than a hard drive) and then just transfer the files you want on to a USB stick to put them on the new laptop.  

DE_612183

sunni said:

DE_612183 said:

Why not just transfer the files to the new laptop?

Can't do anything with current laptop as screen damaged. How do I transfer files?

ok, so what you can do is get a hard drive caddy with a usb - couple of quid from ebay - then you remove the hard drive insert it into the caddy - connect the caddy to the new laptop - navigate to the folders / files and copy them across.

Something like this - just need to get the right one for your HD - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256613325387?chn=ps&_ul=GB&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-166974-033325-9&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=256613325387&targetid=2274564709393&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9190595&poi=&campaignid=21038833353&mkgroupid=159725140512&rlsatarget=pla-2274564709393&abcId=9384419&merchantid=113590136&geoid=9190595&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21038833353&gbraid=0AAAAAD_Lr1ffzg7SVPJvLyvna2FyMBTWb&gclid=CjwKCAjw3_PCBhA2EiwAkH_j4seVDVkIZOleXdISnOS3xbpaJpUGEqU_6PDAA-XG3mAGyClEam8rUhoCUDMQAvD_BwE

km1500

As mentioned above (and I am assuming you have Windows 11 here not apple) then the hard drive may well be encrypted by default so taking ot out and putting it in a caddy will not decrypt it

you really need to access settings and turn off eencryption before removing but it will be worth a try

The encryption keys will be held on your old laptop and also in your Microsoft account so you may be able to decrypt the old drive-in a caddy if you have access to your Microsoft account

sunni

DullGreyGuy said:

sunni said:

Is it easy to install hard drive from one laptop to another? Not that techie minded but will try to do it myself as have personal work info on it.

Cracked the screen on my laptop which is 10 years old & just going to buy another laptop.

Hopefully can install the hard drive myself, any tips?

Depends on the laptops, you say the old one has a HD, its fairly likely the new one will have a SSD instead and so wouldnt have space for HD and fairly likely has a different connection type. 

You're better off following the suggestion of using an external caddy, get the hd out first to confirm the connection type and then just put it in an appropriate caddy.

Outside of the physical considerations you also need to consider encryption, some forms are device specific so only your current laptop can decrypt the contents so even if you could get it to fit in a new device then it may not be readable anyway. That won't be fixed with using a caddy. 

sunni said:

DE_612183 said:

Why not just transfer the files to the new laptop?

Can't do anything with current laptop as screen damaged. How do I transfer files?

The laptop doesnt have a HDMI port? You dont own a TV with a HDMI input? 

Yes laptop has usb/hdmi port & I've a TV with hdmi?

sunni

DE_612183 said:

sunni said:

DE_612183 said:

Why not just transfer the files to the new laptop?

Can't do anything with current laptop as screen damaged. How do I transfer files?

ok, so what you can do is get a hard drive caddy with a usb - couple of quid from ebay - then you remove the hard drive insert it into the caddy - connect the caddy to the new laptop - navigate to the folders / files and copy them across.

Something like this - just need to get the right one for your HD - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256613325387?chn=ps&_ul=GB&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-166974-033325-9&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=256613325387&targetid=2274564709393&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9190595&poi=&campaignid=21038833353&mkgroupid=159725140512&rlsatarget=pla-2274564709393&abcId=9384419&merchantid=113590136&geoid=9190595&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21038833353&gbraid=0AAAAAD_Lr1ffzg7SVPJvLyvna2FyMBTWb&gclid=CjwKCAjw3_PCBhA2EiwAkH_j4seVDVkIZOleXdISnOS3xbpaJpUGEqU_6PDAA-XG3mAGyClEam8rUhoCUDMQAvD_BwE

Not sure how to remove the hard drive?

Ayr_Rage

Google is your friend for videos on how to take laptops apart.