Can I put a harddisk from one computer to another?

Question

so I have 2 hard disks in one computer.

And what do I need to do if so?

Answer 1

yes my friend,i will explain a few ways of using 2 hard disks in one p.c
first you can add a second hard drive by setting the first hard drive to master(which it should be allready) and the second hard drive to slave(you can do this by changing the jumper settings),jumper settings are what set a hard drive to master,slave ,or cable select
so before you add the second drive change the jumpers to slave,and place the drive below the master drive ,and using a dual ide cable(avalible from any p.c shops)or maybe in your case allready,if so the spare connector must be connected to your slave drive
so a)set jumpers b)locate spare bay c)place drive in bay d)connect 5v power cable(loads spare hanging about in case e) connect ide cable f) boot up and windows will recognize your new drive,wait for windows to finish installing it
that is the easier way but you can also use r.a.i.d array,raid meaning redundant array of inexpensive disks,this is were you use 2 disks(or more) to increase disk-read speed and thus speed up your p.c
there are 2 ways you can use raid...the first raid level 0+1,also known as striping,breaks data into equal sized chunks that are written across multiple hard disks ,if you create a raid 0 array across 2 x 80gb disks,windows will see it as a single 160gb disk that si much faster than a single disc,however if one disc fails you will lose all your files,so regular back ups are important using this raid array
r.a.i.d 1 or mirroring duplicates your data to 2 hard disks,should one hard drive fail,data remains safe on the other,mirrored arrays are slightly quicker to read than a single disc,but no faster to write,and also because information is duplicated,a r.a.i.d 1 array of 2 x 80gb disks has only 80gb of space
this is as much as any normal home user will do in raid,but raid can go as high as raid 5,which can require 3 or more disks
you will also have to re-install windows when using r.a.i.d ,but you can find out much more from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/100110/en-us
raid array is very technical to install,so dont try to do it if you are not 100% sure you know what you are doing,a master and slave configuration is much easier asnd unlike raid,you wont loose any disc space
finally there are kits avalible which allow you to convert a old(or new) hard drive into a usb case and make yourself a external hard drive,these are good as they are plug and play and also means you dont have to open your case,which is good if your p.c is still under warranty(use this option if this applies to you,your warranty will be void if you open your case and this can mean a lose of a few hundred pounds in repairs that would have been carried out for nothing
i hope this helps you,but if you have any future problems let me know
good luck

Answer 2

Most computers have two PCI buses, communicating through a flat ribbon cable. Each one can have a master and a slave drive. You will need to setup the new drive as a slave, there is usually a diagram on the drive as to which jumpers to set. Connect it to the bus that has the existing hardrive on if possible. There should also be spare power connectors from the power supply. Your BIOS should automatically recognise the new drive. If not you may need to look at some of the settings written on the harddrive and maually enter them into your BIOS. It will then appear as another drive in your OS.
Note that you need to be careful if the new harddrive has an operating system already on it.

Answer 3

STEPS:
1. take off the side panel of your computer
2. take the other hard drive and find the TWO cables that are connected to the hard driver there
3. take off the bracket that is holding the hard drives in
4. slide the 2nd hard drive in and connect the two wires you found in step 2 plug them in.
5. When you boot up your computer press the key that is labled on the screen as boot setup or setup
6. then find the tab that says hard drives
7. make sure the one you installed is the second one
8. tell it to boot on 1st by using the arrow keys and hitting enter
9. goto exit/save restart computer
10. It should work great after the steps

Answer 4

You would have to remove the hard disk from the first PC, check the jumpers at the back of it and plug into the second PC. From there, you would have to switch on, detect the newly added hard disk in BIOS, save the settings and boot into your Operating System

Answer 5

yes. the jumpers control its use, ie master or slave. if its a master, and has windows installed on PC 1, when it goes into PC 2 itll self configure.

if its a slave, with no OS then it;ll show as another fixed drive... of course you could buy a USB cradle for it, and use it as a hot swappable portable drive. maplins.co.uk list the interface, its about 20 quid.

and of course youll need a twin port IDE lead.. or an SATA connection

Answer 6

You can do this by simply removing the hard drive by opening up your CPU Box. Then unscrew it if it is screwed onto the box and then connect it to your secondary computer.
Follow this process : http://www.helpwithpcs.com/upgrading/install-hard-drive.htm

Answer 7

yes you can just make sure to set the jumpers correctly