Hard Disk Situation?

Question

I extracted 2 (quite old) hard disks from my old computer and i wanna check them out on the computer i currently have.
And probably transfer some stuff i wanna keep on them and then remove them.

Is it safe to remove my current hard drive, replace it with the old one, move the files from my computer there, and then change them back again? Are there any risks?


How do i do this..?

Answer 1

When you say "remove my current hard drive", I assume you mean remove a hard drive that is not bootable and does not house your operating system. Otherwise, you'll have no way to boot up your computer. If my assumption is correct, then I don't see any problems with what you are trying to do.

As for how to do it... basically you pop open your old computer's box and find the hard drive. Look online for a picture of what it looks like, but typically it is a rectangular object an inch or two thick with a shiny circular area on one face. Disconnect it, pop open your newer computer's box, find where your hard drive(s) are connected, make sure you remove the HD that is NOT your bootable one with your OS, connect it, and power on your computer. Depending on your OS, you may see "found new hardware."

Answer 2

No, you can't put in a hard drive from any old PC, and swap it with your c drive. How is it going to boot up? It'll have a cardiac as an operating system in the older pc doesn't have device drivers, windows dlls of the newer pc. The best way is to open up the PC box, connect the hdd as a slave. You can change the BIOS settings to recognise the slave drive, so when you boot into windows you can have access to the secondary drive. Then you can transfer the files you want to your c drive on your current computer and discard the other data or format the secondary drive. The other easier way, is to buy an external case, and connect the hard drives and then connect the external case (it has it's own power supply) by USB. Then you will have access to the old drives. The cheap external case is less than $30. The first method is also easy but you have to muck around inside the case, connect the power cable, and muck with the slave settings through the BIOS. Access BIOS via rebooting and press f8. If you don't like doing this, then the external case is easier. Just ensure when you buy the case, choose the IDE one, not the SATA. Noontec is one brand of case that's just a case with an IDE connector and some power cables and usb cable to connect to your current pc.

Answer 3

No, it's not safe.

Change the jumper on you old drives to SLAVE ( settings label is on the drive) and connect to the middle connector of the hard drive or CD Rom cable.

Boot your PC and double-click on the old drive, in My Computer, to move old files to the new Drive.

Answer 4

depending....

if u have a desktop,
you can keep your current hard drive in place and then plug one of the old one as a slave. this way u can transfer your data to your current hard drive..
if your current hard drive's grey data cable(the wide guy) doesn't have an extra plug then u can for temporary just use the cd/dvd cable...