Can I take out a new hard drive without losing the date and fix the old one in the same laptop?

Question

My old hard drive froze and I ordered a new one which I'm using. Can I remove the new dard drive without losing any data and reincert the old drive to repair it and then reinstall the new hard drive in my laptop. Thank you.

Answer 1

Yes, date & time in a PC (laptops included) are controlled by the CMOS sub-system of system board not software. Replacing a hard drive will not affect displayed dates or time stamps on documents on your hard drive.

As far as data recovery that will be determined by the reason the drive froze. Once the new drive is in place, imaged with a new version of the operating system (ie: Windows XP) connect the old drive using the cable connected to your CD/DVD drive. you'll be able to drop and drag files/folders you want on the new drive to it. If's it not shot altogether it will boot as D:/ or E:/. If the files work they should be fine on your new drive.

Keep in mind with a drive crash corrupted files that won't work are possible.

Consult an expert at a PC store, Geek Squad or similar for advanced recovery options for missing or corupted files if you have any.

Once you've copy over all the files you need remove the cable and of the old drive and reconnect it to your CD/DVD drive.