Solved Adding old laptop HDD to new build, possible?

[Miyan]

Hi, feel free to move this if it's in the wrong section, Ive only used this forum once before.

I recently built a computer from scratch. My sisters old laptop broke so I bought my parts to hand my laptop down to her.

Question, my sister's laptop motherboard failed and I need to know if I can put the laptop hard drive in my pc and grab the files off it since she needs some important stuff, without it getting mixed up and/or trying to boot from her laptop hard drive or something weird.

An issue worth noting, her laptop's hard drive has Windows Vista installed and my motherboard and display drivers don't support anything older than Windows 7. The drivers on her hard drive are also drastically different from the drivers installed for my parts.

Would I be able to simply make sure my current hard drive is the primary boot drive and when I put her hard drive in, it will simply be on the side and I can move the files to an external hdd? Or is there more to it? Thanks!

Edit: I know I can physically mount it in one of the ssd trays since its small enough and I have one more sata cable, so Im not asking if i can physically add it. This is about software I guess.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I'm reasonably sure it will work as you desire.

You'll never know for a fact without trying it.

I'd expect your current HD will remain as C and your PC will boot normally, but you'll see your sister's drive as D or E or whatever.

Copy the files where you need to, shut down, and disconnect the laptop drive.

 

[Miyan]

I figured as much, just wanted some second opinions since Im always paranoid something might mess up haha. Ill give it a go tomorrow and ill make sure in the bios that my current hdd is the primary boot drive as well (it should already be but still). Thanks for the assurance!

Ill mark this as solved if/when it works as intended tomorrow.

 

[Megahertz07]

All you've described will do the job. I'll suggest you to buy a USB 3.0 external HDD case and put your sister HDD on it. After transferring all data you can format it and use as a backup drive. usb 3.0 external hdd case, Hard Drive Enclosures, Hard Drives, Components - Newegg.com

 

[Digerati]

An external enclosure will work but seems to me to be an expensive option for such a temporary task.

Installing this drive as a secondary drive in your computer should be as simple as powering down and unplugging your computer from the wall - then connecting this drive with a power cable and a data cable, then boot. It should show up under Computer where you can copy the files off (I would run a malware scan on it first - just to be safe).

Alternatively, one of these adapters are just plain handy to keep on hand just for situations like this. I keep one in my tool bag for house calls.

And I keep on my desk a docking station.

 

[Megahertz07]

As I wrote, all you've described will do the job. The external case isn't only for file transfer but also backup. The Newegg link I've posted has USB 3.0 external HDD case starting at US$ 4 with free shipping. It worth every $ spent on it.

 

[Eric3742]

You can put in your sis HDD to your desktop.
Don't do any setting, as your own HDD is still the active primary.
Do a final check by going into the BIOS to ensure your HDD is 1st boot option.

I had this done many times, and there are no problem.

 

[TechnoMage2016]

Hi, feel free to move this if it's in the wrong section, Ive only used this forum once before.
I recently built a computer from scratch. My sisters old laptop broke so I bought my parts to hand my laptop down to her.
Question, my sister's laptop motherboard failed and I need to know if I can put the laptop hard drive in my pc and grab the files off it since she needs some important stuff, without it getting mixed up and/or trying to boot from her laptop hard drive or something weird.
An issue worth noting, her laptop's hard drive has Windows Vista installed and my motherboard and display drivers don't support anything older than Windows 7. The drivers on her hard drive are also drastically different from the drivers installed for my parts.
Would I be able to simply make sure my current hard drive is the primary boot drive and when I put her hard drive in, it will simply be on the side and I can move the files to an external hdd? Or is there more to it? Thanks!
Edit: I know I can physically mount it in one of the ssd trays since its small enough and I have one more sata cable, so Im not asking if i can physically add it. This is about software I guess.

NO NEED to mount it in a tray....just hang it out the side of the case. See picture below.

As long as your main HD on your desktop is on SATA port 0 (zero) it will always be the default BOOT drive, and any other drive you connect to your motherboard will be a SLAVE drive. It makes NO difference if it has an OS on it or it DOESN'T have an OS on it. Sure you can access it under My Computer and copy the needed data files off of it and onto your main drive, where you can then save them to a Flash Drive or burn them to a CD.
I do this all the time, for my customers, when their motherboard fails, or when Windows is so corrupt that their PC won't even boot up, and Windows will have to be totally re-installed.

A typical "external HD connection":


Good Luck,
TechnoMage

 

[RoasterMen]

Installing a laptop hard drive to a desktop isn't a problem. The problem is installing a desktop hard drive into a laptop, HDDs come in two different sizes. You can put the hard drive anywhere flat but hanging because of vibrations that will shorten the life of the drive.

 

[strollin]

... As long as your main HD on your desktop is on SATA port 0 (zero) it will always be the default BOOT drive, and any other drive you connect to your motherboard will be a SLAVE drive. ...

Technically speaking, SLAVE is an incorrect term here. The term SLAVE is a holdover from the older IDE drives where one drive on an IDE channel was the Master and the other drive on the channel was a SLAVE. The MASTER actually exercised control over the SLAVE. With SATA drives the MASTER/SLAVE relationship no longer exists, hence there is Primary and Secondary.

 

[Digerati]

and any other drive you connect to your motherboard will be a SLAVE drive.

strollin beat me to it but I thought it important to reiterate as proper (or current, in this case) terminology is, IMO, important to avoid confusion.

Because the SATA interface supports only one SATA drive per cable, there is no Master or Slave. Only primary (or boot), secondary, tertiary, etc.

Otherwise, I agree with TechnoMage2016 and for a temporary task, you can just connect it as a secondary drive, as I indicated above. If your cables are long enough, you can have your drives sitting on the desktop, or just let them hang as long as the drive, and especially the drive's exposed controller board does not contact anything else. Or you can mount this drive into a spare drive bay and make it a permanent secondary drive for extra storage.

 

[Miyan]

Id rather not let my case be open with it hanging there, especially since my room is carpeted and I have animals as well. I dont have a problem mounting it since Ill just format it and use it as some extra space anyhow.

Ill get to the task this week but thanks for the suggestions, glad to know it should work fine!

 

[Digerati]

Id rather not let my case be open with it hanging there, especially since my room is carpeted and I have animals as well.

"Hanging" the drive in that way should only be done if you plan to hang it, immediately copy off the files (or wipe the drive), then disconnect when finished. It is strictly a quick, temporary option - not a setup to be left (especially unattended) for any length of time.

 

[Miyan]

My bad. I suppose I meant I dont have a problem mounting it and leaving it in there since Im gonna format it for extra space regardless. It'll only take a couple minutes to screw and plug in anyways so I dont mind.

 

[Miyan]

Everything was working as intended today when I plugged in the hard drive and moved everything over. Thanks for the help everyone!