Solved Swapping hdd question

[PBzeer]

I understand the issues with trying to swap an hdd to a different pc. What I don't know, is if trying will screw up the hdd for putting it back in the old pc. (Yes, I'd do an image disc first)

In this case, I would be going from a Toshiba laptop with AMD Sempron chip, DDR2 RAM to a Toshiba laptop with an AMD A6 chip and DDR3 RAM. I realize it probably won't work, I'm just wondering if it would screw up the disc for putting it back in the old machine?

 

[AddRAM]

Why aren`t you just buying a new drive for this other PC ??

But no it should not hurt the drive at all.

Why did you think it would ?

Are you saying you want to boot from it in this other machine ?

 

[PBzeer]

I basically just want to run what's on the disk (some old stuff I can't get to work on reinstall) on a different machine.

 

[AddRAM]

In theory, you should be able to browse that drive and do whatever you want, but that drive is no longer C is it ?

This is where some confusion will come into play.

The program you`re trying to run was in C on the other PC and now it`s using another letter, so the program runs around the system trying to find this particular program and eventually your PC melts

 

[PBzeer]

No, I meant run the old disk as the OS (making it C).

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

No, I meant run the old disk as the OS (making it C).

Nope, pretty much no can do due to driver and hardware differences. If you are wanting to extract files from one PC's drive to another PC, you need to either copy them from the old PC to a thumb drive if the old drive is still in the original PC, assuming it's still functional, or use a dock connected to the new PC and plug the old drive into the dock.

 

[PBzeer]

Thanks for the help. Doesn't really tell me what I wanted to know, but so it goes.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Thanks for the help. Doesn't really tell me what I wanted to know, but so it goes.

In your first post it appeared that you wanted to take a drive out of one PC and try to boot from it on another PC, saying you realize that it probably wouldn't work but was worried if it would ruin the drive for use in the original machine. AddRAM replied that it wouldn't hurt the drive.

You then clarified that you did want to boot from the drive in another machine. I responded that you probably wouldn't be able to due to hardware and driver differences. You then responded it wasn't you were asking.

So, pray tell, just what the big, fat, hairy heck are you asking?

 

[AddRAM]

There`s only 1 way to find out, put the drive in the other PC and see if it boots, it will not harm the drive.

I doubt if it`ll boot. Let us know what happens when you try.

 

[PBzeer]

My mistake, poorly worded. It's not the physical drive I was concerned with, it's the OS on the drive still functioning after attempting the swap, if I put it back in the machine I took it out of.

Hopefully, that's a clearer question.

 

[AddRAM]

Same answer applies. Either it`ll boot or it won`t. You`ll just get a blue screen if it won`t boot.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

My mistake, poorly worded. It's not the physical drive I was concerned with, it's the OS on the drive still functioning after attempting the swap, if I put it back in the machine I took it out of.

Hopefully, that's a clearer question.

It's highly unlikely that you will damage the OS but, since there are never any guarantees, it would be wise to make an image of the drive before swapping it out, just in case things go pear shaped.

 

[PBzeer]

Thanks, that's what I wanted to know.