Transferring files from my old dead laptop's HDD into r4's second drive slot?

I got my new R4 due to my old comp dying on me (a electrical problem not an HDD problem). I was wondering if it was possible to put my old HDD into the m17x's drive slot to transfer files before reformatting it.

I'm had HP G72-227WM Notebook PC which did run on Windows 7 64-bit.

I'm not too sure what brand or model the HDD is without opening my comp up. If that is needed I would give it's brand later tommorrow.

Thanks

 

Looking up the specs on your old HP machine, I cannot say what type of HDD it is. There are two types: IDE and SATA. SATA is the newer interface, IDE is the older interface. Assuming your old HDD is SATA, then yes you can install it into the second hard drive slot on your R4. Just make sure to delete the Windows folder on your old hard drive the first chance you get so the R4 does not try to boot off the old hard drive.

 

Actually that shouldn't be an issue anyways. Most laptops will delegate new drives to the bottom of the boot order so it should boot from the correct drive. If you don't want it to boot from the old drive a bit more than just "deleting the windows folder" would need to be done anyways.

The drive is a SATA drive based on the specs list I found for the system so getting hooked up should be no issue. If the interposer is missing for the second drive call Dell and let them know it wasn't in the system and ask for one to be sent out. I'm under the impression it should be included. Alternatively you can get a USB SATA enclosure and just get it hooked up that way.

 

Both of the above are very accurate. The only thing is that the 2nd drive caddy is not included if you did not select a dual drive config. and you will need to acquire it from DELL. The e-mail to get that is [email protected] .

 

Take the bottom panel off to make sure but my R4 came with the caddy and interposer in the empty 2nd bay. If it does not have them then contact the e-mail listed above. Takes only a few minutes to swap them out.

 

What else needs to be done?

 

The boot loader checks if a drive is bootable by checking the master boot record. Removing the Windows folder will simply cause the boot loader to throw an error and halt the sequence. If you can zero out the master boot record safely (without affecting the partition table) then you can prevent the bios from even selecting the drive for boot. That in itself is risky though so I don't recommend it. I just suggest making sure the bios is set to boot from the correct drive first.

P.S. - Installing a new OS typically involves overwriting the master boot record during that process. It is usually done behind the scenes.

 

Muchas garcias. Good to know.