The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Old Hard-drive to NEW LAPTOP !?!?!

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Halloween, Dec 2, 2008.

  1. Halloween

    Halloween Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    48
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Hello everyone,

    Short story: My 8 months laptop "Dell XPS M1710" will be replace by a "Dell XPS M17 30" because Dell couldn't get a part to fix my "old" laptop.

    My question is: I would like to have my files/data tranfered to my new laptop but what should I do ?

    I did ask Dell tech on what should I do and this is what he replied;

    1. Bring the hard-drive to a professional IT, so he could back up all the files/data into a CD/DVD or others.

    2. Write down all Product keys to be re-use for example: Microsoft Office Student, iolo system mechanic, etc..

    Is it just that simple ?

    Thanks in advance!
     
    Halloween, Dec 2, 2008
    #1
  2. goofball

    goofball Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    358
    Messages:
    1,710
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    you can back up your stuff yourself. If you're using XP/Vista, there are migration tools to move your profile and associated items over (part of the OS, files and settings transfer wizard or user migration tool).
    As for license keys/serials, you should have those already since you would have needed them to install and unlock the full version of the applications.
     
    goofball, Dec 2, 2008
    #2
  3. Hep!

    Hep! sees beauty in everything

    Reputations:
    1,806
    Messages:
    5,921
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    206
    Honestly, you should be able to literally take the hard drive from the M1710, move it over to the M1730, start the computer, re-activate Windows, and install the M1730 drivers. They both use fairly new Intel chipsets and it should boot up without a hitch.

    If you'd prefer to use the new hard drive (as I certainly would) you can clone the old drive onto the new drive.

    And if you don't want to do that... I suggest you buy an external enclosure like this one ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817349007) and put your old hard drive in it. Then just copy all the data from your old hard drive onto your new laptop.

    Feel free to ask me any questions, good luck
    -Hep!
     
    Hep!, Dec 2, 2008
    #3
  4. Noterev

    Noterev Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    12
    Messages:
    198
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I think the 1730 has two hd bays.

    What part couldn't they replace?
     
    Noterev, Dec 2, 2008
    #4
  5. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

    Reputations:
    4,412
    Messages:
    8,077
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    205
    You can use software like Acronis Ture Image to clone your XPS1710 harddrive to teh harddrive in your XPS 1730.
    You do not need a working XPS 1710 to do this. If you can hook the SATA harddrive from your 1710 into a desktop via a SATA to usb adaptor, or straight into the motherboard, you can clone your files.
    To do so, download the acronis true image trial, and watch this informative video:

    http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/trueimage/
    video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj7iMAgji0I

    Good luck,

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Dec 3, 2008
    #5
  6. Halloween

    Halloween Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    48
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Halloween, Dec 3, 2008
    #6