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.

    moving hard drive from one laptop to another

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Firedogut, Feb 5, 2010.

  1. Firedogut

    Firedogut Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I have a Dell D500 latitude that went out. The screen back light and LCD are toast so i am shopping for a new computer.

    I happen to have a Dell D505 that is basically unused laying around. My question is can i put my hard drive from the D500 into the D505 and will windows XP boot. I'm unsure how similar the hardware is.

    I don't want to lose my data that is currently on the drive and really have no good way to back it up.
     
    Firedogut, Feb 5, 2010
    #1
  2. DetlevCM

    DetlevCM Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    4,843
    Messages:
    8,389
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    205
    It might, it might not, depending on the hardware.

    What will work is if you buy an external enclosure for the drive and copy the data from it using an enclosure (i.e. its now an external HDD) - this would also allow you a fresh start on the new computer.
     
    DetlevCM, Feb 5, 2010
    #2
  3. beige

    beige Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    105
    Messages:
    779
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    30
    best thing that u may try is to partition your drive into 2 or more partition one for windows and the other one put on it all the data, so when u install the harddisk on the new laptop 90% the windows will not work , so u will do a fresh install by formating the windows partition that does not contain your data , be sure to backup files on the windows system like the contacts and emails on the other partition , I STILL RECOMMEND BACKING UP while doing this, at the very least choose your most important data
     
    beige, Feb 5, 2010
    #3
  4. starr

    starr Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    21
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    starr, Feb 5, 2010
    #4
  5. Amnesiac

    Amnesiac 404

    Reputations:
    1,312
    Messages:
    3,433
    Likes Received:
    20
    Trophy Points:
    106
    It could work, if the hardware is pretty much the same, certainly give it a try, it's possible for an HDD from a T60 work on a T61 in some cases.

    If it doesn't work, use an external enclosure, or use a Ubuntu Live CD with the HDD put in the D505 that works, and transfer the data from the HDD to an external source in Ubuntu.
     
    Amnesiac, Feb 6, 2010
    #5
  6. kanehi

    kanehi Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    146
    Messages:
    1,943
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    If the memory and processor is the same it'll probably be okay. Only way to find out is to try it out.
     
    kanehi, Feb 7, 2010
    #6
  7. DR650SE

    DR650SE The Whiskey Barracuda

    Reputations:
    7,383
    Messages:
    8,222
    Likes Received:
    178
    Trophy Points:
    231
    I would try simply installing it, the problem you may run into is the fact that the drivers and such are differant. You'll know this if you try and restart and it just blue screens at start up
     
    DR650SE, Feb 8, 2010
    #7