Can I Move My Old Hard Drive to My New Computer to Transfer Data?
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- Опубликовано: 5 июн 2024
- ⚜️ You can take the internal hard disk of an old computer and install it as an additional drive in a new one, or consider a more flexible alternative.
⚜️ Move my old hard drive to my new computer
- You can almost certainly remove the hard drive from an older machine and attach it to a newer machine.
- You may be able to install it internally.
- Consider placing it into an external enclosure to make it a USB drive.
- You will not be able to transfer installed applications or Windows itself.
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Chapters
0:00 Move my old hard drive to my new computer
0:55 Installing the drive in another machine
2:00 Use an external enclosure
2:40 Getting the right enclosure
4:00 What you can’t do
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I have done this many times (both installing as a second drive and using as an external drive.) Great advice.
Some issues that may arise: Permissions/ownership/encryption. If the drive is encrypted (ie: bitlocker), then that intentionally prevents copying data like this. In addition, IF a new system tries to read the old drive, THEN it will often give you permission errors. Most of the time, you just tell it to change ownership and you are good. Sometimes, it is easier to "network" or attach a "usb drive" to the old system and copy files that way.
Good review, thank you.
By this time I am surprised Windows hasn't come up with their own migration tool like Mac Migration Utility. I use three different OS's and it amazes me how some things Windows never gets.
True. I wish I could take my favorite features of all the major OSes and make my own 'pizza'. I guess that's a Linux distro, but I'm getting too old for distro testing.
I’ve had some success with PC mover. But as an advanced user I was ok with it. In my last experience I moved from a windows 10 PC that did not have upgrade possibility (per Microsoft) and didn’t want to mess with those upgrade hacks. So transferred with PC Mover to a new Windows 11 PC. Everything moved well. But I did have to re-enter several license keys. And my Email passwords in Outlook.
agreed. clean install is best on a new rig.
I have done this before. If the old disk is damaged or corrupt, the new computer will attempt to "repair" the disk. This may help you recover your data. Especially if the disk was the boot disk on your old computer. A corrupt operating system will make a disk more difficult to boot from. This is not a problem on the new computer. Recovering data this way much easier than reloading from backup or downloading from the cloud. Much quicker too. Always sure of having the latest version of files.
Isn't chdsk dangerous though? It was said in a domestic (Hungarian) fórum, or is it a different method? Or maybe copying the data to a similar Winchester(hdd, SSD) then trying it with a back up or two? Of course this can have varying cost , depending if the backup drives are new or used
Hello Leo from Burt 95. Backup,I keep to stand alone hard drives in my desk drawer.
I turn off internet all my files are on my desktop. i cut and paste the desk top to my stand allne diskd and unplug them and put them in is my desk drawer. is this ok?
Good advice. Question with regards to the specific email. The OP says "computer is crashing." My concern is that maybe one of the files on the actual drive is causing the crashing in some manner. Or maybe the drive itself is having a physical issue. Using it as an external drive would be fine if one does some scans to determine that the drive isn't failing.
Just my $0.02.
No, it's bad advice. People who struggle with this should ask a relative or friend for help, there is no need to buy a hard drive closure, it's a waste of money, plus in general they're way too slow because of the slow USB transfer speed, since most people people don't even have USB ports on their computer that offer speeds of 20Gbps or higher.
How about using some software to transfer files to the new drive from the old one?
Those tools do exist, but they operate with mixed results. Often the result isn't quite as stable as you might expect.
Thanks, Leo. One question I have that probably doesn't apply to the user here: what if drive encryption was used? Will Windows just ask for the password, or does the HD/SSD need to be in the actual PC it was set up on?
You'll be asked for the recovery key that BitLocker will have prompted you to save when it was set up. (Or, if some other tool was used, like VeraCrypt, then yes, it'll need a password.)
Additionally, it’s possibly that the file ownerships may not be automatically updated. You may need to go to folder properties and adjust the security settings, as well, in order to read the files on the old disk.
Video is correct as far as it goes, but there are a couple of pitfalls. (1) USB is much slower than the usual connections of an installed hard drive. Copying a large hard drive full of data, perhaps a few terabytes, may take days via USB. If you cannot afford to go days without your data, you might have some problem with that. (2) When you do fresh installs of all your software on the C: drive of the new computer, the software will set up a bunch of files that it needs there, too. For example, your web browser will set up bookmark files, and your email program will set up an address book and user inboxes, etc. It is hard to find out where the comparable data is on the old hard drive, and trying to just copy it over the new setup will likely be a bad thing. The backup and restore functions of the browser and email programs may help you some, but they likely have considerable limitations. (3) For other programs, if the freshly installed copy on the new disk is not exactly the same version as the version used to put the data on the old disk, things may work well or terribly, depending on way too many possibilities. I have gone through this process trying to just install or upgrade to a new version of linux every few years for about 15 years, and I have never installed a new release without losing something here or there.
For (1), True for older USB, but these days USB 3.2 / USB C is amazingly fast. I copy terabytes often.
Finding the files may be an issue, but we’re mostly talking about documents, pictures, and videos, which are pretty easy to find.
Since the point of all this is probably to get your files from your old computer to your new one, an obvious precaution is to make sure you have all your data backed up first! So, if you do happen to damage the drive when removing it, you'll not have lost the data you're trying to move. The next obvious thing to think about is, since you already have your data backed up somewhere, why not just recover the data to your new computer !?!?! The downside to this, of course, is the transfer will be much slower if the hundreds of Gigabytes has to be downloaded over an Internet connection.
Does USB from new computer to old computer also work without removing the old hard drive for info transfer?
Thanks. JimE
No. That's not how USB works. HOWEVER if you put both computers on a local network -- as you do when sharing a router -- then it's possible to transfer across the network.
@@askleonotenboom Darn!! Somehow I figured that would be too easy and now I know. Thank you Leo. JimE
Another reason for not putting the old disk into the new computer is that you may void the warranty by opening the computer.
I have done everything in this video and yes the dead computer hard drive information comes up but, almost in a code form. For example:’ they come up as ‘intel, users or even windows.’ I checked every file and 10 folders separately and there is no name “document file or desktop.” Office Place downloaded it and said it was there but again, they wanted me to sign for a year's maintenance subscription to give me the info.
What do they call doc in computer language, maybe I'm not recognizing the file? Signed …Frustrated.
Some of the correct enclosures have a fan while others don't. Since it's external, does it really need it's own fan?
All I can say is maybe. It depends of course on the heat generated by both the drive and the circuit board in the enclosure. Most powered ones include a fan, that I've seen.
@@askleonotenboomThank you!
I replaced my 9900K based system with a 13900K system last year. New mobo, new RAM, new CPU, and a new 4080. I reused the case and power supply. And I reused the SSD with Win10 and all the (probably wrong) drivers. I cloned the SSD in case the whole thing blew up. But it didn't. Win10 booted as normal and Device Manager had no red or yellow icons. Windows didn't tell me my OS was pirated. I'm still using the old SSD in the new computer to watch this video.
Absolutely. I've also: 1) cloned a drive from platter to SSD, 2) "repaired" a drive, cloned it, and used the clone, 3) cloned a drive to a bigger drive and then re-partitioned it (OR re-partitioned, then cloned to a smaller drive). As "Ask Leo" mentioned, I sometimes have to re-install windows/software either because of licensing issues and/or the OS was corrupted prior to cloning.
You should never use the old worn out power supply, unless you like to ignore the risk that you're running your modern hardware with poor voltages. Heck, I would never even use the old power cable, it always gets replaced with the one that comes with the new power supply.
Modern computers require very accurate stable clean voltages, but the problem with older power supplies is that they might not running anymore within their specs, and as a result this might cause stability issues, some of which might only show up when the computer is put under extreme stress. In the worst case it might actually damage your expensive hardware! Even when you system is not under stress, and the PSU is producing voltages that are less clean than they used to be, it will put extra stress on your hardware, reducing their life span. Heck, even a hot day might trip an old PSU over the edge.
Many of these cheaper power supplies also contain a fan with a sleeve bearing fan with limited life span, and as a result it's more likely to fail over time when you transfer that power supply to a new system. Those claimed 25,000 hours life-span (but only under ideal conditions) for example will be exceeded in only 3 years if your PC is running 24/7... and if it already ran for 3 years or more in your old system....
Never cut corners on the power supply...ever, it's the foundation of your system, ALL parts rely on it!
@@Horizon-hj3yc Why would you jump to the conclusion that I was reusing an "old worn out" power supply? You have no information regarding its age or quality.
Ha! Good luck. Anything in Special Folders does not register I learned this from win 95 put all your important files in a folder in the root directory.
I copy and paste
Hope it’s not bit-locked
If it is, hope you saved the recovery key.
hello Leo Burt 95 I help build a computer in 1980 15 minutes to load Basic.
Hey, Leo, @roncaruso931 keeps trying to start things on your channel. Time to clean house and ban him.
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Why are computers called machines? They are not machines!!
Common usage is trumping pedantic definition. Good luck trying to get anyone to change.
Why do we still call computers machines? There are no moving parts. No more DVD drives. Some have physical hard drives, but not even they are machines. Nowadays most are SSD. So stop calling computers machines.
Moving parts is not the reason they are referred to as machines.
@@er... OK. So why do they refer to computers as machines?
@@roncaruso931Google it!
google it
A quick internet search will reveal the answer.