Hard drive install on computer?

[Big Bubba]

Hello to everyone,
I have a quick question. Can I take a Emachine hard drive out of one computer and install it in a totally different one just to test it without having to do anything to the different computer? Basically I am waiting on another motherboard for my Emachine computer and took the hard drive out of it and put it in a diffrent computer to test it to make sure it is working right. When I boot the other computer up with the Emachines hard drive I get a message saying that there is a hardware/software change and the system want do anything, but I do feel the hard drive working as there is a very slight vibration from it. So for Windows to boot up would I have to format or just wait until I get the mother board for the Emachine. Basically why I am asking is when I went to put the Emachine with bad motherboard away I dropped it accidentally and I am worried the motherboard is messed up so I wanted to test it in another known good computer. Let me know Bob

 

[Big Bubba]

Re: Hard drive install on computer?

Oops!! I meant the hard drived being bad not the motherboard being bad when I dropped my computer.

 

[Plainsman]

Re: Hard drive install on computer?

Yes if the other computer has the same hardware if you want to boot to it. If you just want to get data, make it a slave drive on the other computer and get the data off of it.

 

[v1_0]

Re: Hard drive install on computer?

Hello to everyone,
I have a quick question. Can I take a Emachine hard drive out of one computer and install it in a totally different one just to test it without having to do anything to the different computer?

You may need to go into the BIOS of the new computer and have it detect/identify the hard drive.

The "slave drive" is a better idea, but you may have to set some jumper pins on the hard drive itself.

It's been a couple of years since I built a computer, so things may have changed - it may be that everything is cable selected now. Back then, either of these things would show up as the hard drive "starting" (due to power being given to it) but not accessable to the computer (not communicating correctly between hard drive and computer).

-V

 

[orion25]

Re: Hard drive install on computer?

Unless the 2 computers have the same motherboard chipsets then most likely you cannot install the HDD in another computer and boot off it. The HDD stores the drivers for the MB and the wrong drivers will not work. Trying to make it work will most likely hose the data on the HDD.

Do as stated above. Install it on a working computer as a secondary drive (not really a slave if it is SATA). Then you can read the data and see if it still works.

 

[Adjuster]

Re: Hard drive install on computer?

You can do what your asking but you need to have your windows install disc available. Windows will run a check and re-register all the new hardware with the version of windows on the hard drive. This isn't a compatibility issue. It is Microsoft security/copyright issue.

I am not sure which option you choose from the windows install disc. It may be 'repair windows' or 'repair operating system'. This will not erase any of your hard drive info. It will only reset/restore your windows program. Research this a little further online as I don't want you to loose any of your stored info.

 

[i386]

Re: Hard drive install on computer?

^^^

You're better off slaving the drive rather than trying to boot it. You wouldn't want windows to replace its current drivers with those on the other system.

 

[jsfinn]

Re: Hard drive install on computer?

^^^

You're better off slaving the drive rather than trying to boot it. You wouldn't want windows to replace its current drivers with those on the other system.

This is the right way to do it - make it a slave and don't boot in to windows on a different computer. It'll install a lot of drivers you don't need on the original computer and it'll make things bad.

 

[orion25]

Re: Hard drive install on computer?

You can do what your asking but you need to have your windows install disc available. Windows will run a check and re-register all the new hardware with the version of windows on the hard drive. This isn't a compatibility issue. It is Microsoft security/copyright issue.

Unless the chipsets are identical, or at least very close, this IS a compatability issue. The MS security issue only comes into play when you try to activate windows. With XP you have 30 days to activate. You can install all you want but it will be severely crippled after 30 days without activation. I think the Vista timeframe is 3 days but I am not sure.

If he will be putting the HDD back in the Emachines with the replacement Mobo why would he want to risk corrupting the windows install by replacing the drivers. Corruption is usually the result of this. When changing a Mobo it is best to do a clean install to prevent all problems.

To the OP: If I were you I would wait on the new Mobo. Then if the HDD is bad we can help you with replacement and data recovery.