Jump to content

Moving hard drives into new computer!

azurite2
By azurite2
in Storage Devices
 Share
Posted

Is there anything I need to do before switching my hard drives into a new computer? Like removing graphics card drivers so it doesn't interfere with the new ones.

CPU  AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D MOBO Gigabyte B850I AORUS PRO Mini ITX RAM  G.Skill Flare X5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 GPU Gigabyte RTX 3070ti CASE M2 - Round - Silver STORAGE  Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB and Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB PSU Corsair SF850 OS Microsoft Windows 11 Professional (64-bit)

Link to comment
https://linustechtips.com/topic/324667-moving-hard-drives-into-new-computer/
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

I'd suggest removing all drivers, it would be best to just reinstall windows if possible as you will have to reactivate it anyways.

Specs: CPU - Intel i7 8700K @ 5GHz | GPU - Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming | Motherboard - ASUS Strix Z370-G WIFI AC | RAM - XPG Gammix DDR4-3000MHz 32GB (2x16GB) | Main Drive - Samsung 850 Evo 500GB M.2 | Other Drives - 7TB/3 Drives | CPU Cooler - Corsair H100i Pro | Case - Fractal Design Define C Mini TG | Power Supply - EVGA G3 850W

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

I'd suggest removing all drivers, it would be best to just reinstall windows if possible as you will have to reactivate it anyways.

Will removing windows screw up my files? Also how would I go about reinstalling it? If I install it again will it override the current version?

CPU  AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D MOBO Gigabyte B850I AORUS PRO Mini ITX RAM  G.Skill Flare X5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 GPU Gigabyte RTX 3070ti CASE M2 - Round - Silver STORAGE  Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB and Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB PSU Corsair SF850 OS Microsoft Windows 11 Professional (64-bit)

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Will removing windows screw up my files? Also how would I go about reinstalling it? If I install it again will it override the current version?

Removing Windows will make everything on the hard drive pretty much vanish. 

 

You would go about reinstalling it by getting a flash drive, downloading the ISO of Windows that corresponds with the version you had previously (Windows 7 Ultimate or Windows Vista Home Premium, etc), using the Windows 7 Bootable USB Maker to turn it into a bootable USB (flash drive needs to be 4GB or more), plug in the hard drive to your PC. Plug in the flash drive. Boot the PC, it will likely boot straight to the flash drive and begin the installation. If not, in the BIOS splash, get into the menu that will show you all of your drives, choose the flash drive and press enter. It should begin the install. Note, you WILL have to wipe everything off of the hard drive. You can't simply swap hard drives running Windows from one PC to another - it doesn't work that way.

My account is almost entirely dormant. Hope you all are having a grand time. Many years of fun were had here.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
Hi there @azurite2!

 

You can move your HDDs to another computer and if you're going to use them as a secondary units you can just plug and reformat. However, since one of them is going to be a primary boot drive, all data there will be lost once you initialize it, so if you have any valuable files there - back them up before that.

 

Also, you can follow the guide steps that @STRMfrmXMN wrote - I think they are pretty clear and good written. 

 

Cheers! :)

If this post helped you, please like and choose it as a best answer.   :)
http://www.wdc.com/en/

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

Removing Windows will make everything on the hard drive pretty much vanish. 

 

You would go about reinstalling it by getting a flash drive, downloading the ISO of Windows that corresponds with the version you had previously (Windows 7 Ultimate or Windows Vista Home Premium, etc), using the Windows 7 Bootable USB Maker to turn it into a bootable USB (flash drive needs to be 4GB or more), plug in the hard drive to your PC. Plug in the flash drive. Boot the PC, it will likely boot straight to the flash drive and begin the installation. If not, in the BIOS splash, get into the menu that will show you all of your drives, choose the flash drive and press enter. It should begin the install. Note, you WILL have to wipe everything off of the hard drive. You can't simply swap hard drives running Windows from one PC to another - it doesn't work that way.

Would it be possible to back up both hard drives then wipe them. Do the boot. Then put files and game saves back on the hard drives.

CPU  AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D MOBO Gigabyte B850I AORUS PRO Mini ITX RAM  G.Skill Flare X5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 GPU Gigabyte RTX 3070ti CASE M2 - Round - Silver STORAGE  Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB and Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB PSU Corsair SF850 OS Microsoft Windows 11 Professional (64-bit)

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Would it be possible to back up both hard drives then wipe them. Do the boot. Then put files and game saves back on the hard drives.

What? Sorry do you mean boot off of the empty hard drives?

You could boot off of the empty ones, install Windows on it/them then move all the files from one hard drive to another within Windows if you have SATA and power going to those hard drives.

My account is almost entirely dormant. Hope you all are having a grand time. Many years of fun were had here.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing Storage Devices

×