Swapping HDD

[RonaldMcDank120]

I have an old Toshiba laptop, I also have an HDD from my old laptop. The Toshiba has a hard drive but windows has a password, the drive I have won't load in the bios it recognizes the hard drive but won't boot. Any ideas on how to fix, I believe its a driver problem.

[Enderman]

https://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/

[RonaldMcDank120]

2 minutes ago, Enderman said:

https://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/

I know how to install windows I want to keep what on the drive.

[Enderman]

Just now, RonaldMcDank120 said:

I know how to install windows I want to keep what on the drive.

You should not be using the drive of one PC on the hardware of another computer.

You need to do a clean install.

 

If you want to get your files saved first, then plug it into a working computer that already has an OS and remove your files.

[RonaldMcDank120]

25 minutes ago, Enderman said:

You should not be using the drive of one PC on the hardware of another computer.

You need to do a clean install.

 

If you want to get your files saved first, then plug it into a working computer that already has an OS and remove your files.

I messed around with the bios and got it to work.

[Enderman]

3 minutes ago, RonaldMcDank120 said:

I messed around with the bios and got it to work.

Yeah but windows isn't going to be working properly in the background.

There are plenty of issues with moving windows to another computer like that, such as programs not working correctly, windows updates failing, BSODs, etc.

You're going to have to end up clean installing anyway to fix those problems in the next few months.

[My_Display_Nmae]

Is it because the windows registry is already set up for the first computer and won't recognize the hardware or setting of the other one? I'm asking because I'm planning on updating my system too and was debating whether to try that clean install (always recommended in all tech guides) or just try plugging in the old OS drive ( win 10 BTW) and seeing if that works. 

[Riesling]

Couldn't you try and connect the drive as an external volume to transfer stuff off of it?

AFAIK, booting windows installed on one computer on another computer can cause quite a few problems(I've tried it before), but it could boot up long enough for you to transfer files off it.

Sorry, I know it's not much help.