I was messing around with my friend's old computer. I was taking apart little by little. When i stumble upon his HDD. Which made me wonder if i could connected to his newer PC. If i do connect the old HDD to the motherboard would it affect the newer PC overall?

Reply

There is no problem connecting it to a newer PC, as long as the new PCs motherboard has the right connector (presumably an IDE connection). An extra HDD will draw a small amount of extra power (around 10W), so if the new PC is already very close to its limit then be careful. Otherwise there should be no problem. Most newer BIOSs and motherboards will automatically detect and configure the hard drive to work, so give it a go. If for some reason it doesn't work you can always take it out again.

Reply

How can i check to see the computer's power limitations? Control panel? Lets stay that i do connected and my friends BIOS does not recognizes it automatically. How can i install it manually?

Reply

There is no manual way to install a hard drive, except for connecting the cables and what not. I would say the best thing to do is boot up your computer and pay attention to the screen if you got one of those motherboards that display the boot sequence on your monitor watch out to see if the second hard drive shows up. If not wait for it to finish loading and then check the my computer folder and see if its there, if not restart and go to your BIOS to see if there. Just remember there are two ways to connect the hard drive so if one doesn't work try the other, but if the BIO doesn't recognize it then the hard drive won't work, but thats seldom the case though.

Reply

You can install the hard drive if you have the correct interface (either ATA or SATA). You might have to format it, however, because there will be many driver conflicts and it'll be pure luck if it works without complaining.

Reply

I'm extremely lazy when it comes to hooking up old hard drives. I bought a nifty cable online. It plugs into one of the USB ports on my computer and hooks up to the hard drive's connector. It also plugs in, so the hard drive gets power. So the old, internal hard drive is now an external storage device. A really cheap flash drive...with a TON of space...basically.

The cable cost me, like, 35 dollars, which is a lot cheaper than the price difference between an internal hard drive and an external one of the same size. You can also buy enclosures and such to keep dust and crud out of the hard drive. Or just disconnect it and stick it in a drawer when you aren't using it.

Reply

If your plan is to use the old HD to format and install fresh OS, or use it as a backup/storage space the answer is yes (as mentioned above assuming the old HD and new motherboard are compatible).

However, if you are under the impression that the old HD with old OS will work with the new motherboard and new PC configuration chances are very slim. Since the Windows 2000, Microsoft's HCL made sure that you can't just swap any HD and make it work (thank a lot Bill ). The last OS to do this was Windows 98SE. And we all know what kind of junk Windows ME was... and I'm beginning to feel that Windows Vista may share the much "boos" as Windows ME.

All other *nix OS may recover from one set of hardware profile to another without giving you a headache.

FolkRockFan
I, too, picked up miniIDE/IDE/SATA to USB cable converter and it has made my PC repair gig much easier. God bless the geeks for thinking that one up It's about time!

 

 

 

Reply

yes sure you can connect a new hard disk to an old PC but by the way you must verify whether the hard disk is SATA or PATA that is serial or parellel ,if your computer is quite old it may support only PATA abd not SATA , Check for this and then try connecting

Reply