Posted: 7/16/2010 8:23:26 AM EDT
| I am building a new computer system with Windows 7. My question is, can I use my old HDD with Win. XP as a backup drive so that I can copy some pictures, files & what not over to the new Windows 7 HDD?? Any input appreciated!! |
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More than likely yes, but depends on the interface the old HD has the the interface your new motherboard(in your new computer) has. Just slave it in there(for old IDE drive) or add it to another free SATA port(for newer drives) and it should show up as another drive in the new computer and copy to your hearts content. You can leave it in there if you want, but again depending on drives it might slow down your drive access on your new computer. More than likely not anything noticable though. |
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You should be able to. Agree with the above poster. Just plug it up and try it. I would make it the slave drive and just boot up w/ Win 7 normally, copy all of my stuff, and get rid of the old drive.
EDIT : Try it and tell us what happened. You should be just fine but I need some more info. |
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Quoted: You should be able to. Agree with the above poster. Just plug it up and try it. I would make it the slave drive and just boot up w/ Win 7 normally, copy all of my stuff, and get rid of the old drive. EDIT : Try it and tell us what happened. You should be just fine but I need some more info. Why get rid of it? After you've copied your important files, format it and use it for extra storage. I've got four drives in my machine, one of them is at least ten years old. |
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Grab an external HD enclosure and toss the drive in there. It will mount as a USB hard drive, and you can copy and move what you need around. Link - NewEgg.com |
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If you are buying a new Win7 box, they come with a File and Settings transfer cable, USB to USB, basically makes a 2 system network. If you are building your own, the transfer cable is like $30. If you are reusing the case, just put the drive in and use it as D: or E: or whatever it ends up as, and it will be fine if it was formatted with NTFS in WinXP. |
| I am putting together a whole new system. Case, MB, etc.... The old HDD is IDE, the MB & new HDD is of course SATA. I'm planning on keeping the old system & giving it to my son. I just wasn't completely sure if the old OS would make for any conflict to the new one!! Thanks again.... |
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Quoted: I am putting together a whole new system. Case, MB, etc.... The old HDD is IDE, the MB & new HDD is of course SATA. I'm planning on keeping the old system & giving it to my son. I just wasn't completely sure if the old OS would make for any conflict to the new one!! Thanks again.... Good chance it still has IDE ports on it for CD/DVD drives. No conflict thought between the OSes. Just make sure you boot to the correct drive when you boot up. |
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Either the external HDD enclosure or just buy one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002&cm_re=vantec_usb_to_ide-_-12-232-002-_-Product. I use it all the time, but then again I'm an IT guy. |