Billy_JP5

Hello, i havent been here long and i dont know that much about computers, But i just bought a graphics card and it wont fit in my current computer, So i am going to put it into a bigger computer but i want to transfer all my stuff to the bigger one. So my question is:

If i swap my harddrive with another computer, will The new computer have all the stuff my old one has now? My current computer is an Acer and the one im moving to 2 is a HP, so what will happen when i swap the hard drives?

Dyre Straits

Don't do it!

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MIG-31

Its not advisable to do a straight swap from one pc to the other... There is a High chance the drivers will be incompatible and will screw up the files,Boot-up sequences etc...And may require a format anyway.

It will be better to back up your files then re-install the OS from scratch...

Just as Dyre said DON'T DO IT!

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Billy_JP5

ok, I wont swap hardrives, but i really like the computer i have now and the graphics card i am getting wont fit.

Thanks for the help.

MIG-31

Is there any room to move the HDD to another slot.. To give you a little extra space ?

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Dyre Straits

There's so little detail given about what the intentions are. But, I'm assuming that the user doesn't want to leave one computer without an operating system.

If, however, the intention is to simply move personal data from one to the other, I think we need to know that.

But, again, if the intention is to have all the Programs that are on one computer able to be used on the "new" computer, we need to know that, as well. Programs will need to be reinstalled onto the new computer from the original discs and may run into license problems.

There's just too little information provided to be able to give any significant help here.

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Billy_JP5

I have 2 computers and im wondering if swapping the hard drives will transfer all of my stuff without havin to re-install everything.

Dyre Straits

No, it won't. As stated above, due to the fact that each of those two computers has its own motherboard....which requires very specific drivers for the BIOS and motherboard to function...you have a very HIGH risk of corrupting the hard drive if you place one into the other and attempt to boot into Windows from it. The only way to properly do this is to format a hard drive ... which loses everything on that hard drive ... and then install a fresh copy of Windows onto it. That defeats your purpose of keeping what you want to keep.

But, again, you don't define what "stuff" is. So, we have no idea as to whether you're talking about photos, videos, documents, saved games...etc. etc. OR, if you're talking about programs you use and want to keep using.

If you are talking about personal data [e.g. photos, saved games, etc.] those are things that can be transferred once you get the other system working with the new video card. That could be done by temporarily placing the "old" hard drive into the "new" computer as a Secondary drive. This won't mess up the System and Boot configuration of the "old' hard drive. Once you have copied over the data you want to keep, you can then put that "old" hard drive back into the "old" computer and continue using that computer as it is now.

You can also "network" the two computers if you have a router and do the copying that way.

But, if your intention is to simply swap the hard drives with the purpose of using everything on the "new" computer like you're doing now, that won't work.

Even if you could get things working, you would also run into Validation problems with Microsoft as you would be putting Windows into a system on which is was not originally installed.

So, no, don't do it.

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Billy_JP5

Thanks, i will try the router thing, i i end up needing to do anyhting.