[RESOLVED] Can I Swap My Hard Drive from one Laptop to another ?
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Thread: [RESOLVED] Can I Swap My Hard Drive from one Laptop to another ?

  1. #1
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    Resolved [RESOLVED] Can I Swap My Hard Drive from one Laptop to another ?

    What are the factors that I need to find out, and how do I go about finding this out, if I can swap the Hard Drive from one of my old laptop to another ?

    I remembered some years ago when I changed the HDD of my old laptop, I had bought a Hard Drive that has a higher capacity than my laptop can handle, Thus I spent extra money on a Hard Drive capacity that could not be used on that laptop. Hoping to avoid this, this time.

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    DRIVERS come to mind if the drives have an operating system on them.

    If the lappy's are similar Dell's or HP etc you'd have better luck... A repair install of the OS is often required.
    If you're happy and you know it......it's your meds.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve R Jones View Post
    DRIVERS come to mind if the drives have an operating system on them.

    If the lappy's are similar Dell's or HP etc you'd have better luck... A repair install of the OS is often required.
    Huh ?? Don't get what you mean about drivers . But the laptops I have in mind are all of different made. I thought the HDD does not depend of the type of drivers, only the type of drive, eg SATA or ATA or something like that ?

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    When you try to boot a hdd from another computer that has a OS installed, you will normally see the computer have all kinds of fits and not boot up
    Then is when you attempt the repair install. Normally works.

    Now if you have matching components in both computers, something I have done, then you can swap hdds and expect the computer to boot up with no problems.
    But if you still, say a Dell boot hdd in a HP and expect it to boot to that Dell hdd. You will probably end up doing a clean install from the OS cd/dvd.

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    As long as the hard drives are of the same type interface and will physically fit into the available space, they will work. However, the Windows installation on the hard drive was set up to match the hardware in the other computer, so when you try to boot Windows with the drive installed in a different computer with different hardware, like a different video chip, the drivers Windows is set to use will be incorrect, and Windows either won't boot, or you will get a lot of errors. You might be able to boot into Safe Mode and perform a Repair Install to get things working.

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    You should be able to find out the type and capacity of hard drive the laptop supports from the manual.

    Quote Originally Posted by slickcondo View Post
    Huh ?? Do
    n't get what you mean about drivers . But the laptops I have in mind are all of different made. I thought the HDD does not depend of the type of drivers, only the type of drive, eg SATA or ATA or something like that ?
    What Steve means are the drivers for your hardware components like the chipsets, Ethernet adapter, sound adapters, graphic adapter etc.

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    Part of the Windows installation routine is to determine what hardware is in the computer it's being installed on and then customize that installation of Windows to run on that particular set of hardware. So, if you then grab that hard drive and try boot from it in a different computer, Windows may not even be able to boot the computer successfully.

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    Thanks everyone for the clarification. Sorry if I didn't make my question clear. I had meant that after swaping the HDD, I will then do a fresh reinstall of Windows. What I am more interested in, is what I should look out for to be sure that the HDD from one laptop is suitable to be transfered to antoher laptop. I no longer have the manual to the laptop.

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    Unless it's a really old laptop, most any 2.5" SATA HD will work. If you'd like further details though, such as SATA I, II or III etc., simply Google the model number of the laptop or the old hard drive along with the word 'specifications'.

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    Quote Originally Posted by SpywareDr View Post
    Unless it's a really old laptop, most any 2.5" SATA HD will work. If you'd like further details though, such as SATA I, II or III etc., simply Google the model number of the laptop or the old hard drive along with the word 'specifications'.
    Thanks Doc. What about the HDD memory capacity ? A few years ago, I replaced a HDD on my old laptop and I then discovered that my particular laptop at that time could not take that high memory capacity. So I eneded up paying for a higher memory cost that can't be utilised by the laptop. I raised that issue on this forum, but since the new format on here, that was erased. Is there a way to calculate or find out what is the max memory capacity that a laptop can handle a HDD capacity ?

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    Try "Googling the model number of the laptop or the old hard drive along with the word 'specifications'".

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    Doc - I tried googling but it does not come back with what I am looking for that is useful. I tried googlling Lenovo SOLEIL E290G specifications and I got nothing.

    My current ailing laptop Sony VGN-SZ583N have a 500GB HDD that I put in over a year ago and I was thinking of using its HDD on the Lenovo. But not sure if the Lenovo would take this capacity. I'd also like to swap the 128GB HDD that I put in my Sony Z1VA a few years ago onto my Fujitsu LifeBook P7010, But not sure if these hard drives would be compatible. Any help greatly appreicated.
    Last edited by slickcondo; January 17th, 2013 at 09:34 AM.

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    Fujitsu LifeBook P7010 comes with a 60 GB, so should the 128 GB hdd has the the same SATA/PATA connection it should work fine.

    If the Lenovo still boots, go into device manager and under under hdds, it should list what is in there now. Post that model number.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Train View Post
    Fujitsu LifeBook P7010 comes with a 60 GB, so should the 128 GB hdd has the the same SATA/PATA connection it should work fine.

    If the Lenovo still boots, go into device manager and under under hdds, it should list what is in there now. Post that model number.
    The Device Manager on the Lenovo says the HDD model is the Hitachi HTS541680J9SA00

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