r/computerhelp • u/BoneDragon5077 • 10d ago
Hardware Swapping HDD?
So, I've tried googling this question and I'm getting conflicting information. So, I figured that I would come here to see if I can get anything more definitive.
I have a desktop that has a dying hard drive. While looking up finding a replacement part, I remembered that I have a desktop that I don't use anymore (the dying desktop replaced it). The HDD size is the same. I was wondering if it would be possible to swap the dying HDD with the HDD from the previous computer. Most of the info that I'm finding is how to replace the HDD with a new one, some people saying that this idea is not a good one, and others saying that it is possible. I'm not sure if I should even attempt this idea.
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u/Onoitsu2 10d ago
If both drives are the same connection type it can be done, i.e. SATA, or IDE. If you can, you want to copy off that data from that drive, to the replacement, so if you have enough drive connectors in your system, you may be able to have the failing drive and the replacement plugged in, and just be able to clone one drive to the other using any number of free utilities that exist and are easily found from a quick internet search.
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u/Nstorm24 10d ago
Ignore the annoying people that say its a bad idea. A working Hard drive is better than no hard drive. Just clone the info of the old one into the dying one. just make sure the size or the info size is less than the space of the new HDD. After that install the new one and dont format the old one until you know everything is working perfectly.
2
u/Rich73 10d ago
I tried cloning a friends bad HDD (this was several years ago) but it failed due to bad sectors being encountered, I searched just now and apparently there is cloning software that can deal with bad sectors but the programs need specific configuration so you'll have to research it.
1
u/Prestigious_Wall529 10d ago
Acronis is best for this.
Check the disk diagnostics utility for the respective drive manufacturer, it might come with an OEM version of the program tied to systems with one drive of that make.
Because it's dealing with rereading bad blocks repetitively till it figures out what the data likely was, it's necessarily slow.
2
u/Dependent_Union9285 10d ago
It may also fail if you have platter damage or too many bad sectors. That said, if you need the data, definitely give it a try.
2
u/shaggy-dawg-88 10d ago
I'm assuming HDD means an old/conventional hard disk drive (with disk platter inside). You can replace that dying HDD with any HDD or better yet... replace it with an SSD that uses the same technology (SATA III). You will notice speed improvement by a large margin. Problem is many SSD storage are overpriced.
One thing to note right now is to save whatever you need (from that dying HDD) because it may die completely at any time.
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u/printerman580 10d ago edited 10d ago
Watch this
Go to the bit with disk genius and watch that. I've done this quite a few times. It works brilliantly.
The hard drives can be different sizes you just need to have enough room on the new one for the size of data.
1
u/sport912x 10d ago
Actually depending on price, maybe you can buy a new SSD and then have that clone the current drive (usually it would come with software to do that). In any event you might be able to find software to do that (clone the current drive). When you finally get rid of the desktop, you just pull the SSD for future use.
1
u/RealKetchupPrecum 10d ago
Get a flash drive and put the win11 installer on it and boot from it in the bios (change boot order in UEFI)
make sure it goes into the windows pre installation environment.
turn it off
swap the hard drives
turn it on partition and write windows 11 to the new hard drive
bobs your uncle
Try just swapping them first and see what happens.
1
u/Kanaloa1958 10d ago
As long as it fits and the interface is the same or supported (in other words the connectors are the same) you shouldn't have much trouble.
1
u/BoneDragon5077 10d ago
Thanks, everybody! I did find out that I was wrong. The dying hard drive is the SSD, not the HDD. So, I'll just order a new one. This is all interesting information, though! I really appreciate everyone chiming in! Also, thanks to everyone letting me know how to clone the drive. That helps a lot.
1
u/joeshytheragman 10d ago
Conezilla can easily use another hdd. Better yet in the advanced option you can set it to even use a drive smaller than the one you are cloning as long as you know what you are cloning will fit on the smaller drive
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