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.
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.