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Swapping hard drives on a laptop
Thread poster: Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:30
German to English
May 3, 2006

I own 2 Dell laptops, identical model number, the only difference when new was the amount of RAM, and one had an internal wireless card.

I upgraded the HD on one computer (more storage, faster access time), and saved the hard drive. Now the hard drive on the other computer has died (no critical data lost). Can I just install the original drive from the other computer, with the hope of running all software, etc. or do I have to reinstall everything? Will Windows recognize that the H... See more
I own 2 Dell laptops, identical model number, the only difference when new was the amount of RAM, and one had an internal wireless card.

I upgraded the HD on one computer (more storage, faster access time), and saved the hard drive. Now the hard drive on the other computer has died (no critical data lost). Can I just install the original drive from the other computer, with the hope of running all software, etc. or do I have to reinstall everything? Will Windows recognize that the HD is on a different computer and force a reinstall? It's no big deal, but I'd be happier about saving some time.
Thanks, Kevin ▲ Collapse
 
Simon Gregory
Simon Gregory
Russian to English
Probably it will work instantly. May 3, 2006

If motherboards are identical, the computer will work intstantly. However, it is possible that necessary to download some drivers, as for videocard. Dell usually supplies their laptops by three frloppy disks to reinstall HDD -"on-track" and two others. They work smoothly during reinstallation and no problems occur.
 


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Swapping hard drives on a laptop






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