How to Replace a Hard Drive

Step-by-step process on how to replace a desktop hard drive.

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Science & Technology

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[EagleDesertHawks]

I have a shitty dell inspiron mini with windows xp that starting to fall apart, and I want to take all the memory and the software, and put it into my gateaway desktop that has windows millenea me edition. Is this possible, or do I have to get a new computer?

[StudioDell]

@EagleDesertHawks no. Physically the memory is completely different .

[musiclovr2]

hi my dell sounds like its boiling water, hard drive, going bad, or just corrupted?

if i get a new bigger hd will i need windows reinstalled?, will i need drivers updated?

or just put the new one in?, im not worried about saving anything other than windows

[StudioDell]

@musiclovr2 Doesn't sound good. Possibly bearings or other moving parts within the drive wearing out. Then again, there is the possibility that there maybe a different component that is actually making the noise such as a cooling fan. So you may check first to make sure it is the drive. You can use some backup software to make an image of your hard drive to an external drive or just back up the files you need.

[StudioDell]

@musiclovr2 You can then replace the drive with another and restore your backup. It isn't a bad idea to completely re-install Windows fresh then re-install your apps and restore your important files from a backup. You should also look for the latest driver updates as well.

[gadget00000]

i need help my harddirve makes grindin noise ? if i replace it do i lose my files ? ?

[StudioDell]

You should be making regular back ups of your data. If you replace you hard drive make sure to backup any files that you want to keep prior to replacing it.

[policedylan]

is that a xps 2nd gen?

[TheEliteGamerChief34]

@StudioDell my windows xp PC isn't working its broken so how can I tell which hard drive to swap in? can I open it up and look inside it to see which hard drive matches with my windows xp PC

[masondoggp]

is 80 gigabytes enough? i have a hp pavilion m1170n windows xp. can i switch my 180 gb on my hp pavilion to a dell optiplex 745 windows vista? the dell optiplex has 80 gb. i know they have to be the same, sata or ide. i just wanna make sure

[patrickjd81795]

i am trtying to make my hard drive bigger so im going to buy a new one, how do i transfer the actual operating system to the new hard drive? or is it automatically there? if i transfer the old one to an external will that bring EVERYTHING including the operating system?

[LoveThatPhantom]

Wow thanks for the great descriptive guide! My parents hard drive recently crashed and they got a replacement. I went to college for computers and we only took apart a desktop once and I couldn't remember how we reinstalled the hard drive. So now with your help I can do it for my parents and save them like $50 to have our local shop do it.

[silent69H1TL3R]

say my laptop just stopped working and i had alot of important files on my hard drive.

could i take out my hard drive and swap it with my friends laptop hard drive to be able to access my files through my friends computer safely without deleting or restoring anything?

[lorigonzo1]

@EmOKinG01 Yes. Copy and paste to an external USB Hard Drive.

[lorigonzo1]

@GoldSluger89 There are only 2 connections on a hard drive--the power, and the cable. You cannot flip-flop between SATA or IDE. You want to stick with SATA.