add an internal hard drive from an older computer another computer

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jnybob11

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Aug 10, 2014
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Can I add a hard drive from an older computer to a desktop that is using windows xp? I would use it for storage and backup files. Thanks for your help.
 
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It depends entirely on the interface the drive is running, although I believe it is possible to get adapters.

In all likely hood it's running a possibly older generation of SATA, which would make it easy to put in to a more recent computer.
If the old drive had an OS on it, you won't be able to use that OS, you'll only be able to access certain files from it. If you don't need that however, it should be simple enough to format the new drive entirely and go from there.

Due to its age you might notice it being slightly slower than a modern drive, but not by too much.
(In both overall ability and interface speed limitations).

Another factor to consider is the size, if it's a 2.5" drive you may well need a caddy to secure it...
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It depends entirely on the interface the drive is running, although I believe it is possible to get adapters.

In all likely hood it's running a possibly older generation of SATA, which would make it easy to put in to a more recent computer.
If the old drive had an OS on it, you won't be able to use that OS, you'll only be able to access certain files from it. If you don't need that however, it should be simple enough to format the new drive entirely and go from there.

Due to its age you might notice it being slightly slower than a modern drive, but not by too much.
(In both overall ability and interface speed limitations).

Another factor to consider is the size, if it's a 2.5" drive you may well need a caddy to secure it properly to the new case. If it's 3.5" most cases will come with more than one hard drive slot.

It should work fine, but do double check. If it's a super old drive running a non-modern interface you could probably pick up an enclosure for pretty cheap and just turn it into an external drive. Might be slightly slower but still usable.
 
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GorfTheFrog

Distinguished
Aug 12, 2009
183
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18,815
Hi -
It will depend on the physical connection of the "older" drive.

If you're moving a SATA disk from one system to another, then no problem.

If the interface is an older IDE, then it won't work unles your board has an IDE connection.

If you're moving from an old XP machine to another Windows machine, you'll not need to re-format it, unless you need to upgrade or change the file system.

Also, keep in mind that the older drive is likely to be significantly slower. Storage and backup would be just fine, but I would not use it for swap space or anything that will impact system performance.

Finally, use a tool like Passmark's DiskCheckup just to confirm that the disk is still passing the SMART tests and not ont the verge of failure.

http://passmark.com/products/diskcheckup.htm

Hope this helps.

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