Moving Secondary Drives with data across OS's

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
A

AdvsInfinity

Reputable
Jan 6, 2015
2
0
4,510
Short version: If I use a secondary drive NTFS formatted on a Windows 7 machine and put data on it, can I move it to a Windows 8.1 machine and retrieve it?

Full situation: I'm upgrading PC's and currently I have the not-yet-assembled new system with a 120gb SDD as well as 8.1 in the lot and my current PC (The one I'm typing this from and am also upgrading from) that has 2 HDD's, one 1.5tb with the 7 OS and all my applications with some data, and one 1tb hard drive with about 500gb of data I want to keep. The end goal is having the new PC set up with the 120gb SSD primary/1.5tb HDD secondary (with the 500gb of data on this HDD) running 8.1, and the old PC reformatted and left with the 1tb HDD and the old license of 7 to be used by someone else.

And of course, thank for your time, much appreciation in advance.
 
Solution
Darkbreeze
Of course. NTFS is the native file format for all current windows operating systems since Window XP although some XP machines used Fat32. It will be no problem. Even if it was in a different format like exFAT or FAT32, it would still be able to read and write to it with no problems. Most flash drives are not NTFS and they read and write to them just fine. Same with cameras and many other devices.
Sort by date Sort by votes
Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,411
7,631
176,790
Of course. NTFS is the native file format for all current windows operating systems since Window XP although some XP machines used Fat32. It will be no problem. Even if it was in a different format like exFAT or FAT32, it would still be able to read and write to it with no problems. Most flash drives are not NTFS and they read and write to them just fine. Same with cameras and many other devices.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
A

AdvsInfinity

Reputable
Jan 6, 2015
2
0
4,510


Thank you for the quick reply, I had a particularly hard time trying to search the internet for a reference specifically to transitioning between OS's or how the logistics of that kind of action worked, and I wanted to be sure before messing with my drives and data and moving them around.

Thanks again and take it easy.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom