Move old hard drive to new computer

[gailfriend]

Hello,
I had a Compaq Presario sr5130nx using windows vista, but the power supply went in it. My mother gave me her computer to use, it is a Dell Dimension E310 with windows XP. I have 4 years worth of pictures and music (over 6,000 songs for my ipod which also needs to be replaced). Someone told me I can take the hard drive from the Compaq and install it in the Dell, and that I could use the old hard drive as an external drive. I would just be happy if I could retrieve the pics from the old drive. Can any one help me please, if it's not real complicated I believe that I can just do it myself, but need a starting point.

 

[swifty_morgan]

if it has a ribbon cable you need to move the jumper to slave and put it on the right connector.
if sata you need to install that drive and go into the bios and make sure it sees it and make the main drive first boot. you should be able to boot retrieve your pics......... or you could "hot swap after boot up. windows should find the drive and then you should be able to get pics. always write your stuff to a disc as you go. that way you will have less worries after something happens.

 

[gailfriend]

Best answer selected by gailfriend.