Stuck! Need to get data off HD with Vista to a different HD with Win 7. Have enclosure, but get BSOD

S2K5150

Honorable
Feb 8, 2014
1
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10,510
I searched all over the forums to look for a solution, but unfortunately no luck..
My Dell Inspiron 1525 (bought in 2009) motherboard died recently and I had just upgraded the HD to a WD Black Scorpio.That laptop HD has Vista on it with the data I'm trying to transfer..
Instead of repairing that machine, I got a Dell Inspiron 110z with Windows 7,64..I bought a NexStar TX enclosure to put thet HD in to transfer my data. While I was installing the Vista drive in the enclosure, I realized I'm going to have a big problem hooking this up to my Win 7 laptop with completely different hardware,drivers,etc..I attempted to connect the enclosure via USB and Win 7 found drivers for the enclosure HD and said it was ready to use..The HD in the enclosure light came on and started to spin up, but then I got the blue screen...Obviously that HD wants to boot immediately with Vista as the OS..I'm positive the drive is perfectly fine..

So, how do I get the data off my HD with Vista as the OS on to my new laptop with Win 7? I have most of the data backed up on a 'Passport' external, but want to make sure I don't leave anything behind..After this problem is hopefully solved, how can I format it clean NTFS as a another backup? I sure hope I'm not hosed, but if I'm unable to connect the Vista HD enclosure to my Win 7 machine and grab the data, how do I just format it?

Thanks in advance..

J.C.
VA
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Boot up the Win 7 machine
Then connect the HDD in the enclosure. It will not/cannot boot from that Vista. It should just appear as another drive letter.

If it blue screens, then you have something else going on.