Hard drive dock

I have a hard drive dock and just got a new computer. What will happen if I try to put my old hard drive in to the usb hard drive dock? will it be usable or do I need to format it first?

It should be recognized as an external, and let you access the files. If you use the same user account, you won't have any issues. If you use a different user account, you may have to take ownership of the files before accessing them.

Hi there

What sort of computer is it -- if it's like a NAS / miniserver / microserver then it will have a number of HDD bays where you can just mount the HDD into the caddy (usually 4 screws is all that's needed) and then insert into the bay. Depending on the machine (Hot swappable or Non Hot swappable) you might need to re-boot -- and if it's RAID you'll have to add the HDD to a RAID array.

If it's an external device that you connect via USB port on the computer then Windows will simply recognize it as an external HDD. Windows can INSTALL but not BOOT WINDOWS from this type of device - unless you have a Windows to Go system. Linux can boot from an external USB device.

If external but connected to an Esata port if you are lucky enough to have that type of external connection the computer should recognize it as a "normal HDD" and WINDOWS will be able to be installed on it and also boot from it.

Without knowing the computer you are connecting this to - it's difficult to give a more specific answer.

Cheers
jimbo

Never mind I think I solved my own problem