My wife's computer died (power supply problems). She has bought a new one but needs to get her files from the old one to the new one.
Can I take the hard drive from her old one computer , install it on my computer, copy the required files from her old hd to a usb drive and then copy those onto her new computer?
Will there be any problem starting my computer with 2 hard drives in it?
All computers are Windows 10
Yes you can, but why not just put her old hard drive into her new computer as a second drive?
Which should work provided both were UEFI, for example... was the old PC?
Safest of course is to ensure you have a backup- e.g. a disk image before making any changes.
It depends what you want to do- if you want a fresh start, and just transfer data files, you can do that of course.
Another factor could be that the old drive is a HDD, and the new PC has a SSD, which you wish to keep.
Please clarify.
You could also buy an enclosure or docking station for the old hard that would connect it to the new computer via USB 3 or USB-C. That would also allow you to use the old hard drive for backups.
@PaulGoldstraw only wants to connect the old hard drive to a computer as a second drive to retrieve data files from it. UEFI v. legacy BIOS makes no difference nor HDD v. SSD in this situation.
Agreed, of course. When I wrote the post the alternative you suggested was still in play.
@PaulGoldstraw
Thank you very much for your reply. FYI:
What Is UEFI, and How Is It Different from BIOS?
You can find more using e.g. Google.
Thank you both. The question is answered and problem solved.
I was able to put the old HD in my computer and start it - it asked which drive to boot from.
Then I copied the needed files onto a USB drive and onto the new computer.
Everything is working fine.
Thank you both so much for your help.
It would have been quite simple to fix the PC by installing a new power supply. You can still do so if you want to fix it. I use EVGA PSUs.
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