Moving Hard Drive Data from Old Broken Computer to Warranty Replacement Computer

Question

I had a Dimension XPS 8200 that was in last year of extended warranty and would not power up. Dell tried to fix it by replacing parts with no luck, and I just received a refurbished XPS 8400 in a system exchange.  This actually has a bigger hard drive and newer parts. My issue is that on the old computer's hard drive, I have lots of expensive software and programs as well as personal things like software and music that I want to get on the new machine.  Is there a simple way to do this?  Like just take the old HD out and install it in a slot in the new machine? How do I copy the data without mixing up the Windows software or service packs or whatever?   thanks in advance chris conklin Honolulu

osprey4 · Answer

You have two choices. Clone the old drive onto the new drive, or install the old drive in the new machine and copy over what you need.

Cloning has a couple drawbacks. The Windows installation on your old drive may not work on the new system. I'm willing to bet it won't. But it's the only way to save your installed programs.

Installing the old drive as slave seems the better way to go, but it will require that you install programs from your old system onto the new system. This is perfectly legal, since your old drive will presumably be sent back to Dell and erased.

Chris Conklin · Answer

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, the hard drive in my older computer (8200) with the 80 pin connector is not compatible, according to Dell tech support, with my new machine. I tried to connect it and sure enough they are right.

So now I'm faced with trying to do some kind of data recovery operation from the old hard drive. I've heard that commercial firms do this. I have like 25GB worth of stuff, any idea the best way to go about this?

thanks

chris conklin

osprey4 · Answer

Do you have any friends with a DVD burner that could do this for you?

ejn63 · Answer

You can install the hard drive in place of the CD/DVD drive temporarily on the new system to copy your data.

Any programs you have will need to be reinstalled from the original media - you cannot simply copy them.

Chris Conklin · Answer

Wow great suggestion.  I'm doing it now and it will take a while but is working like a champ.  Wonder why Dell Tech support didn't suggest it.... thanks again chris conklin

Storage, Drives & Media

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