Unplug Hard Drive And Plug It Into New Comp?

[Dancali]

I need the ability to take all my data as it is and work with it at a computer back in America. I'm not talking about simply sticking the hard drive in as a slave drive.

The dream would be to be able to somehow configure the new computer so I could simply boot off of the hard drive I brought back from Thailand.

I don't think it's as easy as simply inserting the hard drive and telling bios to boot up from the new drive. Is it possible to safely configure things to boot up and work from the drive from Thailand? I would have to then bring it back to its normal computer in Thailand in about a month and continue working as normal.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Daniel

[francois]

hi'

so, if I understood well, you want a hdd that can travel with you?

just one question?

what are the specification of both computers's motherboard ?

are they built on the same chip ... VIA, INTEL, SIS ?

the most important is the motherboard, the best would be identical MB

if the MB are different, you'll face a possible reinstall of the OS ...

partition your drive carefully, and keep all data away from the C drive, backup all sensitive data before to move the HDD.

after this, it's only a question of drivers ... what are their video-cards? sound cards? else cards? you would have to check for proper drivers and travel with a CD, a security in the case that you have to reinstall a driver.

for video card, a good idea would be to have the same brand name on both computers.

N'vidia have a generic driver for most of the cards the produce, as some others.

hope that it helps a bit

francois

[Ming~Ming]

Hi Dancali,

If you are using Windows 95/98 on your PC in Thailand, you should not have too much trouble taking the drive back to the US and making it work. The main bootup process is done mainly with generic Microsoft drivers. You may have a few driver issues once the desktop appears but all should be OK if you can download them from the NET. (you may need to reinstall video driver, modem etc)

If however, you are using Windows 2000 or XP, you will not be so lucky unless the hardware is almost identicle. The newer operating systems are linked very closely to the BIOS and chipset on the motherboard and load specific drivers for the hardware during the initial bootup process. The chances are you will get a blue screen of death while the O/S is loading. The most common XP bootup error when it is moved to a different PC is that the BIOS is one PC will be ACPI compliant and the other BIOS will not.

Best idea is to create 3 partitions on your hard disk and you can then dual boot Windows xp or 2000 on both PC's. The third partition you can use for your data.

eg 60GB Hard disk could have 3 partitions.

Partition 1 = 15gb - Windows XP Thailand Boot + all apps like Office etc

Partition 2 = 15gb - Windows XP USA boot + all apps like Office etc

Partition 3 = 30gb - DATA files

Best of luck.

[waldwolf]

......I don't think it's as easy as simply inserting the hard drive......

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If your talking about a hard drive (hdd) with a full operating system installed on it (eg: Win98/ME/XP), then it could be just as simple as installing a little utility like "BootMagic" (from PartitionMagic/Symantec) on both computers, then when the hdd in question is installed on either computer, you just select which drive/operating system you want to use, during boot-up.

Another solution might be you utilize a service like "Go-To-My-PC" where, from anywhere in the world, you can transfer/access/ulilize any files on either computer. More info and free 30-day-trial details here:

Or...if your planning to purchase new computers, you might want to take a look at the new HP models, which have a slot/door on the fromt panel for a "plug-and-play" removeable hdd.

There are also many online storage sites where you can upload/download files, and again, access them from any computer worldwide. (A monthly fee is usually charged, depending on amount of storage needed.)

Some laptops (eg: Sony) have models with interchangeable hard drives, at the push of a button.

A final note. Read and heed francois and Ming~Ming cautions. If your planning to transport a hdd back and forth between the US and Thailand, make sure it is first placed in an anti-static bag then mounted in a "shock-proof" container, such as the original hdd shipping box. Despite some claims, hdd's are quite fragile and easly damaged.

good luck in your travels

[paulfr]

Dancali

Can you explain why taking the drive back to the US and

running it as a slave to the existing drive will not work ??

What is it that you need besides the data that prevents

this from giving you what you need ???

[Firefoxx]

dancali's question is how to use his original boot drive with full OS on another computer with minimal fuss.

I was able to do it with winxp, but on that occasion I was using the same mainboard on both computers (different VGA, ram, etc, but same mainboard).

[autonomous_unit]

dancali's question is how to use his original boot drive with full OS on another computer with minimal fuss.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think others are confused by the oddity of the question, given that the data sounds important and required for work, rather than a hobby interest. It would be safest to burn the data and programs to CD or DVD and bring those on the trip in order to install onto the temporary computer. Burn more for the return trip to bring back updated data...

If the data and/or programs installed with the OS are so important that he is considering such a move, I certainly hope he is at least planning to make backups before this adventure.

But if the data is too large, or there is some other reason that a harddisk must be transported, I would recommend buying another drive and using one of the many disk "cloning" utilities to copy the OS and everything. That way, when tinkering with one disk to make it work on the second computer (or damaging it in transit), he at least has a working disk back home on which to fall back.

The other issue, depending on OS version, is that you may run into annoyances where the OS decides it has been moved to a new computer and requires license registration or somesuch nonsense. I'm going by rumor here, as I have mainly used Linux for the last 12 years or so.

[Dancali]

Thanks for all the help guys.

I think that some of the ideas you have recommended would actually work really well and I would have loved to have known about them when I tried doing this last year. It's amazing how good the computer help here is compared to other boards I check out devoted just to computers.

But I think I might just take the easy way out and buy a laptop at Pantip, get it set up to carry on my work, then just work with that from now on.

Trying to get everything set up to work with the hard drive move plan just sounds too difficult and risky for someone of my technical abilities to worry about.