how to copy from one hd to another

robertson5347 · Jan 10, 2014

I have two h-p g56 laptops. One has been giving me problems booting up. In the process of trying to fix it, I went into the wrong recovery program. It started deleting the files and I could not stop it so I turned off the power. After that I can't get past the restore function (no restore points and can't manually set one. My question is can I remove the h.d. on the corrupted computer and attach a ata drive cable to it and plug into the usb on the good computer making it appear as a external drive and download (recover) the files that I wanted to save. Then wipe the corrupted h.d. clean and reload the software. Is the Microsoft 7 software computer specific or can I use the recovery disks from the working g56? I have recovery disks from the working computer but not from the nonworking one.

RaDiKaL_ · Jan 10, 2014

Yes you can, just like you said, you can connect the corrupted HDD to a ATA-to-USB adapter and have it connected to your 2nd laptop as an external drive, windows should be able to read the files on it just like when you plug in a pendrive (assuming only files are corrupted and not the partitions).

The Windows 7 repair disc will work as long as the OS is of the same architecture (32bits with 32bits windows, 64bits with 64bits windows). Though depending how much it got erased you might need to do a fresh install in the laptop.

USAFRet · Jan 10, 2014

1. The recovery software is almost certainly PC specific.
2. Windows 7 installed on a laptop is almost certainty OEM, and as such that Windows install is tied to that motherboard.

Those are two different concepts.

So...
First, you need to save any critical files elsewhere.
Then, you can reinstall Windows on the troubled laptop, using the activation key printed on the bottom. Assuming it isn't a hardware issue.
Recovery disks from one laptop almost certainly will not work on a different one, but you can try.

You can download the relevant Windows ISO here: http

/www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-...

and install and activate using your key printed on the bottom.

robertson5347 · Feb 9, 2014

RaDiKaL_ :

Purchased a ata to usb adapter. Attached the old hard drive and plugged in the usb plug to the good computer. The adapter has 2 lights on it and they light up (green one that stays lite and blue one that comes on when you plug it in. The good computer recognizes in the devices as a " usb to serial ata bridge, but doesn't recognize the hard drive and I can't access the hard drive. Can you help?

RaDiKaL_ · Feb 9, 2014

Maybe the disk is getting recognized but it's just not getting a drive letter assigned, check under disk manager (control panel->administrative tools -> computer management -> disk manager) if the disk appears and try to assign it a drive letter (right click on disk-> "change drive letter and disk route access" or something like that)

After assigning it a drive letter it should now appear under windows explorer.

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how to copy from one hd to another

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