JL Sargent Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 So my computer will not turn on after a lightning strike. It tries. Fans spin up. I measured 3.3V at motherboard from power supply and 5v/12v at power to HD cable. Pressing F2 for setup (Dell PC) does nothing as apparently no keyboard detected. Pulled hard drive and can access it on another PC no problem. I'm suspecting the motherboard is fried at this point. My question: Can I pull the boot HD out of this computer and simply install it in another "like" pc and expect the new setup to boot up and work properly? What am I looking at here? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivervalleymgb Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 The boot HD will be looking for the configuration of your old motherboard and processor. I have switched out motherboards, switching the processor and had a boot without problems. You will most likely have to go into the setup menu and reconfigure the boot menu. I am no expert, but have always had two sons that could guide me through the procedure, if needed. They are both IT pros . One is a network and storage specialist and the other is head of global VR content for LeEco. Neither live in the area though. When I switched motherboards, it was with the same setup as the previous one. It has been many years since I did this, so take my advice with a grain of salt 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prerich Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 Generally, if the motherboard, memory, and video chipset are the same - you'll have no issues with Windows 7 and below. YMMV.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 If your computer is toast, you can always put this hard drive in the new one and get the data off of it. After that, you might want to go ahead and pull the old HD out and put it in a drawer somewhere in case you need something else off it. You might want to write the password on the old HD if you shelf it. That way if you need the data in a year, you won't be kicking yourself. If the HD is SATA, you are in good shape. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-js- Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 what I usually do, since I work in this field, is grab another pc, and a connection device to connect & mount that old HD via usb, copy desired data from it to a viable pc (that 2nd one) then if / as desired, copy again either to a long term backup location (archive type drive or set, NAS or the like) or to a replacement pc. that's my preferred method of operation. good luck. keep us posted which approach you try & your results. sounds like there are a few who can offer advice or support. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Sargent Posted August 4, 2016 Author Share Posted August 4, 2016 I have a good backup of the data. Im thinking of buying this PC off Woot and giving the HD swap a try just to see. What I'm trying to avoid losing is the installed software. I believe I have my data covered. http://computers.woot.com/offers/hp-8300-elite-intel-1tb-ssd-sff-desktop?ref=cp_cnt_wp_5_1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyOwn Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 2 hours ago, prerich said: Generally, if the motherboard, memory, and video chipset are the same - you'll have no issues with Windows 7 and below. YMMV.... 38 minutes ago, JL Sargent said: I have a good backup of the data. Im thinking of buying this PC off Woot and giving the HD swap a try just to see. What I'm trying to avoid losing is the installed software. I believe I have my data covered. http://computers.woot.com/offers/hp-8300-elite-intel-1tb-ssd-sff-desktop?ref=cp_cnt_wp_5_1 If they aren't the same you will have to go to HP's website to download and install the drivers for the replacement PC. I've done this and it works. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prerich Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 4 hours ago, -js- said: what I usually do, since I work in this field, is grab another pc, and a connection device to connect & mount that old HD via usb, copy desired data from it to a viable pc (that 2nd one) then if / as desired, copy again either to a long term backup location (archive type drive or set, NAS or the like) or to a replacement pc. that's my preferred method of operation. good luck. keep us posted which approach you try & your results. sounds like there are a few who can offer advice or support. What he said.... A+ certified Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Sargent Posted August 4, 2016 Author Share Posted August 4, 2016 To be clear: I made a good copy of all data about a week before the lightning hit to a stand alone hard drive, so I'm good on the data. I'm wanting to save my installations of Office, work related analytical software, weather reporting software, drivers for my DAC, USB3 card, etc. Unless I'm mistaken just having the drive "connected" wont do that. I need to boot from my original drive to maintain those installations, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shade Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 If you're trying to avoid software re-installs (due to missing discs/time/etc), yes, your old drive will need to be the boot drive. This thread is reminding me I'm a bit behind on my backups, need to fire up the backup server later tonight. If you get back up and running, if s/w re-installs is an issue, you might want to look into disk imaging software. Would allow you to create a disk image that could be later copied to a new disk for an easy restore. More complicated than regular backups, but might be worth considering. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyOwn Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 5 minutes ago, Shade said: If you're trying to avoid software re-installs (due to missing discs/time/etc), yes, your old drive will need to be the boot drive. This thread is reminding me I'm a bit behind on my backups, need to fire up the backup server later tonight. If you get back up and running, if s/w re-installs is an issue, you might want to look into disk imaging software. Would allow you to create a disk image that could be later copied to a new disk for an easy restore. More complicated than regular backups, but might be worth considering. I use Acronis and can recommend it. Use it at work to create a deployable image of like computers. Here's a pretty good article. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2029832/backing-up-your-entire-drive-cloning-vs-imaging.html 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Sargent Posted August 5, 2016 Author Share Posted August 5, 2016 Good stuff guys. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Sargent Posted August 5, 2016 Author Share Posted August 5, 2016 With Dell's 30% outlet computers this morning + Alabama's no tax weekend, I ordered a new Dell pc. I went ahead and got me an upgrade too! Dell Inspiron 3650, Gen 6 I7 3.4Ghz, 16gb ram, 2TB machine. That hard drive swap will be interesting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivervalleymgb Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 One thing I have learned over the years is to partition your hard drive so that only the operating system is in a partition all its own. Use the other partition(partitions) so installing all your other programs and data away from the OS. This will save all other stuff away from the OS so restoring it is much easier. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Sargent Posted August 8, 2016 Author Share Posted August 8, 2016 I could not get the new computer to boot up with the old drive. I went to BIOS and could see the drive but Boot manager would not allow software to boot. I don't know why. For now I'm installing software on "all new" computer system. I can go get files on the old drive no problem but installed software gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtr20 Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 Some of the new pc's are locked down to only boot to windows 8 or 10. There is usually a setting in bios to turn this off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Sargent Posted August 8, 2016 Author Share Posted August 8, 2016 Both HDs boot up Win 10 so that shouldn't be it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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