Any Computer Experts Out There ?

[bccap]

My computer needs to be replaced ...... I just replaced the hard drive last year so what I want to do is have it put in the new one so I don't have to reconfigure anything ..... My local computer repair shop says he can do that if it fits ..... But if it doesn't he can " ghost " my hard drive on to the new one and it will be just like he re used my hard drive and all my stuff will function just as it should ...... Could someone explain what " ghosting " is ? .... Basically I want to know if the new ghosted drive will work exactly like my drive works now, right down to the passwords I have saved ......

[Cipher]

damn my post didnt post

yes this is done every day in IT dpets worldwide

GHOST is a generic name now like Kleenex

essentially its a bit for bit copy of everything
its fast and easy

The OS may not like the new hardware and require a dance about licensing there are legal routes and nefarious ones.

Any clue what size drive you have is most likely sata and if a desktop\tower most like 3.5 inch
You can see this in device manager if your on windows

I was up against the wall with no proper image for 20 new high end wworkstation laptops the day before I had a surgery and as the rest of the staff were clueless I made one machine work then ghosted the rest 5 at a time
used SID walke and change PC names to permit thme to be uinique to the domain and YAY
The bastards never thanked me though
they never do.

[bccap]

damn my post didnt post

yes this is done every day in IT dpets worldwide

GHOST is a generic name now like Kleenex

essentially its a bit for bit copy of everything
its fast and easy

The OS may not like the new hardware and require a dance about licensing there are legal routes and nefarious ones.

Any clue what size drive you have is most likely sata and if a desktop\tower most like 3.5 inch
You can see this in device manager if your on windows

I was up against the wall with no proper image for 20 new high end wworkstation laptops the day before I had a surgery and as the rest of the staff were clueless I made one machine work then ghosted the rest 5 at a time
used SID walke and change PC names to permit thme to be uinique to the domain and YAY
The bastards never thanked me though
they never do.

I looked in the device manager and this is what it appears to be " WDC WD 10EZEX-08WN4A0 " ..... Will that tell the computer repair guy whether it will work in the new computer ?

[Cipher]

I looked in the device manager and this is what it appears to be " WDC WD 10EZEX-08WN4A0 " ..... Will that tell the computer repair guy whether it will work in the new computer ?

Yeah thats a 3.5 inch drive standard stuff he will def know from that bit of information.

A while back I found an old laptop drive and as I have replaced my cd drive with a HD caddy I booted to it for fun
it took ages as the OS was on radically different hardware different cpu memory specs different everything.

Boot process slogged through parsing each and every component noting what was missing and downloading what was needed
it was like a miracle I booted into an OS tennish yrs in the past and it was revealing from the desktop what my interests were then
very strange time capsule.

[Cipher]

One thing is the guy wants to be trustworthy as the OS passwords can be easily cracked and its wide open season on your identity.
Personally I would never let anyone touch my HD without securely wiping it at least

But whats the worst that could happen?

[bccap]

Thanks for your help ..... I'll write that number down and have a chat with him ......

[Cipher]

Thanks for your help ..... I'll write that number down and have a chat with him ......

One thing if hes selling an off the rack system make sure he gives you the drive youll be paying for.

Yah know thats a nasty old spin drive if possible get a smallish SSD and use the old one for a scratch drive once the system is successfully transferred

once with ssd you will never go back

your current drive is 7200 rpm which was lightning fast 15 yrs ago

[ptegsotic]

One thing if hes selling an off the rack system make sure he gives you the drive youll be paying for.

Yah know thats a nasty old spin drive if possible get a smallish SSD and use the old one for a scratch drive once the system is successfully transferred

once with ssd you will never go back

your current drive is 7200 rpm which was lightning fast 15 yrs ago

yes! go solid-state-drive. It's the bees-knees.

[bccap]

One thing if hes selling an off the rack system make sure he gives you the drive youll be paying for.

Yah know thats a nasty old spin drive if possible get a smallish SSD and use the old one for a scratch drive once the system is successfully transferred

once with ssd you will never go back

your current drive is 7200 rpm which was lightning fast 15 yrs ago

I see you've edited this ..... Thanks for the additional info ..... If I understand correctly you are suggesting I get the old drive even if it fits, ghosted to a new SSD drive and use the old drive for additional storage . Is that correct ? ......

[Cipher]

I see you've edited this ..... Thanks for the additional info ..... If I understand correctly you are suggesting I get the old drive even if it fits, ghosted to a new SSD drive and use the old drive for additional storage . Is that correct ? ......

Yes thats it. Insertrequistecharshere

[salty_monk]

Another + for SSD. It's probably the single most effective upgrade you can do dollar for dollar in my experience. If you'd fitted an SSD last time you might have found the performance of the old computer adequate...

[Gorminrider]

bccap:

...so what I want to do is have it put in the new one so I don't have to reconfigure anything ....

cipher:

The OS may not like the new hardware and require a dance about licensing there are legal routes and nefarious ones.

yes I would expect trouble sticking an old hdd into a new computer with different graphics, network and all the rest...but on the same windows version it might go ok if you can slog through all the dialogues ...
bccap:

My local computer repair shop says he can do that if it fits ..... But if it doesn't he can " ghost " my hard drive on to the new one and it will be just like he re used my hard drive and all my stuff will function just as it should...

...so sure. Let this guy try...but if you were having trouble on the old computer without understanding what the trouble was, you may be cloning that onto the new one. I'd ask him about that.

[dpep]

What I would probably do is get the new computer with a solid state drive and do a clean install of the programs I use. I would then use the hard drive from the old computer as an external drive (interfaces are available) and bring over the old data gradually as needed. If you run into issues with the ghosting approach it is something to consider.

Before any steps I would back up my data to the cloud or some large jump drives (or both).
...

[bccap]

bccap:..so sure. Let this guy try...but if you were having trouble on the old computer without understanding what the trouble was, you may be cloning that onto the new one. I'd ask him about that.

No I know what the trouble is .... It's all hardware ...... Disk drawer won't open unless you wiggle around the button for about ten minutes..... The sound output jack you have to wiggle around to get a connection to the speakers ..... Same with a few of the USB ports ......

[metalfab]

You can get a small SSD on the cheap, and use a hard drive with it. Make the SSD a boot drive, and it will startup fast.