# Can you swap a hard drive from one laptop to another?



## Martingale2000

We have a HP Pavillion DV9910us laptop that wont boot up at all.  When you turn it on the screen is blank with no BIOS or HP screen and the lights turn off (batteries is charged, reset watch battery, powered off outlet, ect.).  I am pretty sure the computer is fried.  

If I was able to acquire another DV9910us and I swapped my hard drive into that computer would it boot up my copy of windows with my data or would there be a conflict getting it to boot in a computer it doesn't recognize? Additionally, would this same process work with any DV9xxx series computer that had a different processor and possibly different motherboard?  I'm not so much interested in those computers as I am interested in retrieving my data and I might be able to find one of those older laptops, I just need to know if swapping that hard drive into it would work.  Thanks in advance.


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## Des_Zac

Martingale2000 said:


> We have a HP Pavillion DV9910us laptop that wont boot up at all.  When you turn it on the screen is blank with no BIOS or HP screen and the lights turn off (batteries is charged, reset watch battery, powered off outlet, ect.).  I am pretty sure the computer is fried.
> 
> If I was able to acquire another DV9910us and I swapped my hard drive into that computer would it boot up my copy of windows with my data or would there be a conflict getting it to boot in a computer it doesn't recognize? Additionally, would this same process work with any DV9xxx series computer that had a different processor and possibly different motherboard?  I'm not so much interested in those computers as I am interested in retrieving my data and I might be able to find one of those older laptops, I just need to know if swapping that hard drive into it would work.  Thanks in advance.





I'm not sure about the first scenario, but you must re install Windows if it's a different motherboard. The Windows install is specific to the model you install it on.


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## cabinfever1977

you could also get a adapter: "labtop harddrive to desktop harddrive adapter" and add it as a slave on a desktop. or get a usb external harddrive box that will hold a labtop harddrive and plug it to the usb of a labtop or desktop and retrieve your data.
Cheap and easy.


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## claptonman

Des_Zac said:


> I'm not sure about the first scenario, but you must re install Windows if it's a different motherboard. The Windows install is specific to the model you install it on.



Be sure to use the CD key that is on the computer that you are switching to. And that they're the same version of windows.


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## PhotonCrasher

Yeh we had a hp pavilion laptop. One year in and the mobo died, it was hp I guess it was inevitable. Yeh that might have happened to yours by the sound of it.


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## wolfeking

you should be good as long as you get the exact same version of the laptop. You ll be ab to her/slower processor, or different graphics, but teh chipset has to stay the same. Basically, you cant go from AMD to Intel or vice versa. 

As long as the hardware (chipsets) are the same it will not invaladate the windows install.I did this going from a HP laptop to a Toshiba laptop and all I had to do was update the Video driver for nvidia, as the HP was GMA, but it never kicked invalid at me. Both were 965gm chipsets on Core 2 processors.


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## Dngrsone

I've replaced motherboards on laptops and moved from one like-model to another without any problems with the Windows install.


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## turbodiesel

it wont boot up you would need to formatt and reinstall your OS


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## wolfeking

ryan.white said:


> unless everythings the same


false. 
you can change just about anything in a computer and not need a reformat. CPU, RAM, GPU, HDD, wireless card, pretty much everything. Your motherboard will have to be very close though. With laptops that is not difficult with laptops as most are Foxconn motherboards. As long as you keep the chipset the same, or close (like 965pm and 965gm), then you also shouldn't need a re-install as the hardware ID's would be either the same or only 1 or 2 off, which may be within the fault tolerance of windows.


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## turbodiesel

sorry that wasn't what i meant to post 

ive never tried that before


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## SoMeAm

Is there an update?  Cabinfever's advice seems very practical.


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