I bought a new Lenovo computer and intend to give my old one to my younger brother. But the hard drive in the old PC is still functional, and I'd like to use it in my new PC instead of reinstalling Windows from scratch. Will it normally function as it did on the old computer?
The answer is YES. When the computers' hardware configurations are similar, you can successfully transfer the old hard drive to the new computer and have it work without reinstalling Windows.
However, this is not always the case, as different hardware configurations can cause driver issues and other compatibility issues. If the hardware in your new computer is significantly different from the old one, but you want to keep all the data on the old hard drive, it is highly recommended to clone the old hard drive to the new hard drive, which is also the most recommended way.
By cloning the old hard drive to the new one, you can copy all data from one disk to the new one, including Windows OS, settings, installed programs, configurations, etc.
Qiling Disk Copy is a reliable disk cloning software that is compatible with various HDDs and SSDs. It supports cloning HDD to SSD, cloning SSD to larger SSD, or vice versa, cloning a hard drive with bad sectors, etc.
With it, you can achieve disk cloning with several simple clicks.
After cloning, you can format the old hard drive and use it as a storage drive to increase the storage space of your computer.
🔗Related Article: How to Install Windows After Replacing Hard Drive
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