Transferring hard drive to one inside a laptop that's the target?

[Syringer]

I got a new laptop and want to clone my old HD on to it..but I'm just unable to remove it from this one (keyboard just won't remove for some reason). I have a USB/SATA kit and the old HD as well..is there a way to use what is essentially the external HD and transfer that into the laptop HD that's inside the comp?

The other way is easier I presume since you're not booting off the drive you're overwriting.

 

[Fardringle]

Unless you are using identical (or at least very close) laptop models, this is not likely to turn out well. You can certainly attach the old drive as an external drive to copy files to the new machine, but you don't want to clone that drive to the new laptop as it won't have any of the proper chipset or device drivers and probably won't even be able to boot Windows.

 

[IGemini]

I wouldn't say it's necessary that the laptops are the same model, but the hard drives themselves should be pretty close (at least in size).

I did a sector-by-sector copy of a hard drive using Easeus once...I don't really recommend it. It was a 5-hour ordeal for a 300GB drive and it's not a process you want to stop. IIRC, I ended up spending another hour defragging after the fact. You might spend less time sifting through the old drive for what you really want to keep.

 

[gsaldivar]

I would recommend getting the service manual for the laptop and simply find out the proper way of getting into it so you can swap the HD out. Or maybe post some pictures up and someone can help...?

 

[Gunbuster]

Like others have said: cloning your old drive to a different model laptop is STUPID.

 

[corkyg]

Save yourself a lot of grief - do a clean install on your new laptop.