Question about swapping Hard Drives.

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Plinkerton · #1 Post by **Plinkerton** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 5:23 pm

I have a T42. If I was to get another T42, that was brand new, and not set up, or registered, or anything, etc. etc. Would I be able to just swap the hard drive with all my stuff on it, for the new hard drive, with out any problems at all?

If I did this, should I put the old hard drive into the new T42 before i even turned the new T42 on for the first time? Would this mess with the BIOS, or any other strange issues? My current hard drive has a password on it. Would the BIOS read it, and I would still have to plug it in? or would I have to clear the password first?

I'm just wondering if this is an easy swap, or if I would have to make a copy of the first HD, onto the second one.

Thank you very much,
Plink

Plinkerton · #2 Post by **Plinkerton** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 12:53 am

I know it's a little early, but I just want to find out about this by monday. Anyone?

Anyone? Heeellllooooo.......

dd · #3 Post by dd » Sat Oct 23, 2004 12:58 am

Hi

I have swopped my original 7K60 drive for an identical drive. I had enabled the BIOS password on the laptop with the original drive. When I installed the new drive, the process was the same (Ask for the BIOS password).

Unfortunately, the IBM product recovery doesnt seem to wanna accept my COA serial numbers (I have posted my proble in Windows forum here).. So I cant tell you anymore. at the moment!

Re-installing the original drive, it worked fine.............IE: BIOS password then the XP password...........same as before.

Plinkerton · #4 Post by **Plinkerton** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 1:30 am

Hmm... I was hoping it would be an easy process. i guess it still might be, but your situation isn't giving me hope. Do you think it would make any difference since both HDs I would be swapping are out of T42s? Maybe the recovery stuff would acknoledge it better because of this?

I'll talk to IBM about it at some point. i'm just anxious to know if it will work or not.

Thanks a lot for your reply,
Plink.

Plinkerton · #5 Post by **Plinkerton** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 1:47 pm

Anyone else have any firsthand knowledge of this regarding T42s? I really need to find out for sure if this is possible.

Thanks!
Plink

Plinkerton · #6 Post by **Plinkerton** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:39 am

Anyone?

#7 Post by **JaneL** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:02 am

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

The answer to your question is "it depends". Are the two systems identical? I've moved a lot of drives around between different ThinkPads with varying degrees of issues but never a failure. Never have done one, though, using XP outside of the corporate license environment. I would disable a BIOS or HDD password first myself.

sktn77a · #8 Post by **sktn77a** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:04 pm

I have never had to enter any COA number on an IBM recovery from the factory recovery disks??? I've even installed the T40 recovery CDs on an old 600E - no problem and no request for COA number or need to activate?

You should be able to install the recovery CDs onto the new drive and onto the old drive (although this is technically illegal). I've done this. You could just install the old hard drive into the new computer although it will have to install the drivers for any different hardware on first boot. And if the original factory image doesn't have any needed new drivers, you will have to download them and install them manually.

Plinkerton · #9 Post by **Plinkerton** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:05 pm

sktn77a, your post confuses me a bit. I want to know if I can just swap HDs. Are you saying that this should work, in the last part of your post?

The machines will be IDENTICAL. Both will be T42 2378-FVU.

Think of it as a hot swap. I have a T42 with a dead pixel. I have been using this computer for a little while, and it has all my stuff on it. If I got another brand new never used T42, would I just be able to swap the HD, and have a brand new T42, with my old HD in it, hopefully ridding myself of the pixel.

That's where I'm coming from with all this. Before I actually try it, I need to see if it will work or not.

So, since it seems like it probably will, I will disable the passwords, and then install the old HD into the new computer, before I even turn it on for the first time. Is that how I should do it? Or should I turn it on, and register all that stuff first, than swap? I don't really want to run into any issues, because I don't know too much about this stuff.

Thanks again, and sorry for being impatient. I just gotta know if it will work soon, as I will be dealing with this issue in the very near future.

RoadHazard · #10 Post by **RoadHazard** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 11:22 am

If the two machines are identical you shouldn't have any problem moving the HD at all. The worst case that I see is it will detect some new hardwares that are unique like network adapters and USB devices and it may affect the softwares that use the information like firewall. But I don't think it is considered a problem at all.

w0qj · #11 Post by **w0qj** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:28 pm

sorry to go off onto a tangent...

so if i transfer my old T40's hard drive and stick it into my (will buy soon) T42s (finger scanner model), so do you think the old hard drive will work in T42s? it may detect finger scanner, etc.

this will be the key deciding factor in choosing between T42s (finger) and T42 regular, decision shortly....

thank you in advance for your advice!

Plinkerton · #12 Post by **Plinkerton** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 4:48 pm

Thanks RoadHazard. I'll give it a shot then.

#13 Post by **JaneL** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 6:46 pm

>so if i transfer my old T40's hard drive and stick it into my (will buy soon) T42s (finger scanner model), so do you think the old hard drive will work in T42s? it may detect finger scanner, etc.
>

It will probably take some tweaking and loading of different drivers, but I'd say it would. Depends on your pain threshold re how much trouble it might be. If it were mine, I would do it. Re the finger scanner, I would think you would have to load the specific drivers for it.

Plinkerton · #14 Post by **Plinkerton** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 2:09 pm

Okay, I have another question regarding this. When I get a new T42, what would be the best/easiest way to transfer everything?

Should I swap HDs? Or should I do a restore with Rapid Restore Ultra onto the new HD?

Thanks again,
Plink

#15 Post by **JaneL** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 11:31 pm

I would just swap the drives out if they're the same P/N.

gg3761 · #16 Post by **gg3761** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 11:39 pm

Just swap your drives. It will work fine. I did the same thing between a T42 with a 60gig 7200rpm HD & a T42 with a 80gig 5400rpm. Neither computer knew that anything had changed.

Question about swapping Hard Drives.

Question about swapping Hard Drives.

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