I have an older laptop without a CD drive. Can I take the harddrive out and put it in my pc to install a new program then return it into the laptop?
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with an IDE laptop to desktop adapter
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/insidecomputer/la2tode3hadr.html
Of course, if by PC, you mean something running Windows, you might be out of luck.
You may have to boot off the drive in your PC to get the registry and all the drivers loaded to install it. And then when you put it back in your laptop, it might not work.
Might be better seeing if you could get a network card and some CD emulation software and do it that way.
Could you hook up an external CD-ROM drive via the PC cardslot, the parallel port (i know it's slow) or USB (if you've got it)?
I agree with an earlier response about things not working when you return the HD to the laptop -- you might not even be able to boot your PC to the laptop's HD without changing all the video, CD-ROM, modem and Ethernet drivers. Sounds like a pain in the neck to me.
it would be the OS, it bluescreens if it is not the same system it was installed on. It was to prevent people from cloning the drives and sharing it. One of the reasons PC's don't have "target disk mode" on laptops and desktops. They just won't boot from an OS that was installed in another Machine. One of the reasons why it is useless to try to put Winblowz on a USB drive. It just won't connect to another machine and boot. You may try using a netboot disk, and put NetBSD on it. At least you can install it off the network.
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IIRC, there was a way in Mac OS's to install off of a server from a boot floppy. Am I wrong about this? What was required to install off the network? Did it require A/UX? Or was it anything you could install off of, if it runs and AppleTalk server?
I just remembered doing this.
If you were to have an OS already on it. Put the cd in another computer on a network, and pull the Windows folder off the cd.
Log onto the other computer, and get on the Local Network. Copy the windows folder to the HDD that is in the laptop. Create a Bootable win98 floppy.
Restart.
Boot from the floppy, and go to the windows folder on the HDD. type in "install.exe" and prepare to install.
Another variation to this, is to delete the last Windows folder, but I would first install Windows 98se (which is the highest you can do at this time without a CD).
hope that helps
EDIT: (again) Just zip the folder and move it on the network to the laptop (hope you have enough space!)
include the unzip utility. and unzip it from the file with the extractor. then install.
you can get a free zip/unzip util here:
http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/
Go to "powerarchiver" and click download. This is a full version, and was the last free version of the program. After that, it was upgraded to "payware."
Is there an adapter along those lines that does the reverse?
For instance... if you made a desktop out of a laptop board, is there an adapter that would allow you to connect the laptop IDE bus to a much less expensive 3.5" IDE drive?
but it was handmade and was used in the Mac mini project that someone put a faster 3.5" HDD into a case with the guts of a Mac Mini. So far, i have yet to see one of them doohickeys show up for resale