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12-02-2021, 03:24 PM
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#1
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Member
Registered: Apr 2016
Posts: 525
Rep: 
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Will it work if I transplant the hard-drive from one computer to another?
My Dell Inspiron 531 has stopped working, I suspect that the motherboard has broken down. Its hard-drive has Linux Mint Cinnamon Uma installed, plus lots of recent documents etc.
The computer I am using to write this, a Dell Dimension 5150, has Linux Mint Cinnamon Rosa 17.3 installed.
If I take the hard-drive out of the Dimension, then take the hard-drive out of the Inspiron and put it in the Dimension, will the Dimension still work?
In other words, will the Uma hard-drive work in another computer than the one it was installed in?
Thanks.
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12-02-2021, 03:35 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Registered: Jun 2015
Location: Tucson, AZ USA
Distribution: Linux Mint 22
Posts: 1,219
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Linux isn't as finicky as Windows in that regard. I've moved drives before many times with zero difficulty. Theoretically something could happen but I wouldn't worry about it personally.
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12-02-2021, 04:09 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Distribution: Debian AMD64
Posts: 4,170
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grumpyskeptic
My Dell Inspiron 531 has stopped working, I suspect that the motherboard has broken down. Its hard-drive has Linux Mint Cinnamon Uma installed, plus lots of recent documents etc.
The computer I am using to write this, a Dell Dimension 5150, has Linux Mint Cinnamon Rosa 17.3 installed.
If I take the hard-drive out of the Dimension, then take the hard-drive out of the Inspiron and put it in the Dimension, will the Dimension still work?
In other words, will the Uma hard-drive work in another computer than the one it was installed in?
Thanks.
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Why the only one drive option, the machine looks like it has room for couple of drives in it put the spare drive to try too boot from it. If successful then you have two drives in the system if not then you have the other drive in the system you can access from the current install to get all those recent documents out of your /home on that drive in the system. And now I read the specs of it, it says two one inch high SATA drives supported. Kind of strange way to put it but room for the two.
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12-03-2021, 04:01 PM
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#4
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Member
Registered: Apr 2016
Posts: 525
Original Poster
Rep: 
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I have successfully done the "brain" transplant, and the computer has started up without any problems or messages of any kind, and everything seems to be working OK. I also changed the monitor. I even have internet access.
So well done to the Linux programmers and the computer and modem designers.
Last edited by grumpyskeptic; 12-03-2021 at 04:04 PM.
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12-05-2021, 06:11 AM
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#5
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LQ Guru
Registered: Aug 2016
Location: SE USA
Distribution: openSUSE 24/7; Debian, Knoppix, Mageia, Fedora, OS/2, others
Posts: 6,354
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Don't get too cocky about how well it worked. The reason it worked may be the distro choice you made. Some distros, probably most, built initrds with a wide variety of drivers, of which only a few are actually needed on a given machine. If the distro doesn't do that, or the installation has had the initrd build configuration leaned down to only those needed for the installed system, you may be out of luck if the hardware materially differs. Generally even if that is a problem, a live media boot and chroot into the non-booting system will allow the initrd to be rebuilt to include all required drivers. If using NVidia's graphics drivers, this need is virtually certain, unless bringing the graphics card along with the disk to the new host.
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12-05-2021, 08:26 PM
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#6
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Senior Member
Registered: Aug 2016
Posts: 3,345
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrmazda
If using NVidia's graphics drivers, this need is virtually certain, unless bringing the graphics card along with the disk to the new host.
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I have never understood peoples adverse opinions about nvidia cards.
Yes, the driver needs to match the kernel in use.
Yes, the driver has to support the chipset in the card.
The same applies to every kernel module/driver out there and for every possible device you can use.
I do not see people vehemently against using broadcom chipsets, or realtek chipsets, or almost any other device out there, yet there seems a constant attitude of "nvidia GPUs are a nightmare".
I personally have been using nvidia cards for a LOT of years and never seem to have a reason to complain yet many others do. Or is it just an attitude generated by those who listen to the vocal few naysayers?
In fact as long as the drive is moved from one machine with an nvidia card to another machine with an nvidia card (or even to another machine with no nvidia card) it is not likely there will be an issue. The current nvidia drivers support almost all nvidia GPUs produced in the last ~10 years or so. Certainly all those that nvidia has not classed as 'legacy'.
Last edited by computersavvy; 12-05-2021 at 08:34 PM.
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12-05-2021, 10:51 PM
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#7
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LQ Guru
Registered: Aug 2016
Location: SE USA
Distribution: openSUSE 24/7; Debian, Knoppix, Mageia, Fedora, OS/2, others
Posts: 6,354
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Quote:
Originally Posted by computersavvy
I have never understood peoples adverse opinions about nvidia cards.
Yes, the driver needs to match the kernel in use.
Yes, the driver has to support the chipset in the card.
The same applies to every kernel module/driver out there and for every possible device you can use.
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The difference is non-experimental, non-reverse-engineered AMD and Intel graphics drivers are provided OOT box, no fuss automagic employment, happy user, in most cases, and with no waiting when brand new kernels show up in rolling distributions. Of course, similar applies to NVidia cards, if NVidia's non-FOSS drivers remain unemployed. NVidia could provide great OOTB support, like do AMD and Intel, but it consistently chooses not to. Knowledge of NVidia's position is for many the source of the aversion.
For little short of a decade, the upstream default display driver, modesetting, has supported most AMD, Intel and NVidia, and some other GPUs, using a newer technology that is not hardware-specific. Since then, the FOSS "experimental", reverse-engineered nouveau display driver has no longer been the sole ostensibly competent FOSS display driver option for NVidia GPUs.
The short story is life using non-FOSS drivers, to varying degrees, is more complicated. Not every FOSS user is content to live that way.
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