My laptop's hard drive went bust about six months ago and I've yet to replace its hard drive, since it's too expensive. So to keep things simple, I want to take the hard drive (provided it fit of course) from my current and very outdated laptop and put that one into the slot on my better laptop.

Would that work, would everything installed and stored on the functioning hard drive be accessable or do I need to do some actual work to get it in order? I should also note that the laptop I'm currently using isn't even mine, so if some tech work is required, just say no.

The OS is probably tied to the motherboard of that specific laptop. Because of this you would probably have to reformat the HDD and put the OS that comes with the current laptop onto the old HDD. So my guess is no, you would not be able to just plug in the HDD and be set to go in a couple of minutes.

1. Will everything stored on the hard drive still be accessible? Yes, just:

2. Will Windows* boot: No, at least not likely or in a stable state. Not unless the hardware for the two laptops is very similar. The version of Windows will matter a bit, but more or less: Welcome to HAL hell.

You'll need to reinstall the version of Windows that originally came with the new laptop back on there, which means you'll need to back up all the data from that drive.

*I'm assuming you're using Windows on your laptops.

So if I were to acquire Windows 7 Home Premium which came with the laptop I want to get back running, and install that OS on the functioning hard drive, I might be able to just plug the hard drive into my newer laptop and have fun? Or is it very surely that it'll work - I'd prefer that.

1. Back up all data off the old laptop's hard drive (otherwise all data will be lost)

2. Put old laptop's hard drive in new laptop.

3. Using the recovery discs you made during laptop setup, reinstall Windows.

3a. In the event you didn't make any recovery discs, locate the Windows Product Key. All laptop manufacturers are required to put it somewhere on the laptop. Then download the correct ISO for Windows 7 Home Premium (must be the same architecture) as the one the key corresponds with http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/ Burn that to a DVD and reinstall Windows 7 using the product key on the laptop.

4. Reinstall the drivers your new laptop needs from the laptop manufactuer's product page for your laptop

5. Reinstall all your applications

6. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4241/how-to-create-a-system-image-in-windows-7/ to streamline the process in the future (http://redobackup.org/)

7. Restore your data backup.