Does a HDD from a PC work when put in a MBP?

[Tamasi]

I have got a crashed PC (Sony vaio) but its HDD still works perfectly fine. (The PC's motherboard died so to speak.)

My question is: if I would put this HDD (with Windows Vista installed on it, and also all kinds of programs and files) in the optibay of a MacBook Pro, would it work just fine? Would I be able to boot from that HDD and access and use my files as if I were working on my old PC?

Really curious to your insights

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Unlikely. But what about putting the HDD in an external enclosure and connecting that to the MBP?

FAT32 (File Allocation Table)

• Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
• Maximum file size: 4GB.
• Maximum volume size: 2TB

NTFS (Windows NT File System)

• Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
• Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
• To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X: Install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free)
• Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx 33USD).
• Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard, but is not advisable, due to instability.
• AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
• Maximum file size: 16 TB
• Maximum volume size: 256TB

HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended)

• Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
• Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner backups of Mac internal hard drive.
• To Read/Write HFS+ from Windows, Install MacDrive
• To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
• Maximum file size: 8EiB
• Maximum volume size: 8EiB

exFAT (FAT64)

• Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
• exFAT partitions created with OS X 10.6.5 are inaccessible from Windows 7
• Not all Windows versions support exFAT. See disadvantages.
• exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
• AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
• Maximum file size: 16 EiB
• Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB

 

[gnasher729]

I have got a crashed PC (Sony vaio) but its HDD still works perfectly fine. (The PC's motherboard died so to speak.)

My question is: if I would put this HDD (with Windows Vista installed on it, and also all kinds of programs and files) in the optibay of a MacBook Pro, would it work just fine? Would I be able to boot from that HDD and access and use my files as if I were working on my old PC?

Really curious to your insights

Most likely not. Most likely you have an OEM version of Windows specifically created for you Sony computer, and it would only work on the exact same computer. And you wouldn't have the drivers for Macintosh hardware that come with Bootcamp.

 

[aussiedj]

+1 for NTFS-3G

 

[Tamasi]

Unlikely. But what about putting the HDD in an external enclosure and connecting that to the MBP?

I understand that in that case I would most likely at least be able to access the files on my old HDD?

Thanks for all your very swift replies btw

 

[simsaladimbamba]

I understand that in that case I would most likely at least be able to access the files on my old HDD?

Thanks for all your very swift replies btw

If the HDD is okay and the partition table is not corrupt, then yes. See the FAQ I quoted.

+1 for NTFS-3G

What has that to do with the OP's question?
NTFS-3G is a driver to enable Mac OS X to WRITE to NTFS formatted volumes, therefore it would not help the OP, as Mac OS X is not involved in the OP's endeavour.