Are you moving from a laptop to a tower setup and wondering about running under VBox?
Are you moving from a laptop to a tower setup and wondering about running under VBox?
I am thinking about moving a W11 system into Virtual Box on a tower. The current setup is in a laptop. If I can remove the SSDs, can I connect them in the tower? Are there adapter cables that would let me link to those SSDs? I expect there are two of them. The new operating system will run on the brown and round drives, using Mint as the OS (this isn’t my first time using a Linux distro). I’m asking because I plan to repurpose the laptop for running a Linux distribution that handles non-window tasks. The laptop is still under warranty for battery and similar problems. I’ll be busy with other work, so I might not return to this for a while.
Some very basic laptops lack removable SSDs. Instead, the eMMC chips are permanently attached to the laptop motherboard.
https://www.windowscentral.com/emmc-vs-ssd
Depending on the laptop's age, you might encounter an old spinning hard disk, a 2.5in SATA SSD, or an M.2 SATA or M.2 NVMe SSD.
If your laptop is over 12 years old, it likely has a 2.5in spinning disk. Earlier models usually came with 2.5in SATA SSDs, while newer ones often include M.2 SATA or even M.2 NVMe drives. Recently, I replaced an old Dell laptop with a 7200U CPU. Inside, there was space for a 2.5in laptop drive, but instead, a larger 256GB M.2 SATA SSD was installed. I swapped it out and added a higher-capacity 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD. It was fortunate because Dell supported both types of M.2 drives.
Yes. For a 2.5in SATA SSD, connect the drive to the motherboard using SATA power and data cables.
If it’s an M.2 SATA SSD, you may face challenges since most modern motherboards no longer support this interface.
For an M.2 NVMe SSD, simply insert it into the corresponding slot on the motherboard (assuming the board has an M.2 socket).
Most laptops have only one drive installed, not two. You’ll need to verify this by checking your device. You might see two logical drives labeled C: and D: on your boot partition.
I don’t understand what you mean by “the brown and round drives.” Can you clarify?
If you take the Windows boot drive out of the laptop and install it in the tower, you won’t be able to run Linux until you replace the drive. It’s probably simpler to purchase a tower with its own SSD.
In any case, moving the drive from the laptop to the tower requires erasing the data and reinstalling Windows. You can’t just swap the laptop drive into the tower and expect smooth startup. A fresh OS installation is usually the best solution.
If you remove the drive from the laptop and return it under warranty, issues may arise. I consider drives to be serviceable items; if a manufacturer refused to fix the laptop with a new drive, that argument holds. However, it’s often wiser to keep the laptop intact.
I suspect your warranty doesn’t cover laptop batteries after a certain period. They’re similar to car tires—they need replacement at the owner’s expense. I’ve replaced many old batteries to revive laptops with worn-out ones.