I have an older AMD Athlon 2200+ computer and recently a friend of mine donated a slightly faster Pentium 4 computer to me. I already transferred all of the ram to the other computer and now I just need to swap hard drives. Can I just swap hard drives or do I have to do anything special?
Swapping Hard drives?
- Thread starter Popinski
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If you're running Windows, it probably won't work. There are lots of chipset drivers that are likely very different between those two platforms. I'd back up your data and do a fresh install on the new machine, then restore your data. Or stash your old hard drive in an external enclosure and just snag the files/data that you need when you're running the new computer.
you can swap hard drives, and windows will balk at it for a while, it will have to re-recognize the motherboard and the chipsets. Recognize all of the peripherals (usb, video, sound, network, etc..etc..) and while everything SHOULD be ok after about 3 restarts, and maybe, but doubtful you'd need your windows cd for a driver or so.. it should be good to go. BUT
MAKE A BACKUP FIRST!!!
MAKE A BACKUP FIRST!!!
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
You can put the old drive in the new machine, then boot from the XP CD. Hit ENTER on the first screen, When asked if you want to repair using recovery console hit no. On the next screen, you will have the option of performing a repair install. Do this. That way, you don't lose any of your installed stuff and Windows is forced to re-detect all your hardware so everything works correctly.
Overk1ll, that's good information. I've tried to swap Win drives and it's been so much drama that usually format c:\ is in order.
Originally Posted By: NJC
Overk1ll, that's good information. I've tried to swap Win drives and it's been so much drama that usually format c:\ is in order.
Me too. But Overkill is right. That *should* work. I'd do a full backup first just in case. For me, it's always been easier to pave over the hard drive after a backup and reinstall...which is why I rarely use Windows anymore.
Overk1ll, that's good information. I've tried to swap Win drives and it's been so much drama that usually format c:\ is in order.
Me too. But Overkill is right. That *should* work. I'd do a full backup first just in case. For me, it's always been easier to pave over the hard drive after a backup and reinstall...which is why I rarely use Windows anymore.
What does it take to do a reformat, driver install and program reinstall... Not like it takes days like it used to. A day at most. Like changing cars but keeping the oil and filter.
Do a reinstall, then you know you have an optimal running system and have cleaned house in the meantime.
If you have programs you can't afford to loose or a PITA to reinstall then I would do it OVERK1LL's way.
Nothing beats a fresh install.
Do a reinstall, then you know you have an optimal running system and have cleaned house in the meantime.
If you have programs you can't afford to loose or a PITA to reinstall then I would do it OVERK1LL's way.
Nothing beats a fresh install.
Windows usually runs like molasses after a few yrs so reinstall often makes sense. And assuming he has a high speed connection, it's probably a good way to go. And slipstreaming is a good idea. Some blessed BITOG soul directed me to Nlite, which worked very well.
http://www.nliteos.com/
http://www.nliteos.com/
Originally Posted By: StevieC
What does it take to do a reformat, driver install and program reinstall... Not like it takes days like it used to. A day at most. Like changing cars but keeping the oil and filter.
Do a reinstall, then you know you have an optimal running system and have cleaned house in the meantime.
If you have programs you can't afford to loose or a PITA to reinstall then I would do it OVERK1LL's way.
Nothing beats a fresh install.
+1
What does it take to do a reformat, driver install and program reinstall... Not like it takes days like it used to. A day at most. Like changing cars but keeping the oil and filter.
Do a reinstall, then you know you have an optimal running system and have cleaned house in the meantime.
If you have programs you can't afford to loose or a PITA to reinstall then I would do it OVERK1LL's way.
Nothing beats a fresh install.
+1
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