New motherboard?

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Hi all, im upgrading my dads PC for him. If i take the hard drive out of his old pc and put it into the new one(with widows still installed), will it still boot as normal??


Cheers

Craig

I thought it would boot as normal.

 

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Hes also buying a secong hard drive as well 160gb. is there anyway i can transfer all the data from the ahem 20gb(lol) hard drive onto the bigger one? If so how?

 

Depends on how lucky you are. Windows in general doesn't like such a major change in hardware, and I've seen XP completely lock up and lose it's marbles when this was tried in some instances.

Best thing is to buy the new machine with a drive and either XP installed on that drive, or install it yourself, and add the old drive as a 'slave'. That way you have access to all the data without the pain!

The other benefit of doing it this way is a clean start to the OS.

Harry.

 

Yeh i know what you mean, but installing the 20gb as a slave.. will i still need to remove to old operating system??

I just dont wont to go through the hassle of messing about with a fresh install if can be avoided.

 

No - it will just be a data disk then - the OS parts will be unused.

A lot less hassle than fighting an unstable system that is confused because it has two sets of motherboard drivers in it.

Harry.

 

Honestly, I can't tell you how many times I've tried this, and the amount of hassle fixing problems far exceeds the relative ease of a fresh install. Besides, that's a great feeling, kinda like dropping 20 lbs....

 

Yeh, the main problem i have is that i do not have a genuine copy of windows XP pro. So i dont want to install a windows that is going to advise you in a few days time(when being used on the net) That ''this copy of windows is not genuine''.

Craig

 

Install a copy of Linux. You will never have to worry about MS's licensing again, and it won't cost you a penny.

 

I would if it were my system, i have gave him that option. But hes not very wise with PC'S. And only just knows his way around windows.

 

Another thing, is it possible once i install a new copy of windows onto the the new hard drive. That i can copy all the data he requires from one hard drive to the other?

 

He should have a genuine copy of XP already. Why not use that? The old drive won't actualy be running it's copy - so you will be perfectly legal.

Once you have the system up and running all his data will be on the old drive. He can opt to just leave it there, or copy it over with cut'n'paste and the like.

Harry.

 

He bought the pc from pc world. So he does not have a genuine copy of windows. I was thinking of using Files and transfer wizard then SYSPREP to do it. Would this be ok?

 

Sorry Ell but i can't understand your last post. Any branded machine will have a legit version of XP on it. Do you mean they don't have the disc? If so, this doesn't mean it isnt legit.
Sysprep is the process of preparing a master machine for imaging. You need third party imaging software and unless you want to practise i wouldn't bother in your situation.

Simon

 

Ah - so this is a Packard Hell or similar - with a recovery CD. Perfectly genuine.

Your best way of proceeding here is to get a new copy of XP home for the new machine. There is no way of getting the recovery CD to do anything useful except on the original hardware.

Harry.

 

Yup that would have been an OEM licence for XP which is tied to the original hardware and hence not transferable.

 

But is it transferable if he buys a genuine version of xp home edition?? which i think is about £61..... Can you use ther operating system he buys(xp home now) on more than one system??

his new machine and mine?? Or will microsoft complain that they have not made £122 instead of just the £61

 

When you buy XP (Home or Pro) it can only be used on one machine.

Harry.

 

Exactly.

And the problem I found myself in was that my HP Machine came with recovery CD's, but when I changed my motherboard, I discovered that they would only work on the HP, so was left high and dry without any Windows CD's, and I licence that I could no longer use.

 

Oddly, someone has started a similar thread in the NG's and this link was mentioned

www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html

Seems to have quite an indepth guide on how to do fairly major alterations without having to re-install XP. Don't know if it will be of any use, it does seem to recommend against attempting it with an OEM install.

Lord Deckard.