Moving hard drive from "old" to "new" computer

[Davermonk]

Hope this is the right place for this.


My current computer (A7V 266E, VIA chipset; AMD CPU) has one 40 GB (IDE 100) hard drive with XP and all my other programs (Adobe, MS Office, games etc) and another 40 GB (IDE 100) HD that serves as data storage (no RAID setup).

I'll be upgrading it this weekend with a new mobo (Asus A8N5X, nVidia chipset), new AMD Athon X2 CPU, new graphics card, etc. I also ordered a 250GB (SATA) hard drive.

My goal is to be able to use the programs from the "old" hard drive without having to reinstall all of them on the "new" hard drive (except for WinXP).

I don't think I can put the "new" HD into the old system (to clone) because the new drive is SATA and the old system's mobo doesn't have any SATA connectors.


What do you think about this...

1. Put only the "old" HD into new system, and use windows repair to get new system to boot from "old" HD (due to all the new hardware)

2. Add "new" HD into new system as slave and clone the "old" HD onto "new" HD

3. Set "old" HD as slave and "new" HD as master. Would I have to use windows repair again to get it to work?

Any thoughts? Thanks!

[bailey]

the main problem will be the drivers and software for the new motherboard, it won;t work very well with the drivers for the old motherboard.
you can try it, but the drivers must be installed as soon as the os is installed and before any other software is installed.
so it will be a toss up as to weather or not the system will perform trouble free the way your thinking of doing it.
the worst thing that can happen is your being forced to format the drive and reinstall everything,

so move the drive, then xp reinstall/repaire, then the motherboard drivers.
you might first remove all the drivers from the hard drive before removing it from the old computer, you chances would be better on susecess that way.
most important would be the video card drivers and software, then xp can use the default drivers it has untill you can reinstall the new drivers.

[Nuclear Krusader]

I'd make just a fresh install of Windows. Dunno how long you've got your current hdd going but some garbage sure has accumulated.

You'll have to activate Windows again, and if your OS is OEM you'll be violating the CLUF since a change of mobo is considered now by MS a new system.

[Davermonk]

Originally Posted by Nuclear Krusader ...if your OS is OEM you'll be violating the CLUF since a change of mobo is considered now by MS a new system.

I can't take the OS off of one system and install it on another system? It's still only on a single computer.

[glc]

Microsoft has changed their OEM licensing. It's now "locked" to the motherboard. However, don't worry about it - if your XP was not provided OEM by a brand name manufacturer, you can transfer it. If your last activation was more than 120 days ago, it will reactivate online.

[Davermonk]

My XP was OEM but I purchased it online along with the components for my first build.

Maybe since I'm using the same case and some of the same peripherals, they'll reactivate it. I sure hope so!

[glc]

You won't have a problem. As I said, if it was last activated over 120 days ago, it will reactivate online, no phone call required.

[Nuclear Krusader]

There is a limit to the number of activations, though. I just ran into that problem last early morning. I tried to activate Windows on line and it spat me a message about having depleted the number of activations allowed for that particular key. I was given the option of typing in another key, but I don't have one. So I was transferred to a M$ customer person to proceed with the activation. Of course no one is working at 0300 so I'll have to do that to-day. This is the first time this has happened to me, I hope is no big deal phoning them. I'm gonna wait for a few days, see if the new hdd is fine and all, as there is no point in phoning them again if the drive has to be rma'ed.

How many times have I activated this particular installation? Three times. And all were after the 120-day "grace" period. I hope the guys at M$ aren't too hard to deal with.

[Davermonk]

I ended up taking the old drives out and starting fresh with the new drive (I'll put the old ones back later and salvage some of the data).

I was having some problems connecting to microsoft via the internet so I tried to call & activate. After reading all 87 numbers in the activation code, the guy told me their computer was down for maintenance and I needed to call back in 3 hours. Microsoft... go figure.

While I was waiting, I had to reinstall windows again (long story) and this time, I was able to get connected to the internet right away. I reactivated on-line and it took about 15 seconds. No questions asked.

Thanks for everyone's help!

[Nuclear Krusader]

Cool. Same strange thing here, when I tried to activate on line the next day it went without a problem. Go figure.