To Format or Not to Format

[andyfinlay]

I am building a new PC and I am using the hard drives from my old rig. I have one SATA drive which just contains data and two IDE hard drives one of which contains my OS (XP home). Should I format the OS hard drive before I install all my new components into my case.

Should I fully reinstall windows before switching over?

How do I go about just formatting and not going through the full installation process?

I am worried about software/drivers currently installed on my hard drive conflicting with my new hardware.

Any advice will be appreciated

[edfair]

A clean install is generally best. Mount the drive in the new machine and boot the CD. It will take care of it for you. But this is going to require installation of patches and programs again. And to keep it from doing something bad you probably need just your OS drive installed while it is happening.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by andyfinlay I am building a new PC and I am using the hard drives from my old rig. I have one SATA drive which just contains data and two IDE hard drives one of which contains my OS (XP home). Should I format the OS hard drive before I install all my new components into my case.

That would be the best thing to do.

Originally Posted by andyfinlay Should I fully reinstall windows before switching over?

You format and reinstall Windows from within the new computer after it's assembled.

Originally Posted by andyfinlay How do I go about just formatting and not going through the full installation process?

You could put the hard drive in another WinXP computer and then use Disk Management.

Originally Posted by andyfinlay I am worried about software/drivers currently installed on my hard drive conflicting with my new hardware.

If you zero-fill your hard drive there won't be anything on it and you won't have to worry about conflicts.

It sounds as if you want to use your current Windows installation in the new computer. If you have the WinXP installation CD you could do a WinXP Repair Install and keep all your programs that are installed on that hard drive.

You could also do this while the hard drive is still in the old computer: (by glc) "Before shutting down, open Device Manager. Open up the IDE controllers, you will see one or two busmaster controllers. Double click on them and find the Update Driver tab. Do not search, select pick from a list. You will see Standard Dual IDE Controller. Use that one. Doing this will allow the system to boot without getting the usual INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE bluescreen."

Cricket