3800 Putting my present hard drive into a new computer

[98 TGP TOY]

Will there problems with putting my present hard-drive into a new computer that has a different motherboard, chip, video, audio, etc. Nothing will be the same between these two computers. Will the hard drive work fine and all the settings/registry switch over automatically?

Also, does anyone know of any good/free hard drive cloning software?

Thanks

Mike

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[J.E.T.]

Originally posted by 98 TGP TOY@Jul 9 2006, 06:43 PM
Will there problems with putting my present hard-drive into a new computer that has a different motherboard, chip, video, audio, etc.  Nothing will be the same between these two computers.  Will the hard drive work fine and all the settings/registry switch over automatically? 

Also, does anyone know of any good/free hard drive cloning software?

Thanks

Mike

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Short answer - yes you will have problems. XP will try to load all the new components, but in the long run the OS will not run as efficient as before - if it even gets that far and work.
Your best bet is to start from scratch with the new computer.

Ghost works well emough for a hard drive cloning program.

J.E.T.

 

[TommyGloves]

A guy a work tried this method and had good results:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/move_harddrive.htm

 

[98 TGP TOY]

Thanks for the reply guys. I am going to pick up a bigger hard drive tomorrow to put into the new computer. Is there any way to transfer over installed programs without having the setup.exe?

Thanks

Mike

 

[Toasty]

Originally posted by 98 TGP TOY@Jul 11 2006, 04:35 PM
Thanks for the reply guys.  I am going to pick up a bigger hard drive tomorrow to put into the new computer.  Is there any way to transfer over installed programs without having the setup.exe?

Thanks

Mike

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usually not, for modern programs that write values to the registry and put dll files all over creation!


you could also try and remove all the installed devices (vid card, network, etc etc) from the device manager. shut down without re-installing hardware, then put in new computer and boot it up... provided windows boots in the new machine, it will pick up the devices in the new computer
... just how similar the machines need to be to not upset the HAL values, i dunno

 

[imported_GraFFix]

You can always use your old HD as a slave drive and keep all your files on it...just get a new HD and load the OS on it...then youll even have more storage!

 

[Toasty]

Originally posted by GraFFix@Jul 14 2006, 04:03 PM
You can always use your old HD as a slave drive and keep all your files on it...just get a new HD and load the OS on it...then youll even have more storage!

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if you want to run your previously installed programs off the old drive that way, you'd have to import stuff into the registry and point it to the different drive letter.

 

[98 TGP TOY]

I wouldnt be able to run two hard drives anyways. I got a Small Form Factor computer for free that is faster than my current system. It only has room for a hard drive, 3.5 and one cd/dvd drive.

Hopefully I can find the setup files for most of the programs I installed. Thanks for the help guys.

Mike