Quick question,

Brain can't remember last time I did this, but.....

It's time to build a new PC (new motherboard, faster processor more memory etc)

If I transfer the existing HD (the one my existing PC boots from) to the newly built jobby will it just run from there, or is it a more complex issue.

I think previously I've always gone for a faster, bigger HD and reinstalled software. But this time my existing one is still plenty big and fast enough (SATA etc)

If it is Windows it almost certainly won't boot after you transfer the disk however

Assuming you have a proper Windows CD not just a system restore disk.

Delete win.com (or rename it something like win.bak) file from the windows directory and you can run windows setup without destroying the whole installation.


The best way is to copy the windows installion directory off the CD on to the hard disk, boot from cd and run the windows setup from the hard disk.

[Edited on 8/2/08 by britishtrident]

I got a 800gb external hard disk thing, it's mad. I only realised how big it was when I transferred two full computers worth of files over to it and noticed that the scale had moved 1%!! it’s so fast at accessing files, and much faster that the computer can access it’s own hard drive despite using a USB connection. Cost just 70 quid, amazing how fast technology moves.

I remember the old days when I'd wait over an hour for a tape to load a pathetic game into my C64

[Edited on 8/2/08 by Mr Whippy]

You could use something like Ghost to transfer across the data. But it might not work properly afterwards- Windows is notoriously fragile and appears to balls up a the slightest chance.

Personally what I'd do is put the second HD in the computer, leave the old hard disk for the operating system and transfer all documents (inc the My Documents folder- be careful how you do this though) onto the new hard disc. Having a separate disc for the OS also makes it easier should you ever need to re-install windows and it might make the computer run a bit faster....

Then again, I've taken this to extremes and now have 3 hard discs

c: 40Gb OS
d: 80Gb data
e: 320Gb huge video files, adobe premiere swap files etc etc...

I would backup your important files to a USB drive and reinstall OS.

This is the recommend way by Microsoft when changing the motherboard of a PC.

The reason is that when you install XP/2000/2003 OS creates the HAL (Hardware abstraction layer) this holds the Definition for the OS to talk to the bios and other motherboard resources.

If you just move the HD its could be incompatible and then causes problems

I don't think that is a flaky OS as Linux based systems would also have issues.

[Edited on 8-2-2008 by onzarob]

Thanks for the replies.

There's probably a lot to be said for a fresh install, but the thought of reinstalling software from original discs, then all the downloaded upgrades, patches etc, then all the configuration..............

quote:

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Originally posted by onzarob
....
I don't think that is a flaky OS as Linux based systems would also have issues.

[Edited on 8-2-2008 by onzarob]

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I can recommend one of these:

LINKY

You just plug it into the back of your hard disk (or CD-ROM/DVD drive) and it looks like a USB storage device to the PC. I've used mine on Windoze and Linux.

You can set up your new PC from scratch, then transfer your data at a later date.

Deleting win.com and running windows setup in repair mode creates a new HAL, the only thing it won't fix is the clutter of unwanted files that old windows installations accumulate.

It can also be just possible to run windows without a re-install however windows finger prints the computers IDE controller and records the info in registry, to circumvent this it is necessary to run a program called MergeIDE written for the German c't computer magazine link http://www.virtualbox.org/attachment/wiki/Migrate_Windows/MergeIDE.zip

Also if the old computer had a AGP bus graphics card and the new motherboard dosen't the file agp440.sys should be deleted.
see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324764



Using the above tricks a Windows installation can also be transfered to a new hard disk without running a full install by cloning the hard disk.

[Edited on 9/2/08 by britishtrident]

This also works -- used to use it to create NT4+sp6 boot cds.

http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml