Move hard drive from one PC to another...

[mcseguy9]

A friend's mobo got fried so we're installing a new one. Of course the mobo is different. So what I'm trying to figure out is if it would be possible to plop this hard drive in the PC with the new mobo and how XP will handle that. I'm guessing it's not a good idea. I'm assuming that all of the mobo specific hardware that was installed when XP was installed on the old mobo will remain in XP and cause conflicts with the hardware from the new mobo. If I'm wrong let me know. I was wondering if following through with Fred Langa's reinstall of XP over itself, which is similar to reinstalling Windows 98 over itself in that it keeps all installed programs working, would work. Again, let me know what you think. Thanks.

[photolady]

Usually, you can do a repair install when installing harddrive in new motherboard. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But you can try it. I have had good success this way. Be aware though, unless the xp has SP2 preinstalled, you'll have to reinstall that and any updates because these are lost when doing a repair install. Then you can install the drivers for the new motherboard.

[mcseguy9]

This sounds like it could work. I'll have to check with my friend and see if he knows if it had SP2 on it. If he isn't sure is there a way to tell by looking at the files from the hard drive? I have an image of the drive so I could look at anything there. Let me know.

[SuperSparks]

It would be easier to just do the repair install and then go to Windows Updates. You'll need to install SP2 whether he has it installed now or not, or you won't be able to get any updates at all, as non SP2 installations are no longer supported.

You might find these articles helpful:

How to perform a re-install of WinXP

Repair XP

WinXP Non-destructive Total Rebuild

[Train]

If your friend have one of those recovery cds, they may need to go out and purchase the M$ cd for that to work without wiping the drive.

[mcseguy9]

Thanks for links SuperSparks. And Train, you are correct. If he has a recovery CD instead of an XP CD he might be even more screwed than he already is... =)

[Welshjim]

mcseguy9--Most PC makers will sell you a full OS CD for a small fee (like $10-20) if you ask and have proof of purchase of the PC from them. Of course it will probably be the OS originally bought with the PC.

[mcseguy9]

That's definitely an idea. Thanks.