Swapping a hard drive?? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

DellArte · 06-23-2004, 11:32 AM

I would like to swap a 60G drive from an old Pentium2 to a newer P3 with the OS intact.

Is this even possible? ...and if it is, any suggestions or advice on pitfalls would be greatley appreciated.

Sorry for any typos but I am still adjusted to my newly tilted world.

Ciao'

hrdwareguy · 06-23-2004, 11:38 AM

What OS do you have on it?

DellArte · 06-23-2004, 12:28 PM

I have Win98SE.

hrdwareguy · 06-23-2004, 01:14 PM

Good. No problems at all.

Move the hard drive over and prepare for the wonderful world of reboots as windows detects your new hardware. Also, have the driver disks for any new hardware ready so you can install it.

After Windows detects all of the motherboard resources and starts installing individual hardware, I have found it best to cance it all initially. Then go into the device manager, remove an item and reboot. Windows will redetect it and ask you to install it. Install that one device then reboot. Repeat this until all devices are installed. You can do it however you want, but installing one device at a time with reboots in between seems to work much better than trying to install all the devices at the same time with no reboots.

Redjake · 06-23-2004, 01:44 PM

While a lot of people seem to think this process works without flaws, I have found that it rarely works with me. I just format the hard drive and reinstall Windows. I feel sorry for all those who can't do that as easily and hassle-free as me, but it's not hard to do if you have the resources. Since you are going from an Intel to an Intel, that may help, but expect problems on the way. It's not smooth sailing

Good luck.

Cocktopus · 06-23-2004, 03:12 PM

ususally if the mobo platform is relatively close (intel 440lx to intel 440bx) things should go ok. going from an intel board to a sis or via .... can be problematic

ninety09 · 06-23-2004, 03:27 PM

Can this be done with WindowsXP too?

Dilbert1234567 · 06-23-2004, 03:37 PM

um it all depends on teh chipset of the 2 mother boards, im not to sure if it will work or not.

henlin · 06-23-2004, 03:49 PM

doesn't win xp start whining if you changemore than two components at once?

sailor · 06-23-2004, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Redjake
While a lot of people seem to think this process works without flaws, I have found that it rarely works with me. I just format the hard drive and reinstall Windows. I feel sorry for all those who can't do that as easily and hassle-free as me, but it's not hard to do if you have the resources. Since you are going from an Intel to an Intel, that may help, but expect problems on the way. It's not smooth sailing Good luck.

What he said. Ive never known it to work, but its worth a shot anyways.

DellArte · 06-23-2004, 07:16 PM

Thanks for the help....

...to have tilted and fallen is better than to have never tilted at all.

oiekeooiyw · 06-23-2004, 07:20 PM

i always choose to reformat the drive and start over when moving a drive.

westothemax · 06-24-2004, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by henlin
doesn't win xp start whining if you changemore than two components at once?

Yes, in fact I was building two completely identical systems and I figured I'd save time if I prepared the hard drive for System A and use Norton Ghost to clone the drive for System B. Windows XP was activated on System A, and required re-activation on System B because it dectected hardware changes. The license I bought said 1-2 CPUs, so I think what I did was perfectly legal. It just really suprised me how well Windows XP activation worked.

hrdwareguy · 06-24-2004, 05:19 AM

I have never had any problems moving a Win 98 drive between machines regardles of mobo. Just had to slowly and methodically reinstall drivers and things. Hence my reccomendation to install one thing at a time.

With winXP, sometimes swapping them won't work, especially if the mothorboards are different manufacturers. You can however use the sysprep utility before hand to remove the hardware info so that the next time it boots up it redetects it all. This works well and yes, this also requires a re-activation.

westothemax: Technically what you did was not perfectly legal. The license you bought was to use Windows XP on a single machine that supported 1 or 2 processors in that machine. It is not a license to run the same copy on 2 different processors.

mikec · 06-24-2004, 11:23 AM

I've had to move a HD with XP from one machine to another, AMD to Intel. With XP, it wouldn't boot at all...just a blue screen. A repair of the OS however made things right again.

With 98se, I'd delete the enum folder from the registry (http://support.microsoft.com/default...NoWebContent=1), shut down, move the HD, and reboot. This helps to minimize any hardware conflicts between the 2 systems.

Dilbert1234567 · 06-25-2004, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mikec
I've had to move a HD with XP from one machine to another, AMD to Intel. With XP, it wouldn't boot at all...just a blue screen. A repair of the OS however made things right again.

With 98se, I'd delete the enum folder from the registry (http://support.microsoft.com/default...NoWebContent=1), shut down, move the HD, and reboot. This helps to minimize any hardware conflicts between the 2 systems.

ew dont repair when you make a jump this big, it just patches things but leaves the problem partialy repaired, get your data off and reinstal the os.

mikec · 06-25-2004, 07:57 AM

I don't necessarily agree dilbert.

I am all for a reinstall, and if there are no programs, and customizations I would reinstall any day of the week.

but I have repaired OS's in situations where a reinstall would have been a BIG problem, and those machines have been in production for over 1.5 years without a peep. No problems with hardware in device manager, or software issues.

Dilbert1234567 · 06-25-2004, 08:30 AM

if you switch the hard drive out from one system ot another everything has to be redetected again all the ports all teh ranges, it will work but it will be much better if it is done right the first time. lets face it, the PnP is not perfect, and windows does not do a good job at uninstalling hardware. to get a nice clean system do a complete re instal.

hrdwareguy · 06-25-2004, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dilbert1234567
if you switch the hard drive out from one system ot another everything has to be redetected again all the ports all teh ranges, it will work but it will be much better if it is done right the first time. lets face it, the PnP is not perfect, and windows does not do a good job at uninstalling hardware. to get a nice clean system do a complete re instal.

Or use sysprep, that's what it's designed for.

Sysprep rips all the hardware info out of Windows, then the next time it boots up, it redetects all the on the system, just like it does when you install from the CD.

Sysprep is the Microsoft way of pushing out images to bunches of machines that can have varying hardware. I use it a lot and it works great.

06-23-2004, 11:32 AM	#1 (permalink)
DellArte Upright	Swapping a hard drive?? I would like to swap a 60G drive from an old Pentium2 to a newer P3 with the OS intact. Is this even possible? ...and if it is, any suggestions or advice on pitfalls would be greatley appreciated. Sorry for any typos but I am still adjusted to my newly tilted world. Ciao'

06-23-2004, 11:38 AM	#2 (permalink)
hrdwareguy "Officer, I was in fear for my life" Location: Oklahoma City	What OS do you have on it? __________________ Gun Control is hitting what you aim at Aim for the TFP, Donate Today

06-23-2004, 12:28 PM	#3 (permalink)
DellArte Upright	Win98SE I have Win98SE.

06-23-2004, 01:14 PM	#4 (permalink)
hrdwareguy "Officer, I was in fear for my life" Location: Oklahoma City	Good. No problems at all. Move the hard drive over and prepare for the wonderful world of reboots as windows detects your new hardware. Also, have the driver disks for any new hardware ready so you can install it. After Windows detects all of the motherboard resources and starts installing individual hardware, I have found it best to cance it all initially. Then go into the device manager, remove an item and reboot. Windows will redetect it and ask you to install it. Install that one device then reboot. Repeat this until all devices are installed. You can do it however you want, but installing one device at a time with reboots in between seems to work much better than trying to install all the devices at the same time with no reboots. __________________ Gun Control is hitting what you aim at Aim for the TFP, Donate Today

06-23-2004, 01:44 PM	#5 (permalink)
Redjake I'm a family man - I run a family business. Location: Wilson, NC	While a lot of people seem to think this process works without flaws, I have found that it rarely works with me. I just format the hard drive and reinstall Windows. I feel sorry for all those who can't do that as easily and hassle-free as me, but it's not hard to do if you have the resources. Since you are going from an Intel to an Intel, that may help, but expect problems on the way. It's not smooth sailing Good luck. __________________ Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

06-23-2004, 03:12 PM	#6 (permalink)
Cocktopus Insane	ususally if the mobo platform is relatively close (intel 440lx to intel 440bx) things should go ok. going from an intel board to a sis or via .... can be problematic

06-23-2004, 03:27 PM	#7 (permalink)
ninety09 Flavour of the Weak Location: Canada	Can this be done with WindowsXP too?

06-23-2004, 03:37 PM	#8 (permalink)
Dilbert1234567 Devils Cabana Boy Location: Central Coast CA	um it all depends on teh chipset of the 2 mother boards, im not to sure if it will work or not. __________________ Donate Blood! "Love is not finding the perfect person, but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen

06-23-2004, 03:49 PM	#9 (permalink)
henlin Tilted Location: Birmingham, England	doesn't win xp start whining if you changemore than two components at once?

06-23-2004, 07:16 PM	#11 (permalink)
DellArte Upright	Thanks for the help.... ...to have tilted and fallen is better than to have never tilted at all.

06-23-2004, 07:20 PM	#12 (permalink)
oiekeooiyw Insane	i always choose to reformat the drive and start over when moving a drive.

06-24-2004, 05:19 AM	#14 (permalink)
hrdwareguy "Officer, I was in fear for my life" Location: Oklahoma City	I have never had any problems moving a Win 98 drive between machines regardles of mobo. Just had to slowly and methodically reinstall drivers and things. Hence my reccomendation to install one thing at a time. With winXP, sometimes swapping them won't work, especially if the mothorboards are different manufacturers. You can however use the sysprep utility before hand to remove the hardware info so that the next time it boots up it redetects it all. This works well and yes, this also requires a re-activation. westothemax: Technically what you did was not perfectly legal. The license you bought was to use Windows XP on a single machine that supported 1 or 2 processors in that machine. It is not a license to run the same copy on 2 different processors. __________________ Gun Control is hitting what you aim at Aim for the TFP, Donate Today

06-24-2004, 11:23 AM	#15 (permalink)
mikec I flopped the nutz... Location: Stratford, CT	I've had to move a HD with XP from one machine to another, AMD to Intel. With XP, it wouldn't boot at all...just a blue screen. A repair of the OS however made things right again. With 98se, I'd delete the enum folder from the registry (http://support.microsoft.com/default...NoWebContent=1), shut down, move the HD, and reboot. This helps to minimize any hardware conflicts between the 2 systems. __________________ Until the 20th century, reality was everything humans could touch, smell, see, and hear. Since the initial publication of the charted electromagnetic spectrum, humans have learned that what they can touch, smell, see, and hear is less than one millionth of reality

06-25-2004, 07:57 AM	#17 (permalink)
mikec I flopped the nutz... Location: Stratford, CT	I don't necessarily agree dilbert. I am all for a reinstall, and if there are no programs, and customizations I would reinstall any day of the week. but I have repaired OS's in situations where a reinstall would have been a BIG problem, and those machines have been in production for over 1.5 years without a peep. No problems with hardware in device manager, or software issues. __________________ Until the 20th century, reality was everything humans could touch, smell, see, and hear. Since the initial publication of the charted electromagnetic spectrum, humans have learned that what they can touch, smell, see, and hear is less than one millionth of reality

06-25-2004, 08:30 AM	#18 (permalink)
Dilbert1234567 Devils Cabana Boy Location: Central Coast CA	if you switch the hard drive out from one system ot another everything has to be redetected again all the ports all teh ranges, it will work but it will be much better if it is done right the first time. lets face it, the PnP is not perfect, and windows does not do a good job at uninstalling hardware. to get a nice clean system do a complete re instal. __________________ Donate Blood! "Love is not finding the perfect person, but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen