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Installing old hard drive in new computer


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Guest agreen_78596
Posted

When I use an old IDE hard drive with pre-installed Windows XP Professional,

my new computer doesn't recognize it.

 

The computer works fine if I use an empty, formatted IDE hard drive and

install Windows.

 

The hard drive came from an older computer that had a different motherboard.

 

Is there any way I can use the old hard drive (which has all of my programs)

in the new computer? Or must I format the drive and reinstall Windows?

 

The specs for my new computer are as follows:

 

Motherboard: M2N-SLIDeluxe

CPU: AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+

Graphics card: PNY Technologies GeForce 7300 GT

Memory: Corsair 2Gbyte DDR2 Twin2X

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Guest Ron Badour
Posted

Re: Installing old hard drive in new computer

 

Please explain your comment: my new computer doesn't recognize it. There

are three places where a hard drive should be recognized: the BIOS, device

manager and Windows Explorer--what about your PC? What happens when you try

to boot? Any error messages?

 

--

Regards

 

Ron Badour

MS MVP 1997 - 2007

 

 

"agreen_78596" <agreen_78596@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:52443E53-B851-4502-9851-F0169C042C8B@microsoft.com...

> When I use an old IDE hard drive with pre-installed Windows XP

> Professional,

> my new computer doesn't recognize it.

>

> The computer works fine if I use an empty, formatted IDE hard drive and

> install Windows.

>

> The hard drive came from an older computer that had a different

> motherboard.

>

> Is there any way I can use the old hard drive (which has all of my

> programs)

> in the new computer? Or must I format the drive and reinstall Windows?

>

> The specs for my new computer are as follows:

>

> Motherboard: M2N-SLIDeluxe

> CPU: AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+

> Graphics card: PNY Technologies GeForce 7300 GT

> Memory: Corsair 2Gbyte DDR2 Twin2X

>

Guest David Webb
Posted

Re: Installing old hard drive in new computer

 

Simply follow the applicable procedures in the section titled, "Replace a failed

motherboard" in this MS tech article:

 

How to replace the motherboard on a computer that is running Windows Server

2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;824125

 

"agreen_78596" <agreen_78596@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:52443E53-B851-4502-9851-F0169C042C8B@microsoft.com...

> When I use an old IDE hard drive with pre-installed Windows XP Professional,

> my new computer doesn't recognize it.

>

> The computer works fine if I use an empty, formatted IDE hard drive and

> install Windows.

>

> The hard drive came from an older computer that had a different motherboard.

>

> Is there any way I can use the old hard drive (which has all of my programs)

> in the new computer? Or must I format the drive and reinstall Windows?

>

> The specs for my new computer are as follows:

>

> Motherboard: M2N-SLIDeluxe

> CPU: AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+

> Graphics card: PNY Technologies GeForce 7300 GT

> Memory: Corsair 2Gbyte DDR2 Twin2X

>

Guest Rock
Posted

Re: Installing old hard drive in new computer

 

"agreen_78596" <agreen_78596@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:52443E53-B851-4502-9851-F0169C042C8B@microsoft.com...

> When I use an old IDE hard drive with pre-installed Windows XP

> Professional,

> my new computer doesn't recognize it.

>

> The computer works fine if I use an empty, formatted IDE hard drive and

> install Windows.

>

> The hard drive came from an older computer that had a different

> motherboard.

>

> Is there any way I can use the old hard drive (which has all of my

> programs)

> in the new computer? Or must I format the drive and reinstall Windows?

 

<snip>

 

Are you trying to take a drive that has XP installed from one computer and

use it as the boot drive in a different computer? If that's the case at the

least you'll need to do a repair install. In some cases if the changes in

hardware are significant enough, it will need a clean install. See this

link:

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html

 

What do you mean by "it doesn't recognize it"?

 

--

Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

Guest agreen_78596
Posted

Re: Installing old hard drive in new computer

 

I used the wrong words to describe the problem. Windows XP does not

successfully boot when I install the old hard drive. Windows attempts to

load. I then get the failure notice explaining asking me to load Windows in

normal mode or in safe mode. After choosing either mode, the process repeats

itself.

 

My BIOS program indicates that the hard drive is successfully installed. I

should have elaborated. It's not a problem of the new system not recognizing

the hard drive. Instead, Windows does not successfully load.

 

Nonetheless, I received several answers from my post. I think I know how to

solve the problem.

 

"Ron Badour" wrote:

> Please explain your comment: my new computer doesn't recognize it. There

> are three places where a hard drive should be recognized: the BIOS, device

> manager and Windows Explorer--what about your PC? What happens when you try

> to boot? Any error messages?

>

> --

> Regards

>

> Ron Badour

> MS MVP 1997 - 2007

>

>

> "agreen_78596" <agreen_78596@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:52443E53-B851-4502-9851-F0169C042C8B@microsoft.com...

> > When I use an old IDE hard drive with pre-installed Windows XP

> > Professional,

> > my new computer doesn't recognize it.

> >

> > The computer works fine if I use an empty, formatted IDE hard drive and

> > install Windows.

> >

> > The hard drive came from an older computer that had a different

> > motherboard.

> >

> > Is there any way I can use the old hard drive (which has all of my

> > programs)

> > in the new computer? Or must I format the drive and reinstall Windows?

> >

> > The specs for my new computer are as follows:

> >

> > Motherboard: M2N-SLIDeluxe

> > CPU: AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+

> > Graphics card: PNY Technologies GeForce 7300 GT

> > Memory: Corsair 2Gbyte DDR2 Twin2X

> >

>

>

>

Guest mikeyhsd
Posted

Re: Installing old hard drive in new computer

 

are you trying to use this hard drive as the main drive to boot from or installed as a second SLAVE drive.

if main drive to boot from, then do a repair install so windows recognizes the differences in the computer.

if secondary SLAVE, what happens if you disconnect it.

 

 

 

mikeyhsd@comcast.net

 

 

 

"agreen_78596" <agreen78596@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:D119FC0F-90E8-4E42-B648-CB89ABC90F79@microsoft.com...

I used the wrong words to describe the problem. Windows XP does not

successfully boot when I install the old hard drive. Windows attempts to

load. I then get the failure notice explaining asking me to load Windows in

normal mode or in safe mode. After choosing either mode, the process repeats

itself.

 

My BIOS program indicates that the hard drive is successfully installed. I

should have elaborated. It's not a problem of the new system not recognizing

the hard drive. Instead, Windows does not successfully load.

 

Nonetheless, I received several answers from my post. I think I know how to

solve the problem.

 

"Ron Badour" wrote:

> Please explain your comment: my new computer doesn't recognize it. There

> are three places where a hard drive should be recognized: the BIOS, device

> manager and Windows Explorer--what about your PC? What happens when you try

> to boot? Any error messages?

>

> --

> Regards

>

> Ron Badour

> MS MVP 1997 - 2007

>

>

> "agreen_78596" <agreen_78596@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:52443E53-B851-4502-9851-F0169C042C8B@microsoft.com...

> > When I use an old IDE hard drive with pre-installed Windows XP

> > Professional,

> > my new computer doesn't recognize it.

> >

> > The computer works fine if I use an empty, formatted IDE hard drive and

> > install Windows.

> >

> > The hard drive came from an older computer that had a different

> > motherboard.

> >

> > Is there any way I can use the old hard drive (which has all of my

> > programs)

> > in the new computer? Or must I format the drive and reinstall Windows?

> >

> > The specs for my new computer are as follows:

> >

> > Motherboard: M2N-SLIDeluxe

> > CPU: AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+

> > Graphics card: PNY Technologies GeForce 7300 GT

> > Memory: Corsair 2Gbyte DDR2 Twin2X

> >

>

>

>


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