I am thinking to use my old hard drive from my old computer as a primary drive on my new computer?

Question

I am going to buy a new computer. Basicaly what I want is using my old hard drive on a new computer without damage any old information which is already on my old hard drive. If necessary, I don't mind removing the new hard drive from my new computer, and use only my old hard drive, which has Windows XP and lots of data I want to preserve, on my new computer. Both computers are desktop.

How can I do it? Thank you and your advice is solicited.

Answer 1

Part of the XP installation process is identifying the core components of the system like the motherboard and processor. The identification codes are then embedded in the boot process to be checked every time the system is started. If the hardware is not the same, such as in your case, Windows will not start. Your new computer may have XP or Vista on it's drive and won't boot without it.

You will not lose any of your files on the old drive if you install it as a slave drive. It is possible to make the new system dual bootable (old XP or new OS). There are instructions on how to do this on the Microsoft web site.

Answer 2

It's easy. All you have to do is remove your hard drive from your old computer and remove the hard drive from the new computer.



After that put in your old hard drive where the new one was and make sure its set on master and not slave.



Then if you want you could also put in your new had drive as slave and you would have extra memory which is a good thing to have.



The only thing is its probally a better idea to make the hard drive from your old computer in slave mode because the new computer will probally have vista on it.



For more information try this link http://www.ehow.com/how_6031_change-master-slave-designation.html

Answer 3

To transfer files between the two hard drives, you would need to connect both of them. The easiest way would probably be to purchase an external enclosure for your old computer's hard drive.

Answer 4

It is not advisable, but just remove the new hard drive and replace it with the old hard drive. From http://fixit.in