Moving hard drive between PC's.

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Guest

My mother-in-law had her motherboard go bad. I want to put her hard drive in
another PC so she can still get work done til the motherboard can be
replaced. Every attempt I have made to get her hard drive to work in my
backup PC has failed. My back up pc has pro on its hard drive but I want to
remove it while she is using the pc so that there is only the 1 drive in it.
The problem I am having is that it will not boot up. I never see the windows
logo. I hope someone can help me.
 
Keith said:
My mother-in-law had her motherboard go bad. I want to put her hard drive
in
another PC so she can still get work done til the motherboard can be
replaced. Every attempt I have made to get her hard drive to work in my
backup PC has failed. My back up pc has pro on its hard drive but I want
to
remove it while she is using the pc so that there is only the 1 drive in
it.
The problem I am having is that it will not boot up. I never see the
windows
logo. I hope someone can help me.
Click to expand...


Keith:
In nearly all cases when you move a HD from one XP system to another XP
system you will need to perform a Repair install re that HD. It's a
relatively simple process for a user to undertake (although an intensive one
from the system's point of view) whereby after installing the transferred HD
in the new machine, you boot to the XP installation CD and perform a Repair
install - (YOU DO NOT CHOOSE THE FIRST "REPAIR" OPTION WHICH WILL TAKE YOU
TO THE RECOVERY CONSOLE).

If you've never done this before, just do a Google search on "xp repair
install" and you'll be pointed to a number of sites that contain
step-by-step instructions on performing such.

Before undertaking the Repair install, it's a good idea to copy any
important files from the HD just in case things go awry. Actually it would
have been a much better idea before you installed the HD in the new machine
and tried to boot to it, to have (using a disk imaging program) "cloned" the
contents of that HD to another HD and used the cloned HD in the new machine.
That way you would still retain the original HD to be used without any
modification when the replacement motherboard is later installed, assuming
the replacement MB is the same make/model of the one it's replacing.

And even when the replacement MB is not identical to the one it's replacing,
it's *always* a good idea to create a "clone" of one's HD before undertaking
a substantive process such as the one you will be performing.
Anna
 
Keith said:
My mother-in-law had her motherboard go bad. I want to put her hard drive in
another PC so she can still get work done til the motherboard can be
replaced. Every attempt I have made to get her hard drive to work in my
backup PC has failed. My back up pc has pro on its hard drive but I want to
remove it while she is using the pc so that there is only the 1 drive in it.
The problem I am having is that it will not boot up. I never see the windows
logo. I hope someone can help me.
Click to expand...

Your backup PC has a completely different set of hardware than her PC. You must perform a repair install of XP on the new system when you move a hard drive with an OS already installed so that it can recognize the new hardware configuration.

Once her new motherboard is installed you will then need to perform yet another repair install on her system when you move the hard drive back.

You might want to re-think this decision.

If you decide to go ahead, here are the instructions for performing the repair install.

Read these instructions carefully. All of the installed software and data should not be affected by this procedure, however, it is always a good idea to have a recent backup of your important data.

1. Insert the Windows XP CD into your computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.

2. When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message appears on the screen, press any key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.

Note Your computer must be configured to start from the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. For more information about how to configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, see your computer's documentation or contact your computer manufacturer.

3. You receive the following message on the Welcome to Setup screen that appears:

This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft Windows XP to run on your computer:

*To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

*Press ENTER to set up Windows XP.

4. On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.

5. Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the box, and then

*press R to repair Windows XP.

6. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to reinstall Windows XP. After you repair Windows XP, you may have to reactivate your copy of Windows XP.

Reference: Method #2 in the following MSKB article.
How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User
 
Keith said:
My mother-in-law had her motherboard go bad. I want to put her hard
drive in another PC so she can still get work done til the
motherboard can be replaced. Every attempt I have made to get her
hard drive to work in my backup PC has failed. My back up pc has
pro on its hard drive but I want to remove it while she is using the
pc so that there is only the 1 drive in it. The problem I am having
is that it will not boot up. I never see the windows logo. I hope
someone can help me.
Click to expand...


Because your hardware is undoubtedly very different from your
mother-in-law's, you can't just do this. At the very least you'll have to
perform a repair installation first. That usually works, but worst case, you
may have to do a complete clean reinstallation.

Then you when you put the drive back in her machine, you'll have to do yet
another repair installation (or pehaps a clean reinstallation).

I think doing that double repair installation is just looking for trouble.
If it were me, I wouldn't do it, and would look for another solution, like
using her drive only for its data, but booting and running programs from
your hard drive.
 
Keith said:
My mother-in-law had her motherboard go bad. I want to put her hard drive in
another PC so she can still get work done til the motherboard can be
replaced. Every attempt I have made to get her hard drive to work in my
backup PC has failed. My back up pc has pro on its hard drive but I want to
remove it while she is using the pc so that there is only the 1 drive in it.
The problem I am having is that it will not boot up. I never see the windows
logo. I hope someone can help me.
Click to expand...


Normally, and assuming a retail license (many factory-installed OEM
installations are BIOS-locked to a specific chipset and therefore *not*
transferable to a new motherboard - check yours before starting), unless
the new motherboard is virtually identical (same chipset, same IDE
controllers, same BIOS version, etc.) to the one on which the WinXP
installation was originally performed, you'll need to perform a repair
(a.k.a. in-place upgrade) installation, at the very least:

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341

Changing a Motherboard or Moving a Hard Drive with WinXP Installed
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html

The "why" is quite simple, really, and has nothing to do with
licensing issues, per se; it's a purely technical matter, at this point.
You've pulled the proverbial hardware rug out from under the OS. (If
you don't like -- or get -- the rug analogy, think of it as picking up a
Cape Cod style home and then setting it down onto a Ranch style
foundation. It just isn't going to fit.) WinXP, like Win2K before it,
is not nearly as "promiscuous" as Win9x when it comes to accepting any
old hardware configuration you throw at it. On installation it
"tailors" itself to the specific hardware found. This is one of the
reasons that the entire WinNT/2K/XP OS family is so much more stable
than the Win9x group.

As always when undertaking such a significant change, back up any
important data before starting.

This will also probably require re-activation, unless you have a
Volume Licensed version of WinXP Pro installed. If it's been more than
120 days since you last activated that specific Product Key, you'll most
likely be able to activate via the Internet without problem. If it's
been less, you might have to make a 5 minute phone call.


--

Bruce Chambers

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