relocate system disk to a different computer

[gvm]

It would save me huge amounts of time upgrading systems if I could just
transfer the hard drive from my old system (complete with al my data as well
as the XP Pro system) to the new system rather than doing a fresh
installation of XP and copying/transferring all my data. Is this possible? I
do have an XP installation disk to boot from if necessary. TIA ... Greg

 

[Shenan Stanley]

It would save me huge amounts of time upgrading systems if I could just
transfer the hard drive from my old system (complete with al my data as
well
as the XP Pro system) to the new system rather than doing a fresh
installation of XP and copying/transferring all my data. Is this possible?
I
do have an XP installation disk to boot from if necessary. TIA ... Greg

Research: "Repair Install"

However - you'd probably have a longer-term happy experience actually
installing fresh and installing you applications fresh and then using
something like the Files & Settings Transfer Wizard to bring over your...
Files and Settings.

 

[Anteaus]

If you change the IDE driver to "Standard dual PCI/IDE driver" it will often
boot successfully on different hardware.

I've found the FSTW to be a dangerous option, often it leaves you with
subtle registry problems which aren't immediately apparent. My preference, if
doing a fresh install, is to copy the userprofile in-toto using BartPE or
Knoppix.

 

[Anteaus]

Profiles are stored under "C:\Documents and Settings" -typically they are
named as the user is, although clashes may result in a profile being named
differently.

The profile contains 'Application Data' - it also contains the user
registry, in NTUSER.DAT

Note that if transferring a profile, you MUST first create the user on the
new computer, and logon once as that user, then off again. If you do not to
this, the profile will be 'sidestepped' and a new one created.