WinXP Home Edition HDD to Another PC

[jaugustine]

Hi,

I have installed WinXP Home Edition on several of my computers without
any issues. However, I have not been able to install it on a Global brand
desktop. I have tried different schemes, install on a "blank" HDD (hard disk
drive), replace/overwrite Win98, etc. Note: I changed the boot sequence to
CD rom first when using a "blank" HDD. The problem occurs after files are
transferred to the HDD, then a reboot occurs. An endless cycle of rebooting
or a shutdown happens.

Note: My desktop computers have HDD drawers (I installed).

What would happen if I install WinXP on another PC (I will not "activate"
yet), remove the drawer/HDD and install it in the Global PC?

In other words, would WinXP complain or refuse to bootup?

Thank You in advance, John

 

[Mayayana]

I've never seen anything like the problem you
describe installing. Maybe someone else will
answer that.

Three issues I can think of offhand with moving
the drive (in addition to whatever problem the PC
already has):

1) Uninstall the motherboard drivers before moving
it. Otherwise you may get a bluescreen.

2) The boot.ini file must be pointed to the right
partition. If you're going from 1st partition to 1st
partition that should be fine. Otherwise you need
to edit the file.

3) There's a different hal.dll for single-core vs
multi-core Windows. If you move from single to
multi without replacing that you'll only get one
core used. I've never tried going the other way.
It should boot in that case, but I'm not certain.


| Hi,
|
| I have installed WinXP Home Edition on several of my computers without
| any issues. However, I have not been able to install it on a Global brand
| desktop. I have tried different schemes, install on a "blank" HDD (hard
disk
| drive), replace/overwrite Win98, etc. Note: I changed the boot sequence
to
| CD rom first when using a "blank" HDD. The problem occurs after files
are
| transferred to the HDD, then a reboot occurs. An endless cycle of
rebooting
| or a shutdown happens.
|
| Note: My desktop computers have HDD drawers (I installed).
|
| What would happen if I install WinXP on another PC (I will not
"activate"
| yet), remove the drawer/HDD and install it in the Global PC?
|
| In other words, would WinXP complain or refuse to bootup?
|
| Thank You in advance, John
|

 

[philo]

Hi,

I have installed WinXP Home Edition on several of my computers without
any issues. However, I have not been able to install it on a Global brand
desktop. I have tried different schemes, install on a "blank" HDD (hard disk
drive), replace/overwrite Win98, etc. Note: I changed the boot sequence to
CD rom first when using a "blank" HDD. The problem occurs after files are
transferred to the HDD, then a reboot occurs. An endless cycle of rebooting
or a shutdown happens.

Note: My desktop computers have HDD drawers (I installed).

What would happen if I install WinXP on another PC (I will not "activate"
yet), remove the drawer/HDD and install it in the Global PC?

In other words, would WinXP complain or refuse to bootup?

Thank You in advance, John

The machine may have a hardware problem...installing on an other machine
and transferring the HD is not likely to work

 

[BillW50]

The machine may have a hardware problem...installing on an other machine
and transferring the HD is not likely to work

John, are you by chance trying to install Windows XP with an USB CD
drive? If so, what SP version is that Windows CD? You need XP SP2 or SP3
to use an USB CD drive. And some XP SP2 CDs won't even work with XP SP2.
Like my branded Alienware XP SP2 CD. It only works with the internal CD
drive. Otherwise I see what you are getting.

 

[Paul]

Hi,

I have installed WinXP Home Edition on several of my computers without
any issues. However, I have not been able to install it on a Global brand
desktop. I have tried different schemes, install on a "blank" HDD (hard disk
drive), replace/overwrite Win98, etc. Note: I changed the boot sequence to
CD rom first when using a "blank" HDD. The problem occurs after files are
transferred to the HDD, then a reboot occurs. An endless cycle of rebooting
or a shutdown happens.

Note: My desktop computers have HDD drawers (I installed).

What would happen if I install WinXP on another PC (I will not "activate"
yet), remove the drawer/HDD and install it in the Global PC?

In other words, would WinXP complain or refuse to bootup?

Thank You in advance, John

There is yet another way to do this.

Ingredients:

Working hard drive with two partitions.
Floppy drive with MSDOS on it (sys A: in Windows 98)
Technician computer, to prepare the hard drive.

Procedure:

1) Create two FAT32 partitions. C: should be the first partition
on the disk, in terms of MBR primary partition entries. If you
were to swap the order, the installed OS appears on D: . Ask
me how I discovered this :-(

+--------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
| FAT32 C: | copy of CD i386 folder, on FAT32 partition |
+--------------------------+--------------------------------------------+

2) Create a MSDOS floppy on the Win98 technician computer.
I think that's "sys A:" or so. it's OK if you don't have Win98 computer
any more, as long as you have an MSDOS boot floppy that gives the
old A: prompt. If desperate, you can get a boot floppy of bootdisk.com
or similar.

3) Set boot order to floppy, then hard drive, on the target computer.
Bring the hard drive over from the technician computer, with the
5000+ file i386 folder stored on the second partition. You copy
the i386 folder, off the installer CD, to fill the second partition.
I made my second partition about 1GB in size.

4) Boot the MSDOS floppy. CD to D:\i386. You will notice two setup
programs. One is suited to this installation, the other is not.
Try them, until the installation window appears.

5) I think on the reboot, you remove the MSDOS floppy, as by that time,
the necessary contents of i386 have been copied over to C:, the boot flag
has been set on the first partition, the MBR boot code loaded and so on.
The installation will then continue, referencing D: as the source of
any additional files.

The purpose of that procedure, is to avoid the usage of a CD at all.
The disadvantage of the approach, is C: ends up as FAT32. While
you can use the "convert" command to convert FAT32 to NTFS, the
conversion block size is too small for efficient operation. There's
probably a few more steps you could throw in, to fix that. But this
post is crazy enough as it is

I installed the WinXP on my current computer, using the above method.
(I did it "just for fun".) On my MSDOS floppy, I included smartdrv as
a caching software. The time taken to research smartdrv, test it, I
could have finished the install. Without smartdrv, the partition to partition
file copying, happens at a rate of one file per second. Just walk away
and check back every once in a while, to see how it's going. It'll probably
take a couple hours, if you don't have smartdrv loaded.

There are other floppy sets you can use for this job, but when
I tried one of them, it just didn't work. So I tried the
MSDOS bootstrap procedure instead. And I eventually got
it to work.

HTH,
Paul

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>, Paul <[email protected]>
writes:
[]

The purpose of that procedure, is to avoid the usage of a CD at all.
The disadvantage of the approach, is C: ends up as FAT32. While
you can use the "convert" command to convert FAT32 to NTFS, the
conversion block size is too small for efficient operation. There's
probably a few more steps you could throw in, to fix that. But this
post is crazy enough as it is

I installed the WinXP on my current computer, using the above method.
(I did it "just for fun".) On my MSDOS floppy, I included smartdrv as

[]
You say C: being FAT32 is a disadvantage, and there is a reason not to
use the convert routine, so I presume you haven't.

Since it's your current computer, what (if any!) _actual_ disadvantages
- as opposed to theoretical - have you experienced from running XP on
FAT32?
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The truth is, almost everyone in the world is lovely. But the world is ruined
for us by the sociopaths and those who aren't lovely. - Richard Osman to
Alison Graham, in Radio Times 2013-6-8 to 14

 

[Mayayana]

| Since it's your current computer, what (if any!) _actual_ disadvantages
| - as opposed to theoretical - have you experienced from running XP on
| FAT32?

* File size limited to < 4 GB.

* No functionality to impose file access restrictions.

The latter is something I consider to be an advantage
on a single-user SOHo machine, so I've kept to a FAT32
install since I've used XP. But many people view the
increased restrictions on Vista+/NTFS as an improvement.

I wouldn't be surprised if NTFS is considered to be a
more robust file system altogether, but I'm not sure how
one could confirm that in practice. I've never experienced
any limitations with FAT32, other than file size, and as for
speed -- it doesn't get any faster than instant. I do keep
an NTFS storage partition though, for things like DVD ISOs
that exceed the FAT32 size limit.

A third limitation is with Windows itself, which is limited
in its ability to manage FAT32 partitions. I routinely make
partitions over 100 GB. I have a backup partition now that's
214 GB. But it can't be done with XP. It has to be done with
a 3rd-party tool. After a certain point (I think it's 32 GB) XP
will just refuse to create a FAT32 volume.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

| Since it's your current computer, what (if any!) _actual_ disadvantages
| - as opposed to theoretical - have you experienced from running XP on
| FAT32?

* File size limited to < 4 GB.

Ah. I tend to forget that one - I rarely do anything likely to get near
that.

* No functionality to impose file access restrictions.

The latter is something I consider to be an advantage
on a single-user SOHo machine, so I've kept to a FAT32 me too
install since I've used XP. But many people view the
increased restrictions on Vista+/NTFS as an improvement.

I _suppose_ it might protect users from themselves.

I wouldn't be surprised if NTFS is considered to be a
more robust file system altogether, but I'm not sure how
one could confirm that in practice. I've never experienced

Indeed - its advocates certainly claim that, and rather frequently, I
must say I've found this system quite stable, but whether that's because
of the XP or the NTFS I can't say. (It cane with both, of course.)

any limitations with FAT32, other than file size, and as for
speed -- it doesn't get any faster than instant. I do keep Indeed!
an NTFS storage partition though, for things like DVD ISOs
that exceed the FAT32 size limit.

A third limitation is with Windows itself, which is limited
in its ability to manage FAT32 partitions. I routinely make
partitions over 100 GB. I have a backup partition now that's
214 GB. But it can't be done with XP. It has to be done with
a 3rd-party tool. After a certain point (I think it's 32 GB) XP
will just refuse to create a FAT32 volume.

I didn't know or had forgotten about that. I presume that once you've
used the third-party utility to _create_ them, XP _uses_ them without
problem.Thanks for coming back with an interesting (and comprehensive) reply.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Worst programme ever made? I was in hospital once having a knee operation and I
watched a whole episode of "EastEnders". Ugh! I suppose it's true to life. But
so is diarrhoea - and I don't want to see that on television. - Patrick Moore,
in Radio Times 12-18 May 2007.

 

[Mayayana]

| I didn't know or had forgotten about that. I presume that once you've
| used the third-party utility to _create_ them, XP _uses_ them without
| problem.


No problem. As I noted above, my biggest current data
partition is FAT32, 214 GB. I've done similar on a number
of machines. There might be good reason (other than file
size) to make such data partitions NTFS, but if there is
I'm not aware of it.

 

[Paul]

| I didn't know or had forgotten about that. I presume that once you've
| used the third-party utility to _create_ them, XP _uses_ them without
| problem.


No problem. As I noted above, my biggest current data
partition is FAT32, 214 GB. I've done similar on a number
of machines. There might be good reason (other than file
size) to make such data partitions NTFS, but if there is
I'm not aware of it.

I use the Ridgecrop formatter here.

http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm

And I did leave my WinXP on FAT32. What I have to watch for,
is not attempt any web downloads of more than 4GB in size,
or there will be trouble. I've done that by mistake, just
the one time. Yes, it's really really annoying to damage a 4GB
download, by snipping the end off it My Internet connection
isn't all that fast.

In theory, having NTFS with a journal file, would be
an advantage, but so far there's been no data loss
of any significance. The computer is on a UPS, so
most of the time, shutdowns here are controlled ones,
and not uncontrolled ones. I've probably had the odd
freeze, caused by a game and the video driver, taking
out the machine.

Pound for pound, I've probably had more trouble
with Windows 8, than with WinXP. Windows 8 has
some architectural flaws, in the OS portion
(like offering no way to "escape" if the system
runs out of pool memory). On WinXP, I'd still be
able to use Task Manager, and pull a Houdini. There
is no guarantee at all in Windows 8, that Task Manager
can be used to do anything. It's that gutless. And
a huge mistake from a design perspective. I paid
for Windows 8, and I'm not using it... I don't know
what I'm going to do in April. Take up another
hobby perhaps.

Paul

 

[Mayayana]

| And I did leave my WinXP on FAT32. What I have to watch for,
| is not attempt any web downloads of more than 4GB in size,
| or there will be trouble.

That's why I have one NTFS data partition. Most
software seems to be fine with big files, as long as
it's on an NTFS partition.

| I paid
| for Windows 8, and I'm not using it... I don't know
| what I'm going to do in April. Take up another
| hobby perhaps.
|

I'm surprised how many people care when MS ends
support. I haven't updated anything since SP3 and
have no plans to. If there were a SP4 I'd install it
after it'd had a good bit of testing, but I never enable
Windows Update. I don't want them fiddling with my
system willy nilly. A large number (most?) of online
attacks these days are "0-day" anyway.

I read last week that China might keep updating
XP for their own citizens. That might be an interesting
scenario. And bad press for Microsoft -- unwilling to
support their own product despite it still being used
by hundreds of millions of people.

In any case, I have no doubt that whatever hobby
you take up, you'll be very helpful to others doing it.
....It's almost time to start thinking about a vegetable
garden for this year. Maybe that's a possibility for you.

 

[BillW50]

I'm surprised how many people care when MS ends
support. I haven't updated anything since SP3 and
have no plans to. If there were a SP4 I'd install it
after it'd had a good bit of testing, but I never enable
Windows Update. I don't want them fiddling with my
system willy nilly. A large number (most?) of online
attacks these days are "0-day" anyway.

I was forced to stop updating one EeePC in 2008 since SP3 wouldn't fit
on the 4GB SSD anyway. And back then, I figured this machine would
become a malware magnet and I would have to restore often. After a year,
nothing happened.

So I had taken about a dozen machines to use as a test and stopped
updating them too. And all of these years, nothing happened to them.
Later I bought some more machines that runs Windows XP SP2 and I never
updated them. Nothing ever happened with them either.

I do work on clients machines all of the time which are infected, so I
know what to look for. I never got a virus or trogan on Windows myself
and I have been running Windows since '93. I did get a trojan on a
Commodore though back in the 80's.

The secret to keeping your Windows safe is your antivirus software. As
long as it scans every file before it executes, that is the important thing.

 

[Paul]

...It's almost time to start thinking about a vegetable
garden for this year. Maybe that's a possibility for you.

The wild life here love vegetables, and would be
very appreciative of your suggestion. I just saw
one nodding his head, at the suggestion.

Back home, the wild life are so powerful, a vegetable
gets to stick up its head about 1/4" before promptly
being chomped to bits. You need deep pockets to
get vegetables there. Lots of competition, and you
have to "get in line" You need razor wire and
land mines...

Paul