Old hard drive/OS into a new PC

jeffk

I’m looking to upgrade from an oldish dell pc, to a new self-build pc and I want to use my hard disk from my old pc in my new one. The OS is windows 7, I installed it myself as the dell pc originally came with XP.


Ive read on the net that it’s not possible and basically I’ll get a blue screen of death on boot up. So im wondering has anyone ever done this or do they know if it’s possible.



Thanks in advance

bonzodog2

It may work, but you'll need to find drivers for things integrated onto your new mobo. If you have a proper XP CD (unlikely cos its a Dell), Windows may find what it needs there.

jeffk

bonzodog2 wrote: »

It may work, but you'll need to find drivers for things integrated onto your new mobo. If you have a proper XP CD (unlikely cos its a Dell), Windows may find what it needs there.

Sorry im going to be running 7 on the new PC. I was hoping it would just boot up and then 7 would work its magic on the drivers and if need be id unistall the old devices.

cookie1977

I think it might work to be honest

Edit
but

Actually why cant you just reinstall windows 7 on to the new harddrive/system

tman

Should be possible... Perhaps uninstall drivers beforehand
It's worth a shot anyway, but isn't really guaranteed to work

What kind of hard drive are you using? Might be worth noting that an older one will be a massive bottleneck, so you'd be better off ghosting the install onto a newer drive (something like a Spinpoint F3)

jeffk

cookie1977 wrote: »

I think it might work to be honest

Thats what I like to hear .

Its not THAT big of a deal to reinstall, but its the messing around with remembering and restoring my personal settings and tweaks.

cookie1977

jeffk wrote: »

Thats what I like to hear .

Its not THAT big of a deal to reinstall, but its the messing around with remembering and restoring my personal settings and tweaks.

The thing is windows 7 is so quick to install anyway and although it might work it may be buggy underneath. Whereas a new install will remove any potential problems, no?

jeffk

tman wrote: »

Should be possible... Perhaps uninstall drivers beforehand
It's worth a shot anyway, but isn't really guaranteed to work

What kind of hard drive are you using? Might be worth noting that an older one will be a massive bottleneck, so you'd be better off ghosting the install onto a newer drive (something like a Spinpoint F3)

WDC WD800JD-75MSA3 ATA Device
Manufacturer Western Digital
Heads 16
Cylinders 16383
SATA type SATA-II 3.0Gb/s
Device type Fixed
ATA Standard ATA/ATAPI-7
48-bit LBA Supported
Interface SATA
Capacity 78GB
Real size 80,000,000,000 bytes

It gets a 3.2 on the 7 score, so I think its still a good enough drive.
I wanted to try and use the hard and disk drive from the old pc, so that money can go onto building a faster PC

jeffk

cookie1977 wrote: »

The thing is windows 7 is so quick to install anyway and although it might work it may be buggy underneath. Whereas a new install will remove any potential problems, no?

I agree it is fast to install, but then I’ve to reinstall 21 or so programs and then reapply my settings.

If I could back up just the programs and settings and then clean reinstall 7 and then restore my programs and their settings that would be great.

cookie1977

I can understand that. Well let us know how you get on.

jeffk

cookie1977 wrote: »

I can understand that. Well let us know how you get on.

Ill be building it in about a month, so ill make sure to post a thread as soon as im done!

Allyall

Hi,

You could back up all your programs and setting using any number of backup/cloning software, all pretty easy to use too..

http://backup.comodo.com/
http://ping.windowsdream.com/
http://clonezilla.org/
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/
http://www.oo-software.com/home/en/products/oodiskimageexpress/
http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

Or trial version of Acronis true image home 2011,

Limitations are highlighted ON THIS PAGE
And it can be downloaded HERE
So for that, you may want to create a live disk, which it has built in ,making it even easier.

jeffk

Allyall wrote: »

Hi,

You could back up all your programs and setting using any number of backup/cloning software, all pretty easy to use too..

http://backup.comodo.com/
http://ping.windowsdream.com/
http://clonezilla.org/
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/
http://www.oo-software.com/home/en/products/oodiskimageexpress/
http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

Or trial version of Acronis true image home 2011,

Limitations are highlighted ON THIS PAGE
And it can be downloaded HERE
So for that, you may want to create a live disk, which it has built in ,making it even easier.

Is this making an image of the drive in case of a problem?

Allyall

jeffk wrote: »

Is this making an image of the drive in case of a problem?

Well, kind of. You can choose what to backup, so you could clone the entire drive, or you could just back up your applications, and then reinstall them on the new Windows 7, as one installer.

Save you having to reinstall each program, and change their settings..

jeffk

Allyall wrote: »

Well, kind of. You can choose what to backup, so you could clone the entire drive, or you could just back up your applications, and then reinstall them on the new Windows 7, as one installer.

Save you having to reinstall each program, and change their settings..

At the minute I use drive image xml to image the whole drive.

Is there one of those programs listed that you would recommend to be the best for what I need to do?

cookie1977

one final thought jeff. I really think a fresh install will do wonders for you even if it requires you setting up the software all over again. But if I'm pushed I'd say the paragon software 1st or as a close second the acronis backup if you purchase the full version

jeffk

cookie1977 wrote: »

one final thought jeff. I really think a fresh install will do wonders for you even if it requires you setting up the software all over again. But if I'm pushed I'd say the paragon software 1st or as a close second the acronis backup if you purchase the full version

Thats great thanks, the more that is said about it, the more a fresh install seems to be the way. As mentioned it could look OK, but then come back to haunt me with problems.

If needs be I could always screen shot program settings windows and then use them like a manual for reinstalling. In some ways I want to lose the tweaks I and other programs have done and if I plan it right I can have the exes downloaded and ready to install.

Allyall

cookie1977 wrote: »

one final thought jeff. I really think a fresh install will do wonders for you even if it requires you setting up the software all over again. But if I'm pushed I'd say the paragon software 1st or as a close second the acronis backup if you purchase the full version

Ditto.

Acronis would be my choice, but, purchased version.

jeffk

After some advice in the PC Building & Upgrading forum, for my new PC I’m going with a new drive. SO seen as I’m starting fresh with the drive and the PC in general, I’m going to go with a fresh install of windows 7.


I have a TV with a VGA connector, so I can run both pcs at the same time and copy settings from the old pc onto the new pc that way.