Hard drive & laptop swap

mazthespark · 18-11-2011 12:15am #1

Hi
wonder if anyone has any ideas how i would achieve this:

have an old laptop running xp with an ide hdd and the laptop has packed in!!! i want to move the hard drive (including os) onto another laptop currently running vista but this has a sata hdd! need to keep xp because of the software i need for work

can this be done??

Thanks in advance

asif2011 · 18-11-2011 12:25am

Nope, can't do it. XP will only run on the machine it was installed on, you can't run it on a different laptop. The best you can do is unscrew the drive from the old laptop and get something like this, and transfer any documents you have over to the vista machine. That's assuming your personal documents weren't in an encrypted profile, in which case you won't be able to transfer anything across. Shipping will take ages on that eBay link but you might be able to find UK sellers for €15-€20 if you need it quick.

mazthespark · 18-11-2011 12:29am

its the software/ os that i really need! If i could get my hands on a laptop that had an ide drive would it work just to swap the drives?? or could i do a fresh xp install on the other laptop that has the sata drive???

asif2011 · 18-11-2011 12:47am

You can't swap the drives without putting a fresh install of XP on. Any laptop at this stage with IDE is hopelessly on it's way out. You can install XP on a virtual machine with your Vista machine using software called VirtualBox, this is not for begineers and something would have to research yourself.

Otherwise you could upgrade the Vista machine to Windows 7, as the XP software support was increased. Software specifically designed for XP can be run using the software compatibility option. I don't know what software you need to use but there is a good chance the Vista or Windows 7 could run it. But you'll need to have the original installation discs to install it, you can't transfer it from that IDE drive.

Serephucus · 18-11-2011 1:45am

asif2011 wrote: »

Nope, can't do it. XP will only run on the machine it was installed on, you can't run it on a different laptop.

Um, why?

I can't think of a reason why this can't be done. If you google and download a program called Acronis, that'll let you make an image - a file, basically - if your entire hard drive (here's hoping you have an external one big enough), that you can then copy to the SATA drive. You'll loose any data that's on the SATA drive, so there might be a bit of backup to-and-froing, but I don't see why it wouldn't work, unless I'm missing something very simple and obvious.

asif2011 · 18-11-2011 2:13am

Serephucus wrote: »

Um, why?

I can't think of a reason why this can't be done. If you google and download a program called Acronis, that'll let you make an image - a file, basically - if your entire hard drive (here's hoping you have an external one big enough), that you can then copy to the SATA drive. You'll loose any data that's on the SATA drive, so there might be a bit of backup to-and-froing, but I don't see why it wouldn't work, unless I'm missing something very simple and obvious.

XP on brand name PCs uses OEM licensing, which means you can't transfer from a Dell laptop to a HP laptop using universal restore. And I've tried universal restore from Dell to Dell and it didn't work for me. He could try it if he's really pushed I guess, but the reality is Windows 7 has great XP software support, as well as better security.

I'd get whatever software it was working on Windows 7 rather messing around with XP on a Vista laptop and crossing my fingers. XP is over 10 years old, its had its day, it's a nightmare to work with in comparison to Windows 7 - especially on new machines. He'll need the original software installation discs though and from hearing these requests from time to time people rarely do.

deceit · 18-11-2011 11:34am

asif2011 wrote: »

XP on brand name PCs uses OEM licensing, which means you can't transfer from a Dell laptop to a HP laptop using universal restore. And I've tried universal restore from Dell to Dell and it didn't work for me. He could try it if he's really pushed I guess, but the reality is Windows 7 has great XP software support, as well as better security.

I'd get whatever software it was working on Windows 7 rather messing around with XP on a Vista laptop and crossing my fingers. XP is over 10 years old, its had its day, it's a nightmare to work with in comparison to Windows 7 - especially on new machines. He'll need the original software installation discs though and from hearing these requests from time to time people rarely do.

I just tried this, this morning on two dell laptops and moved them over and they worked fine. I also then converted them to vm's and put one of them them on my esx server and the other on vm workstation just to see if would work and had no problems with that either.
Also I dont see xp being a nightmare at all quite the opposite but your right windows 7 is better.
The best option if the software isnt used constantly would be to convert xp to a vm and just run it that way then you get the machine running fine on vista/7 and have xp for your software.

mazthespark · 18-11-2011 11:42am

Ok vm's won't really work will always be used as xp could I wipe the Sata drive buy a copy of xp and install it on it then move my stuff from old drive?? Basically I need xp on a laptop no vms or plugins or where could I get a laptop with xp??

the_syco · 18-11-2011 12:04pm

mazthespark wrote: »

the laptop has packed in!!!

What does it not do, and are sure it's not the HDD?

asif2011 · 18-11-2011 4:31pm

deceit wrote: »

I just tried this, this morning on two dell laptops and moved them over and they worked fine. I also then converted them to vm's and put one of them them on my esx server and the other on vm workstation just to see if would work and had no problems with that either.

Yeah maybe you had SATA drivers for the universal restore and it worked for you, when I tried a Dell to Dell it didn't, even though I had the right SATA drivers - I just got a BSOD. Also I'd be surprise your if your VMs are activating or passing WGA, when you have a Dell OEM license it looks for a Dell ID code from the BIOS. This isn't present in the VMware BIOS and activation won't work, when I tried it, it wouldn't even allow me log in. So I'd be very interested to hear how you got this working. If you have a full OEM or VLK license then you can do it. But most small businesses and home users are using OEM XP licensing (the license which came with the computer) and converting that to a VM is very difficult.

deceit wrote: »

Also I dont see xp being a nightmare at all quite the opposite but your right windows 7 is better.

I reinstall laptops as a side business. I have a number of XP OEM discs but lets say I have a Dell OEM disc for XP Home & XP Professional. If I get Sony or a Samsung I can't use those discs, I HAVE to use the original OEM disc that came with the laptop. People frequently loose these and it makes it very hard to reinstall the laptop. You cannot use a retail copy of XP to reinstall an OEM licensed laptop, you have to use the original discs. With Windows Vista & Windows 7 they got rid of this because it was a licensing nightmare - now you can use 1 DVD with all of the editions on it and enter any OEM or VLK code and it'll activate first time.

deceit wrote: »

The best option if the software isnt used constantly would be to convert xp to a vm and just run it that way then you get the machine running fine on vista/7 and have xp for your software.

I've implemented this for a number of people, and is universally hated. Users find it too slow and in most cases completely unecessary. I don't know what software is actually required to run but I'd be 95% certain it'll run in Windows 7.

asif2011 · 18-11-2011 4:52pm

mazthespark wrote: »

Ok vm's won't really work will always be used as xp could I wipe the Sata drive buy a copy of xp and install it on it then move my stuff from old drive?? Basically I need xp on a laptop no vms or plugins or where could I get a laptop with xp??

If you want XP on a laptop, the best thing to do is go on eBay, buy an OEM license for XP home or XP Professional if the laptop will ever be joined to a domain - make sure it doesn't have a manufacturer logo on it like Dell or Fujitsu Siemens - these will not activate for you.

Try to track all the drivers down for XP for that laptop before you reinstall it. Especially the network and SATA drivers. Transfer all of your stuff off on to an external hard drive. Then try to reinstall it.

Personally I would give it to someone who reinstalls laptops reguarly, there many pitfalls to putting XP on a Vista laptop not least slipstreaming SATA drivers in to the installation files so you actually see the SATA hard drive during installation. This is why I don't deal with XP on newer laptops anymore, there is far too much messing about to get it working on newer PCs.

Serephucus · 18-11-2011 4:59pm

Before the OP goes and spends money on something he doesn't need - the thing may never even be connected to a network - try what I suggested.

Download Acronis.
Make an image of XP machine.
Backup SATA drive.
Copy XP image to SATA drive.
See if it boots.

asif2011 · 18-11-2011 5:03pm

Serephucus wrote: »

Before the OP goes and spends money on something he doesn't need - the thing may never even be connected to a network - try what I suggested.

Download Acronis.
Make an image of PC machine.
Backup SATA drive.
Copy XP image to SATA drive.
See if it boots.

Surely you mean buy Acronis... What brands are the laptops? Are they the same or different?

BostonB · 18-11-2011 5:18pm

All the motherboard drivers, chipset, will be different. You might beat it into submission and get it working but it will never be a happy install. The correct (and quickest) thing to do is to buy a copy of XP and install it fresh. Anything else is just messing around IMO. Though I'd go W7 and spend the effort in sorting out the apps you need instead.

Serephucus · 18-11-2011 5:48pm

BostonB wrote: »

All the motherboard drivers, chipset, will be different. You might beat it into submission and get it working but it will never be a happy install. The correct (and quickest) thing to do is to buy a copy of XP and install it fresh. Anything else is just messing around IMO. Though I'd go W7 and spend the effort in sorting out the apps you need instead.

Once it boots it's fine. You can uninstall/reinstall correct drivers after that.

BostonB · 18-11-2011 6:11pm

Serephucus wrote: »

Once it boots it's fine. You can uninstall/reinstall correct drivers after that.

That hasn't been my experience of it. One place I used to work used to disk swap on a regular basis over many years and those machines were never quite right. They'd probably blame windows for any subsequent instability or crashes not the disk swap. Whereas in my experience, most windows system are generally extremely robust.

Hard drive & laptop swap

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