New nf7-s rev2.0 and old Harddrive

My board should arrive tomorrow and then I will be ready to build my first system. The computer I am currently using I bought refurbished from microcenter. It did not come with any discs. I had been planning on using the hard drive from that computer. I have read that it is best to format the hard drive if you are using an older one. I also just read that the nforce2 boards require a clean hard drive for installation. This is fine for me except I want to be able to keep XP on the drive. It seems to me that I legally own a copy of windows since it came installed on a computer I bought from a retailer, but I have no discs. I could just get a copy of XP Pro for $95 at school. What do you guys recommend? Is there anyway I can build this new computer and keep XP on the hard drive? Thanks

I don't see how you could salvage your OEM istallation. It was customized with all the drivers for your old hardware and will be incapatible with your new mobo. Even if you have the OEM's CD install disk, most of them are just a self installing image that will recreate the original hard drive the old computer shipped with.

You'll need to get that copy of XPpro from school and see if you can run the repair console where you might be able to salvage your installed programs. But it's much better to start with a clean formatted HD and clean install of the OS.

Ok, thanks for the info. I don't have anything vital I need to save, it would have just been nice to do. Another reason I will never buy OEM again.