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Moving HD From one Computer to Another

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T

The_Smokin_Hipp

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Mar 21, 2004
Just picked up a new computer that has AMD cpu. I currently am using a computer that is Intel cpu. I cloned the HD ( Winxp pro sp2 using xxclone ) that I had in the intel computer and tried to load it up in the AMD computer. Of course it ran the windows logo & just kept restarting. And yes I tested the cloned hd in the machine it originally came from, worked perfectly.

Tried to run the repair option from the winxp cd. When it finished running the recovery console it would go to command prompt and tell me to type exit or press enter the Windows dir. But neither option ever fixed the problem. Would just restart. Tried to run just from HD, or just from cd, to no avail.

Am I missing something? Am I attempting to do this completely wrong? Is this even possible? Any help would be great.
 
You cant just take it out of one system and expect it to run a different system. You need all the hardware drivers, chipset drivers, etc... You need to back up your data and reinstall the operating system.
 
King107s said:
You cant just take it out of one system and expect it to run a different system. You need all the hardware drivers, chipset drivers, etc... You need to back up your data and reinstall the operating system.
Click to expand...


While that may be true when going from Intel to AMD (or vice versa) on Windows XP, going from one Intel platform to another Intel (or one AMD platform to another AMD platform) in Vista (or Windows 7) is a relatively painless process. Personally, like yourself, I do recommend a reinstallation though just to clear out the accumulated trash that builds up over time.

Last night I upgraded my power hungry Dell XPS410 HTPC (P4D - 130+W processor) to an Asus AT5IONT-I Atom D525 based system that maxxed out at 35watts under load. :)

Vista booted right up after moving the hard drive over and asked me for updated drivers for the normal stuff (Chipset, video, sound, networking, USB) and, once loaded, everything works just fine.*

I just wanted to point out that staying in the same Mfgr's platform and using Vista/Win7 makes the upgrade process far less painful.

*Now if I could just get my USB 3 ports working I'd be truly happy. (After troubleshooting the problem for a fair amount of time, I believe I may have received a defective board and I will explore swapping for another via the RMA process)
 
notarat said:
While that may be true when going from Intel to AMD (or vice versa) on Windows XP, going from one Intel platform to another Intel (or one AMD platform to another AMD platform) in Vista (or Windows 7) is a relatively painless process. Personally, like yourself, I do recommend a reinstallation though just to clear out the accumulated trash that builds up over time.

Last night I upgraded my power hungry Dell XPS410 HTPC (P4D - 130+W processor) to an Asus AT5IONT-I Atom D525 based system that maxxed out at 35watts under load. :)

Vista booted right up after moving the hard drive over and asked me for updated drivers for the normal stuff (Chipset, video, sound, networking, USB) and, once loaded, everything works just fine.*

I just wanted to point out that staying in the same Mfgr's platform and using Vista/Win7 makes the upgrade process far less painful.

*Now if I could just get my USB 3 ports working I'd be truly happy. (After troubleshooting the problem for a fair amount of time, I believe I may have received a defective board and I will explore swapping for another via the RMA process)
Click to expand...

Sure if i pull out my Q9950 and drop in a QX9770 my OS won't be affected but hes going from one system to a completely different one with different videocard, mainboard, NIC etc... doesn't suprise me that hes having problems. The whole intel vs amd thing really boils down to different mainboards not the cpu's.
 
King107s said:
Sure if i pull out my Q9950 and drop in a QX9770 my OS won't be affected but hes going from one system to a completely different one with different videocard, mainboard, NIC etc... doesn't suprise me that hes having problems. The whole intel vs amd thing really boils down to different mainboards not the cpu's.
Click to expand...

I think you missed my point. As I previously stated, I do recommend doing exactly what you recommended if using XP and changing from Intel to AMD (or vice versa).

It requires a complete platform change. (i.e. motherboard chipset) so it is best to do a new installation.

Where I disagree with you is in a Vista or Win7 installation when swapping out one Intel or Amd Platform for another current iteration from the same Mfgr.

You implied that just changing motherboards requires a new installation and, in my experience, it does not.

I changed from whatever cheap crappy motherboard Dell uses (which would not even support a Core 2 CPU) to a completely different chipset and CPU.

(Pentium 4D platform to Atom Platform) and Vista (Win 7's ugly step-brother) had no problems*

*Save for the USB3 issue that I actually just found a fix for at the Asus Forum which turned out to be my mistake, not a defective board
 
I've pulled drives from one system and put them in a totally different system, booted up and had no problems. It certainty is possible to do so without any adverse affects, even between AMD and intel platforms.

Look in your BIOS and see if there are any ACPI options. Enable it if it's not enabled and disable it if it is. See whether you system will boot then.

Next, I would probably recommend running sysprep on your windows install in the old hardware configuration. Download XP Deployment Tools from here, extract all the files from the .cab and run sysprep.exe. Click the Factory button. After your computer shuts down, boot from the drive in the new system.

Keep in mind that you will most likely have to reactivate windows.
 
TempliNocturnus said:
I've pulled drives from one system and put them in a totally different system, booted up and had no problems. It certainty is possible to do so without any adverse affects, even between AMD and intel platforms.

Look in your BIOS and see if there are any ACPI options. Enable it if it's not enabled and disable it if it is. See whether you system will boot then.

Next, I would probably recommend running sysprep on your windows install in the old hardware configuration. Download XP Deployment Tools from here, extract all the files from the .cab and run sysprep.exe. Click the Factory button. After your computer shuts down, boot from the drive in the new system.

Keep in mind that you will most likely have to reactivate windows.
Click to expand...

Temp,

When I built a new system (not this one), I did exactly what you stated (same video card) from an XP Pro Asrock 939 Opteron 180 to a DFI 775 Intel E7500. Why? Because there were so many different opinions, I had to find out for myself.

Guess what? Booted and ran fine. Did some cleanup afterwards (AMD Dual Core Optimizer, some drivers, etc). Was I "good" or "lucky"? I don't know but it booted first time with everything intact, no problems. You can't vary modern hardware much worse than I did to try this.

I later reinstalled everything but I didn't have to after running it for a couple weeks. Other people's systems and hardware may not do this, I don't know but it worked for me. Surprisingly, Windows XP Pro didn't squawk one bit.
 
It seems like it's usually video drivers that will be the hardest to overcome. You might try uninstalling video drivers while it is still in the first compouter and then try booting it in the second. It wouldn't hurt to uninstall the sound and network controler drivers as well as any PCI card while your at it.
 
Took into account all the advice here, but I came across this http://www.cpuhack.com/wordpress/?p=142 and decided to give it a try.

If I do a new fresh install I will lose all the programs that I have on the drive, in which some I do not have disks for as I have gotten a few very useful ones from gotd. I am trying to keep all the programs that I have now, and put them on the new system.
 
A repair install is always a good option when things go bad.
That is a cool 3D menu ball on that site, Windows should have more stuff like that.
 
OK, just a post to update:

Have successfully completed the swap from one system to another. I followed the instructions on the this link from my last post. Worked perfectly. :rock: Just finished reloading all drivers, everything works, have not lost any data or programs.

Thank you to the people who added their advice. :thup:
 
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