Installing Old HDD to New Rig?

[slicehix]

Hello,

I just recently decided to get with the times and purchase a new mobo, CPU, Vid card, and RAM. I was running on an older ASUS that was AGP (it does have SATA on it though). I did not purchase a new HDD because I figured my 300gb SATA was still fine.

To put it simply, can I just use the old SATA HDD (as the master since I don't have a 2nd HDD) with the new rig without having to reformat? If it helps here are the specs of the old system VS the new:

OLD:
ASUS mobo (can't recall the model # AV8 something like that...like I said has SATA)
AMD 64 3500+ CPU
ATI AIW x800xt video card
1g Kingston DDR (2 x 512)

NEW:
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX MOBO
Intel q6600 CPU
8800GTS video card
2g Corsair XMS DDR2 ram (2 x 1gb)

OS is Windows XP.

If it makes a difference, I will also be using the PCI wireless card from the old rig in the new one, along with the DVD burner.

Thanks in advance for any and all help/feedback!

 

[SNGX1275]

Nope. You will have to reinstall Windows.

 

[zipperman]

You don't say if your new motherboard is SATA.
If it is connect it as Master 1 and boot your PC.
Report the results.
Worked for me.

 

[slicehix]

You don't say if your new motherboard is SATA.
If it is connect it as Master 1 and boot your PC.
Report the results.
Worked for me.

yeah, both mobos have SATA. I know going IDE to SATA is near impossible, but SATA to SATA is what I'm trying to do.

 

[zipperman]

So plug it in.

 

[Ph30nIX]

You will need the new drivers, its possible it will just work, but could have problems. Just try it. Probably backup your data just incase.

 

[raybay]

I suspect the problem is Windows detecting the change in the hardware, and assuming piracy. You are perhaps going to benefit from installing Windows in Repair mode, which may require you to talk to Microsoft online or by phone as you update the product key registration.

 

[Rick]

raybay is right, a repair might get up and running again. I have to say that doing a fresh install is the RIGHT way to do this though. But here are some more details on the repair process:
https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic8356.html

 

[Tedster]

No. you will have to reformat. You cannot use the OS installed and configured for an old system motherboard on a new system. This is against the license and it also will not work. Windoze configures itself for each system.

 

[Rick]

You cannot use the OS installed and configured for an old system motherboard on a new system. This is against the license

If he has XP Retail, it is OK. For OEM, it is not.

13. SOFTWARE TRANSFER. Internal. You may move the Software to a different Workstation Computer. After the transfer, you must completely remove the Software from the former Workstation Computer. Transfer to Third Party. The initial user of the Software may make a one-time permanent transfer of this EULA and Software to another end user, provided the initial user retains no copies of the Software. This transfer must include all of the Software (including all component parts, the media and printed materials, any upgrades, this EULA, and, if applicable, the Certificate of Authenticity). The transfer may not be an indirect transfer, such as a consignment. Prior to the transfer, the end user receiving the Software must agree to all the EULA terms.

 

[SNGX1275]

Well the bottom line is you simply aren't going to get XP to boot up after the transfer, at the very best senario you'd have to do a repair.

He's completely changing everything. Different motherboard, AMD to Intel CPU change, chipset changes, ATi to nvidia. With that many changes I wouldn't even trust a repair.