How2Switch HDD between PC?

Question

Here's the thing: The Pc I had@home [e-mail] slow -after4years it takes a really long time2boot(I even have trouble loading Office)&lets not even talk about games!So,dad brought a Pc(@2.4Gh)from his office&I swiched the hard drives so as not2lose any files or have to reinstall everything.&here's the problem:My PC had2HD with1Windows installation (Prof.)each,&my dad's had1HD with1Windows Prof.installation.I have switched the HD between Pcs and dad's disk isOKwith my old computer.My1st disk is also OK with the2.4Gh Pc also,but the other1(which has all of my files&programs)does not work!I choose the correspondingOSwhen booting,the windows prof. logo appears,it loads and then the screen goes black.Can I do anything to make that disk work?I thought I shouldnt be messing with registry without knowing what I'm doing.I could create a new windows istallation that works© all files,but installing every program again is great fuss(cant do a4thOffice activation)I could use some help!

Answer 1

I was going to give you a hand but I couldn't be bothered reading all this as it is all stuffed together, you probably should have seperated it a bit with blank lines every now and then

Answer 2

First things first: check that both installations are correctly registered in the boot.ini file on the primary master drive. boot to the working version and click Start->Run then type "msconfig" without the quotes. Now go to the boot.ini tab and click the "Check all boot paths". If everything seems valid to Windows, then look at the boot.ini entry manually (it's displayed at the top of the window). Ensure that there is more than one entry under [operating systems].

If both installations are registered correctly, it should look something like this:

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0) partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP" / fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0) partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP" / fastdetect


If not, try running the "Repair Windows" from the Windows XP CD (you must boot up to the CD) and repairing the second drive's installation.

If everything did check out, however, try switching the drive's position on the IDE cable (be sure to verify the jumper positions too). If that doesn't work, switch them back and run the repair utility. If still no good, switch them again and run the repair.

Answer 3

My recommendation: Go ahead and reinstall Windows. Just insert the CD, let the computer boot from the CD-ROM, and be done with it. Once that's done, forget Microsoft Office. Switch to OpenOffice; it is free and is compatible with industry standards (including Word).

http://www.openoffice.org

Then bite the bullet and reinstall all of your other programs. A clean system will perform better, and you will be glad for it.

Answer 4

Perhaps you should try get a better pc and try out vmware to emulate virtual PC(s) for run old programs, thus you need to hold on to old hardware. And you also had to acquire a network storage to store files of all the networked pc.

Answer 5

from what you said and esp you don't wanna loose those files, it would nice if you could reinstall win prof os on that disk. that is if your concerned with your files...

Answer 6

Configuring your HHD1 to master and HHD2 to slave may solve your problem. For further reference visit www.computerhope.com

Answer 7

Check on the backs of the drives for jumpers one should be on MASTER WITH SLAVE and the other SLAVE

Answer 8

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Computer Slow

Download and then run startup.exe at:

http://www.mlin.net/startupcpl.shtml......

Can't live without it and windows...

Then disable and/or uninstall whatever u don't need.

Other things to try:

1 - Disk Cleanup (removal of temp files, cookies, etc.)
2 - Defrag
3 - Registry Cleanup (CAN BE VERY RISKY!)

Joe...

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Computer Virus/Spyware/Adware/Malware/etc

All free...

Download and then run Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Classic at:

http://www.free-av.com/

Download and then run Spybot - Search & Destroy at:

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/

Download and then run Ad-Aware SE Personal at:

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Joe...

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