Is it possiable to take a hard drive out of one pc and put it in another without having to reinstall windows?

Question

I want to use it with the os still on there like all my settings and files would be ezactly the same but the hdd would just be in a different rig

I do not have a windows disc becuase my old pc was made by hp and they have their own version of windows installed on the hdd i want to transfer and they did not give me the win xp disc when I bought it

Answer 1

short answer yes you can transfer your drive over, operating system (primary C: drive).

however when you do unless the hardware is exactly the same between the two systems you will as others said get error messages for missing hardware.
the best thing to do to prevent this is to go to control panel system, then remove all the hardware that is specific to your old computer (the one you want to remove the drive from).
now if at any point during the uninstal you are asked to restart your system for changes to take effect do not restart the system until all drivers are removed. likewise if you remove any hardware drivers and are prompted to reinstall cancel the install process.
you should of course make sure the computer you are removing the drive from is not networked during the removal stage. just makes life easier.
once all the drivers are removed for the old system. you can power off the computer, and remove the drive.
now install the drive in the new computer.
find the driver disc for your motherboard, sound card and GPU as well as all add on cards and printers keyboard etc.
once you have the discs to hand you can power up the computer,
after you boot up and log in as administrator, you will be prompted in turn by your computer for each of the drivers for the new hardware. just follow the instructions and you can't go wrong.

now your system has all the drivers for the hardware installed restart the system.
when you restart, you may need to install the software that goes with your hardware so that your system will be working normally.
e.g. canon printers have a range of software that in my case includes easy web print for example.
repeat the instal for each of your compnents.
again if prompted to restart the system do it.
now your system should be set to go (almost).
if you are running windows XP and above you may be prompted to re-activate windows. This is nothing to worry about if your original copy of windows is a legal copy.
You will be prompted to connect to the internet and proceed with the online process. however experiance tells me that when you do this unless it is the very first time you are activating the software the validation process fails and you are required to make a toll free call to the microsoft support line.
so save time, sit at your computer with a telephone close at hand preferably a phone with speakerphone/handsfree as you will need to provide the code your computer provides on screen to the operator if you are unable to type in the number on the keypad. wait and you will be given a code to enter by the operator.
enter the code where shown. click next or continue (i forget the exact label id) the operator will tell you what to do.
if asked if this is the first time registering, just tell the truth, no you are transfering the licence from an old dead computer to a new one.
job done.
you can now safely use your new computer with the old settings.
alternatively backup to an external drive and recover to your new computer on a brand new hard drive (make the drive a seagate baracuda at a minimum if you want a drive that is reliable over a long period of uptime).

speaking here from personal experiance of setting up and maintaining my families and my systems.
i hope that helps.
i nearly forgot, when installing the new drive make sure that you only have your essential directly connected (keyboard, mouse and monitor).
all other peripherals should be disconnected until all the drivers are installed for your motherbaord and other internal cards etc.

Answer 2

the main thing that keeps a hard drive from booting on another machine is the fact that it can't boot to the desktop at which time it can find new devices and install them. And the main reason it can't boot to the desktop is because it has a custom IDE controller installed. So before you take that hard drive out of the system its already in, do the following:

control panel > system > hardware > device manager

find the section about "IDE adapters"

right click on each and install new drivers as necessary. You want to end up with these three:

Primary IDE channel
Secondary IDE channel
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

Its the last one you usually have to change. Of course its best if you have some familiarity with changing devices drivers to do this. Reboot and make sure its stable in the existing system. You can then remove it and boot it in another system. WinXP authentication is a different issue tthat I won't go into.

Answer 3

It depends on what Windows Version you have. Windows 98 and ME you can, but you will need to get the drivers for the new hardware. Windows XP you can, but you will need to use the repair function to fix XP to work on the new system. Otherwise you will get the "Blue screen of death". The way to use the repair function is to boot from the Windows XP CD. When you get to where Windows Setup looks to see if there is another copy of windows on the drive, it will give you the option of repairing the copy of XP that is on the newly installed hard drive. Tell it yes. It takes almost as long as a completely new install, however, the software that is installed on the drive will still be usable as it was on the old computer. Also your desktop and your settings will still be the way you are used to.

Answer 4

One minor point to note is that the version on your HP will be an OEM version.
The license for which remains with the PC, it cannot be transfered to another PC.
The full retail (boxed) license is transferable, subject to certain conditions.
HP usually have a hidden partition on the drive with a copy of the operating system (as shipped) to help in case the user needs to reinstall the OS.

Answer 5

No,the old had drive contains hardware and registry information from another computer and you most likely see the Blue screen on boot (hey ,that's me) or the computer will keep restarting.You don't have to format and re install everything.Start with the OS CD and when the installer detects another OS present it will ask you if you want to repair this OS.Select yes and this will fix it and you'll still have your personal files.Of course if you don't have the OS CD you can't do that.

Answer 6

if you want to use the second hard drive to become extra capacity then fine. the os resides on the master primary and is unaware of the os on the second disk. it can only see the files.

you cannot use it as the primary dirive with a functional os, unless the machine that you are putting it into is exactly the same as the old one- unlikely i guess.

whilst illegal, os's are available via utorrent etc- ofcourse i assume that you are an honest chappie

Answer 7

If its just a secondary hard drive, like for extra storage, then you don't need to reinstall your OS, but if you want to use the OS on it, then you need to reinstall windows.

Answer 8

if you're saying that you want to take the HD out of computer A and put it in computer B, you will not need to reinstall windows, because its on the HD already, you may need to get new drivers, depending on the other specs of the PC

Answer 9

As long as it isn't the drive on which the Operating System resides. In that case, you will get lots of error messages about all of the drivers you don't have.

Answer 10

yes but you cannot have 2 hardrives in with windows on both and if you are having two hard drives you will have to make 1 a slave driveby altering the jumpers