Sooooo would this work?

[trouttrooper]

I hope I don't sound too dumb here

I'm trying to figure out the cheapest way to improve my computer situation. Can I unplug the hard drive from my current old desktop that has Microsoft office and all my other software and files, then put it in another desktop that's missing a hard drive and have everything work?

I'm maxed out on ram (a whopping 2gig) and it just can't handle simple things like YouTube. It's running XP. Thing is to buy another computer id have to buy all the software again and frankly I can't afford that right now. I've seen towers for sale around here pretty cheap that are advertised to be running on XP but have a ton more ram and processor speed than what I have now. My thought would be to just switch out the hard drive and id be good to go.

Would this work? I'm nowhere near maxing out the hard drive memory and already have the monitor mouse and keyboard.

 

[Ed HD]

Yes you can, should be as simple as that.

If you do get something new, I can get you a hard copy of Office 2010 for $10, using my student discount. Let Me Know if you're interested.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

I've trie this before wit hXP and it didn't work. Teh XP BIOS wouldn't boot up with a modern motherboard is what I ran into. I'm sure I could have gotten a patch and made the BIOS work, but quite honestly I didn't feel like going through it when I got a new cheap PC that outdid what my old one could, and I didn't have much software on my old one.

 

[trouttrooper]

well, I guess in my favor these towers I'm looking at aren't new. My one concern was if I would encounter a 32 bit vs. 64 bit issue if the "new" tower was setup for Vista or 7 and I tried to use XP. The ones I'm looking at already have a hard drive w/ XP sp3 already loaded so that shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Pepperidge]

did you try backing up and reformatting fresh?

I used to do that once a year and it was like having a brand new PC...I got complacent on my wifes desktop and quit doing this a few years back and it is running like crap now...I ordered her a new PC and I will back up and reformat the old one and pass it on for the kids use...

Wish I'd have known you could get a deal like that Ed...I just added $200 to the price of the one I ordered for the wife's new PC...Wouldn't mind having it for the laptop though, but don't know if I really need it at this point.

 

[RI Chevy Silveradoman]

Yes you can, should be as simple as that.

If you do get something new, I can get you a hard copy of Office 2010 for $10, using my student discount. Let Me Know if you're interested.

Is it an enterprise addition copy?

 

[JiFaire]

Mike, the simple answer is *maybe*

The big problems will be when your XP installation tries to handle the different hardware; if your install disks are on that old hard drive, then when XP encounters a need for new drivers (sound card, video card, ethernet, etc) then it will update itself and things will be nice. If they aren't on that drive, it'll ask you for them, and you'll be hooped.

You have nothing to lose by trying it.

Ed, regarding using your student discount to get somebody else a copy, that's illegal. MSOffice registers itself as a student copy on setup. You can do it, if you want, it's your call, but I'd hate to get caught.

 

[trouttrooper]

did you try backing up and reformatting fresh?

I used to do that once a year and it was like having a brand new PC...I got complacent on my wifes desktop and quit doing this a few years back and it is running like crap now...I ordered her a new PC and I will back up and reformat the old one and pass it on for the kids use...

Wish I'd have known you could get a deal like that Ed...I just added $200 to the price of the one I ordered for the wife's new PC...Wouldn't mind having it for the laptop though, but don't know if I really need it at this point.

Yup, it's running about as clean and efficient as it can be. One thing I noticed when service pack 3 came out way back when my computer slowed down significantly. Even the couple times afterwords when I did a complete format and started over, once sp3 installed the computer slowed way down.

Just about bought a new HP tower tonight for $60 that would have quadrupled my ram and doubled my processor speed. Someone else beat me to the guys ad by 15 minutes. Grrrrr.

 

[just a number]

if you want to keep your old files and such you could just use your current hard drive as a slave or just put it into an external box/ enclosure. they should just exchange but 'should' is a very dangerous word when working with computers.


BTW I feel your pain. until June this year, we were using a 1.0ghz computer with a total of 1.5 gig of ram. keep xp aslong as you can. the newer windows aren't nearly as friendly when things go wrong.

 

[trouttrooper]

the main thing is I used up the 3 "licenses" for microsoft office that I bought a couple years ago so I'd have to buy it again to get Word, Excel etc. I detest having to buy something again that I already purchased. Not too concerned about files as I already have a portable hard drive with all that stuff on it. I've done some more searching and I think what I want to do won't work because XP was OEM on my original computer and it looks like if I plugged that hard drive into another tower it will be locked out.

My dad just bought 2 new computers for their place, so I'm hoping I can snag of his old ones.

 

[just a number]

I take it won't let you re-instal it using the current license? is office the only thing you really want/need off of it?

 

[RI Chevy Silveradoman]

Sometimes if you call Microsoft Licensing Division and tell them that you have the same computer but you are installing a new hard drive, they will allow you to reinstall Microsoft and they will give you the keys to get in. It is worth a try. I did this once a while back. They are pretty reasonable.

 

[btfarm]

You could look this guy up...



:hihi:

 

[JiFaire]

the main thing is I used up the 3 "licenses" for microsoft office that I bought a couple years ago so I'd have to buy it again to get Word, Excel etc. I detest having to buy something again that I already purchased. Not too concerned about files as I already have a portable hard drive with all that stuff on it. I've done some more searching and I think what I want to do won't work because XP was OEM on my original computer and it looks like if I plugged that hard drive into another tower it will be locked out.

My dad just bought 2 new computers for their place, so I'm hoping I can snag of his old ones.

No, that's exactly why it WILL work. If it came as OEM, then the install media is on the same hard drive, usually in a different partition. If you plug it into the new machine, it will reconfigure to match the new hardware if it can., and if not, you might be able to run the OEM setup from the partition, depending on the manufacturer and how they set it up

 

[trouttrooper]

The computer I have is an Emachine T2895.

I'm getting into unfamiliar territory here. I guess I was understanding that if XP came already installed etc. that it wouldn't work when connected to a different motherboard. So you're saying it actually would work?

All this crap is just frustrating me. I'm now trying to think positive and I'll get the new job and I won't be in this kind of a predicament. I'll just go buy a new computer and new software.

 

[JiFaire]

When you install XP, it identifies each of the components on your motherboard (audio, video, HDD controller, bridges, etc) and then installs specific drivers for each component. If you change motherboards or components, XP will need new drivers for them, and goes looking for those drivers on the original install media.

If you installed it from a CD and then wanted to put it into another machine, XP would go looking for the original CD (which you don't have).

If it is an OEM version of XP, the original install files were imaged onto the HDD, and then the install was run from there, with no CD. That means when you change motherboards, XP will look for the original install files, which are ON THE HDD YOU HAVE.

It will most likely work.

 

[trouttrooper]

thanks!

 

[SfcJones]

Here is what I have done with alot of success. I delete all of my motherboard drivers and shut the maching down. I removed the hard drive and installed it again in a different machine. XP does a good job of loading default drivers for the most part and you might servive ok. You might have to upgrade to OS7 to take advantage of newer drivers and stuff and you might lose drivers as some OEM stuff isn't supported anymore. Some searching could yield better answers than what I am telling here.