Moving hdd to a new PC, format?

This Side Up · 20 Feb 2010 at 18:48

Hi all!

i am moving my hard drive to a new pc, and was wondering if i could get away without formatting windows? i have been recommended to always always format after such a major hardware change, as windows won't like it.

however, i can't be arsed. so i was wondering if i could get away with just uninstalling (possible?) the current drivers (as many as possible) and install the new drivers for the new hardware. is this possible?

also, should i stick with what i know (XP) or make the change to win7 (having never used win7 OR vista)?

iNPUt · 20 Feb 2010 at 18:57

Depends on main factors, mainly being the motherboard and cpu, what are you upgrading from -> to.

Most of time the OS won't boot properly, and god knows what havoc all the old drivers will cause.

Make the change to windows 7, XP is outdated now.

bJN · 20 Feb 2010 at 18:57

If you're swapping to a completely new system with a new motherboard then you will need to format the drive to wipe clean the operating system, there are no get-arounds unless it is the exact same motherboard.

Philtor · 20 Feb 2010 at 19:00

Hi mate if I were you I would use the opportunity to move to Windows 7. You can 'try' doing a repair install of the o/s on the new machine to get it working right but with any major hardware change such as CPU or system board it's necessary to do a clean install to be honest. If your going to do a clean install then why not get Windows 7? It's a fantastic o/s and you will be glad you did it

This Side Up · 20 Feb 2010 at 19:08

OK, thats fairly as i expected tbh.

another question: my current hdd is 500gb, it is partitioned into 3 'drives'. windows + drivers being on C:, with software and crappage being on D: and E: respectively. can i get away with just formatting/installing to C: and all should be well? what will happen with my programmes on D:? will i need to reinstall?

i'm not too bothered about re-installing if that is what i have to do, but i'd rather do as little as possible

(lazy etc

)

McGill2010 · 20 Feb 2010 at 19:08

and save yourself a bit of money by getting the upgrade version of windows7 and do a clean install

This Side Up · 20 Feb 2010 at 19:23

home premium or professional edition?

Philtor · 20 Feb 2010 at 19:24

Home premium will do the job. I got Ultimate cause it was at the right money but Premium will do just fine.

Crowort · 20 Feb 2010 at 19:43

All the registry and config of your programs will be on the C partition so formatting that will mess up your programs. Pretty much going to have to reinstall them too.

This Side Up · 20 Feb 2010 at 20:08

awww damnit!

i can back up what i really need to save, so not all bad! i guess it's a full format + install of win.

i'll definately look into windows 7 home premium, it's only £70-something so not bad at all! in fact, i may as well replace my hdd with a 1 tb one whilst i'm at it...

money, eh? who needs it?!

Philtor · 20 Feb 2010 at 20:22

Get a Samsung F3 if your changing your HDD and stick Windows 7 on it. How much RAM do you have? Might as well get the 64 bit version if your system can handle it.

This Side Up · 20 Feb 2010 at 23:56

aye, system will handle 64 bit, and the ram is 4gb.

i have actually looked into the samgsung f3, but i'll have to pick that up later as funds are a bit tight at the moment

LEUVEN · 21 Feb 2010 at 01:11

McGill2010 said:
and save yourself a bit of money by getting the upgrade version of windows7 and do a clean install

He's running xp.

This Side Up said:
OK, thats fairly as i expected tbh.
i'm not too bothered about re-installing if that is what i have to do, but i'd rather do as little as possible (lazy etc )

AFAIA, buying the upgrade version means you'll have to install two OS' each time though and that's not what you want to do being lazy etc...(your words, not mine)

deaglecat · 21 Feb 2010 at 08:21

I think the OP is asking for a world of pain... and uncertainty. Do it right and just once.

I find ninites good for doing the add-in extra free apps that everyone needs (firefox, avg, vlc etc)... takes the pain out of rebuilding.

weird_dave · 21 Feb 2010 at 13:05

A lot of programs will run just fine without being reinstalled, but you won't know which ones until you try it.

Strawberry · 21 Feb 2010 at 13:11

Just copy all of the appdata for firefox, messenger, utorrent etc. and you'll be safe as far as good programs go.

Tiamat21 · 21 Feb 2010 at 13:20

^waht he said.
Local\users\your using name\app data < copy it and your safe.
and get win7 its the sex IF YOU HAVE
and cpu with 1.6ghz or higher and over 2gig of ram.

Strawberry · 21 Feb 2010 at 13:28

Doesn't work for all programs though. I used it for:

Firefox
Thunderbird
Miranda IM
uTorrent
Notepad++
Winamp

The rest I just reinstalled, depends on you I guess, but it certainly is possible to just keep the programs.

Note: This even works when copying from XP to Windows 7, I didn't have to reinstall half my progs. Only stuff like drivers, codecs etc

This Side Up · 21 Feb 2010 at 15:13

Tiamat21 said:
^waht he said.
Local\users\your using name\app data < copy it and your safe.
and get win7 its the sex IF YOU HAVE
and cpu with 1.6ghz or higher and over 2gig of ram.

i have an athlon 62 x2 6000+ and 4gb of ram. i guess the cpu is ok for it?

i'm definately going to look into a samgsung f3 hdd and windows 7, as i have had both recommended to me by (not just you fine peeps) but other peeps as well, which leads me to believe it is the thing to get and is no bone.

i take it going for the 64bit os is better than the 32bit? after all i do have a 64 bit cpu. what are the advantages of 64bit os over 32bit??

Strawberry · 21 Feb 2010 at 15:23

Support for 64bit programs, more than 3 GB of memory.