Hard Drive Question

d3moliti0n · 25 May 2008 at 20:07

Hey there

I am upgrading my PC soon (just waiting on the CPU and case now) and the only things I am taking out of my current PC are the DVD-Rom drive and the hard drive (as well as the PSU and graphics card but they were both upgraded recently). What I want to know is, when I plug this hard drive into my new build, it will be going from a single-core AMD setup to a dual-core Core 2 Duo setup, will everything work ok? It is running Windows XP Home edition if that has any effect on it. Or will it ask for updates or something when using the upgraded PC?

Thanks for your help and time.

Greenlizard0 · 25 May 2008 at 20:17

It shouldn't look for updates. If you are changing motherboard you will almost certainly need to reinstall windows anyway.

d3moliti0n · 25 May 2008 at 20:18

Why will I need to reinstall Windows if I am changing motherboard?

Makhaira · 25 May 2008 at 20:21

Because you'll most likely be changing chipset, and if you do that, even uninstalling and reinstalling drivers rarely leads to stability.

d3moliti0n · 25 May 2008 at 20:23

So basically I'm going to have to wipe my hard drive and reinstall Windows XP after I have built my new PC?

Edit: I have been reading around on some google links about other people switching from single to dual-core setups and they said they didn't have to reinstall XP and that it should detect the 2 core's automatically and change the files. People have been saying the stability is ok on their system after switching aswell...

Greenlizard0 · 25 May 2008 at 21:01

d3moliti0n said:
So basically I'm going to have to wipe my hard drive and reinstall Windows XP after I have built my new PC?

Edit: I have been reading around on some google links about other people switching from single to dual-core setups and they said they didn't have to reinstall XP and that it should detect the 2 core's automatically and change the files. People have been saying the stability is ok on their system after switching aswell...

If they changed motherboards then they almost certainly would have had to reinstall Windows. Some boards can take single and dual core CPU's, which is probably why when upgrading to a dual core chip on the SAME motherboard were they able to get away with it.

d3moliti0n · 25 May 2008 at 21:04

So should I reformat the hard drive just before I build the PC or afterward?

Pranksterr · 25 May 2008 at 21:14

A bit of confusion here

, so demo , you are build a new PC from scratch and the only items that you are reusing are the dvd and hdd ?

If that is so then you would need to uninstall your current mobo drivers and then install your new mobo when you have your new build. This is something that isnt recommend, you could try it sure but i'd bet that xp just wouldnt be in a happy state about it. Software side of a PC is so important that it doesnt really matter what hardware you have, you want to keep windows as clean as possable

.

So backup all your stuff, which i know is a bit of a drag but should be done when doing this sort of thing. I find BurnAware nice and easy and its worth doing it.

A problem you could have is if your xp version is OEM and only able to be installed on just 1 PC ever, will have trouble getting it authed in the long run if so m8.

When installing xp is fine*

Garyj881 · 25 May 2008 at 21:31

d3moliti0n said:
So should I reformat the hard drive just before I build the PC or afterward?

Build the pc and boot up with the XP disc in, format and install.

You talk about other people going from single core to core 2 duo and not having to format/reinstall this is because they are probably using the same mobo with the same drivers / chipset etc.

Doing a fresh install will feel snapier anyway, probably got loads of crap on the current install anway tbh.