Noob HDD question :P

Ragnaros · 16 Apr 2006 at 21:30

I'm building a new computer, and i wasn't going to reuse anything except a dvd-rw drive. But i've been thinking perhaps that i could reuse my hdd also. But is it possible? I'm currently using a Pentium CPU, and i think i remember reading that you have to reformat if you switch to AMD. Not to mention that everything else will be new. New RAM, GPU etc. So would i have to reformat completely? If so then i'll just get a new hdd, so i can use the opportunity to get WinXP Pro on there. I have everything backed up onto an external hd anyway.

~Ragnaros

Joe42 · 16 Apr 2006 at 22:15

Its not necessary to format when going from intel to amd.
It is recomended to format when upgrading to a new system, and upgrading the harddisk is a good idea if your current one is old or ide.
You could still use the old harddisk just for storage, but probably best not to use it for a boot disk unless its relatively new.

Ragnaros · 16 Apr 2006 at 22:18

Ok, thanks.

NickR · 18 Apr 2006 at 07:56

I've just upgraded two PC's - retaining the same HD's.

First was from Nvidea nForce2 to ATI 3200 and second was from ATI X200 chipset to Nvidia 6150 (second one; both MB's have onboard graphics).

Just replaced both motherboards, re-connected the HD's and switched on -Install new drivers and re-register Win XP with Microsoft

No problems at all

Dutch Guy · 18 Apr 2006 at 09:34

You can still use any IDE harddisk today but you will lose performance as older harddisks are much slower than recent drives.