Question on hard drive transference.

TBroadhead · 21 Nov 2008 at 15:28

Here's my situation - I am fed up with my pc, i've ordered a new casing and will eventually be buying the components (PSU, Motherboard, Processor etc.)
What i want to do is simply transfer the hard drive I have now (Maxtor 6L300S0 300Gb) that came with my shop-bought Phillips LS2300 so I don't have to buy a new hard drive.

This is where you guys come in as I don't have the sufficient knowledge on what will happen when I boot my new PC up for the first time.

What i'd like to know is if there will be any errors or driver conflicts?
Would I have to format my hard drive before i put it in my new pc then uninstall all the drivers from the device manager?

These questions are driving me nuts can anyone answer them?

Any help would be much appreciated and thanks in advance

PhillyDee · 21 Nov 2008 at 16:04

You will olso need to buy an Operating System as the one that came with the Philips is not transferable. You should format the hard drive and boot from the installation disk. Then follow it through to get windows installed, then install drivers etc.

GM2 · 21 Nov 2008 at 16:20

Hmmm... not sure and happy to be told I'm wrong, but I'd have thought it should work. You may/will need to add drivers etc...

The legality may be a different issue. Depends on what the OS is, what the license is, whether it came with the Phillips as an OEM or whether you loaded it on later etc.

reflux · 21 Nov 2008 at 17:10

You really need to do a complete reinstall of Windows to be honest.

PhillyDee · 21 Nov 2008 at 17:34

Yes, it is possible to completely strip drivers for everything, but its much easier to reinstall.

GM2 · 21 Nov 2008 at 17:58

OK... I'm over-ruled!

Looks like you need to back up any data etc you need and then format it etc.

However, just before you format... you could always plug it in and see what happens

The trouble with that might be instability etc further down the line.

TBroadhead · 23 Nov 2008 at 12:06

First of all thanks for your input everyone.

Here is my OS:-

Windows media center
2002 edition
SP3

My hard drive came with the phillips with no install disc as the OS is built in.

If i format my hard drive then I'm guessing that all the drivers from the stock PC (as i have not modified this PC in any way since the purchase) will reinstall themselves. e.g. my sound card, my crappy ATI radeon X600.

To answer GM2's question i'm not sure on the legality of this process although it would save me shelling out for a new hard drive and OS if i could just move this Hard drive to the PC I am building.