Palatkik Posted May 14, 2003 Report Share Posted May 14, 2003 I need to buy a new notebook p4 PC and stick in my current notebook 40GB hard disk from another notebook (fairly recent p3 model). I don't want to reinstall all my current software again if possible. Can I just swap the HD in and it will boot up the OS (WinXPPro in this case) and run all software or do I need to format HD and start from scratch? I had assumed one would need same or very similar type of notebook model and bios to just make a simple swap of HD, but sales guy in Pantip was telling me recently it was possible between any new notebook model and brand with correct drivers for the hardware available? Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 14, 2003 Report Share Posted May 14, 2003 As far as I'm aware you can't do it. Win XP I imagine would behave like Win 2000 when you try and boot up on a different mainboard ... blue screen of death This is the case for desktops so I would presume notebooks are the same unless its an identical model machine. The OS can't reconfigure itself to the new hardware so just hangs and you need to format (make sure all your data is backed up first). Its funny though that Win 98 was swappable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gummigut Posted May 14, 2003 Report Share Posted May 14, 2003 Technically they are correct. As long as you have the correct drivers for the new machine it should be okay. I do not recommend this though as you'll have a whole bunch of misc. junk on your computer left over from the first laptop. <<burp>> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
check_bin_krap Posted May 14, 2003 Report Share Posted May 14, 2003 I am with Buksida on this one. Actually, some PC manufactors give a guarentee for a 1 year period within one series of PC's that they won't change HW too much. That makes it possible to use the same image during that period for cloning purposes. I think the different processor in this case will be the problem. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlton68 Posted May 16, 2003 Report Share Posted May 16, 2003 Hi, recently I took a HDD with Win XP from an old Pentium II computer (Mainboard from QDI) and put it into a new computer with Gigabyte Mainboard and AMD 1800+ Processor, Quite a change in Hardware, but the system booted without problems. Took a little for the first boot as it had to install some new drivers for the hardware, but they all were known and provided by Win XP. I think you might give it a try. If it doesn't work you might boot from XP CD and look if it finds that XP is already installed on the HDD. In this case you can choose to repair the installation (and reapply SP1). Worth a try. If this still doesn't work I think to fix the Master Boot Record might help, but this I have no experience with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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