Computer Geek advice?

SixofNine

I have a new, presumably good-working-order 1terabyte hard drive, with 64 bit Windows Vista loaded from an HP computer that I purchased cheap (125 bucks) because the case (and the motherboard) has been badly smooshed by an errant forklift.

I have a 1.5 year old HP computer that is running Vista (but not Vista 64).

The smooshed computer w/ the good 1T drive had a Pentium E6300 chip, and my working computer has an Athlon 64x2.

Is it possible to just plug the new 1T hard drive into the old computer in place of the existing hard drive and have it boot up with it's installed Vista 64?

I suspect not. Is there a way to use the new operating system on my old computer?

Any advice appreciated.

John Doe

In XP, the only thing that would happen is you'd have to revalidate/authenticate windows--takes about 3 seconds with an internet connection. I would assume Vista is the same.

What-A-Coincidence

nope. you will need to reinstall the O.S. You can try it, but 99% guaranteed EPIC FAIL.

brinjen

In my experience, you've got two issues... product activation and drivers. Provided the Vista installation isn't an OEM version, you should be able to re-activate it (assuming you have the product key). The drivers however, are another problem entirely. It's a matter of trial and error, I have managed to get a copy of XP working after swapping hard drives between systems but it depends on the hardware involved... there's infinite variations coming into play and what works for one system won't necessarily work for another.

Years ago in the days of 3.11 (and earlier) you could easily swap drives between systems with minimal changes required (like graphics drivers)... since the introduction of Win95 and plug and pray it hasn't been so easy... and seems to get harder with each new release.

I'd try it and see what happens...

leavingwt

If there is a genuine product key sticker on the smashed unit, you could use that key to perform a clean installation of Vista on the old box/new hard drive combo, if you can locate an full version OEM installation DVD for Vista 64-bit.

John Doe

Yes, but downloading and installing new drivers is pretty much standard procedure these days, no? The major drivers are the video card and sound drivers. Windows haw default drivers that will operate most video cards in enough capacity to enable going online and finding the correct driver. Audio drivers can be downloaded from the manufacturer of your motherboard's site.

brinjen

The problem is, the old drivers can still conflict with the installation... that's been my experience anyway. If there is enough of a conflict between the old drivers and the new hardware, Windows won't load at all which again, in my experience happens more often than not.

If the Windows installation is an OEM version, it will be 'locked' to the hardware sold with the original machine (usually the BIOS on the motherboard) and cannot be re-actived in another system (not legally anyway).

Ah well, I got a nice terabyte drive and some memory out of the deal.

Computer Geek advice?

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