Hard drive swap

[bill of oz]

i have a working HP pavillion A220N with windows xp,

is it possible to take the hard drive out of this PC and put it in a Dell dimension E521? if so, what would be the process? would i just have to install all new drivers for the dell system?

that would be the only drive in the E521

 

[tremmor]

No. you will have to wipe the drive and reinstall windows.

 

[johnb35]

No you can't as each machine as different hardware and drivers. If you were to try booting up with the drive it would either blue screen or boot loop on you. As said you would need to wipe and reinstall windows. You would need to use the key for the Dell to activate. What operating system was originally on the dell?

 

[bill of oz]

No you can't as each machine as different hardware and drivers. If you were to try booting up with the drive it would either blue screen or boot loop on you. As said you would need to wipe and reinstall windows. You would need to use the key for the Dell to activate. What operating system was originally on the dell?

i got the dell free given to me, it had vista but the hard drive is no good, other then the hard drive everything works, it is a bit better and faster then my HP so if i could put the HP drive in it i would like to, but i guess not

 

[johnb35]

Then you would have to install Vista on the dell and use the key attached to the dell case to activate.

Follow this guide to get a Vista ISO.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/301852-vista-iso-download-create-installation-dvd-usb.html

 

[bill of oz]

thanks,

so if i use that link and make a vista USB drive it will load the vista OS for me?

i have the product key on the computer

 

[johnb35]

Should work.

 

[bill of oz]

if i load windows xp onto the dell is there somewhere on the net that i can upgrade it to vista?

 

[johnb35]

If you do that the key won't work. You could upgrade ram to 4 gb and buy windows 7.

 

[bill of oz]

Then you would have to install Vista on the dell and use the key attached to the dell case to activate.

Follow this guide to get a Vista ISO.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/301852-vista-iso-download-create-installation-dvd-usb.html

thanks! that worked awesome!

i now have the dell running with windows vista,

i still have files that i need access to on the HP, so my questions are.....

- how can i copy everything from my HP's drive over to the dells drive (excluding the operating system)

or

- can i put the hard drive from the HP into the dell to access the files i need? even though they have different operating systems? (HP has XP)

 

[johnb35]

Yes you can install the drive as a second drive and access the files. Just make sure after you attach it to the dell system that you go into the bios and make sure the correct drive is set for first boot.

 

[bill of oz]

Yes you can install the drive as a second drive and access the files. Just make sure after you attach it to the dell system that you go into the bios and make sure the correct drive is set for first boot.

thanks,

the drive in the HP is an older drive with a big ribbon cable, the dell has a smaller cable to hookup the hard drive, can i get some kind of adapter for the drive?

also, there is no second cable to attach the second hard drive, how do i go about this?

 

[voyagerfan99]

thanks,

the drive in the HP is an older drive with a big ribbon cable, the dell has a smaller cable to hookup the hard drive, can i get some kind of adapter for the drive?

also, there is no second cable to attach the second hard drive, how do i go about this?

You're better off buying a new SATA drive for it. They're cheap enough.

 

[bill of oz]

You're better off buying a new SATA drive for it. They're cheap enough.

how would i transfer all my files to a new drive?

is there any way to copy the user files over to the drive that i have now?

 

[voyagerfan99]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

 

[bill of oz]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

thanks, that would work great,

after i hook that up, is there an easy way to copy everything on the drive at once?.....without doing it folder by folder?

 

[voyagerfan99]

If they're all in one directory, just copy the entire directory. Otherwise no, you'll need to go folder by folder.

 

[bill of oz]

thanks,

i suppose its not possible to network the computers together and transfer files over that way?

 

[johnb35]

You can yes. But sometimes setting up file sharing between Vista and XP can be a pain.

 

[bill of oz]

Then you would have to install Vista on the dell and use the key attached to the dell case to activate.

Follow this guide to get a Vista ISO.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/301852-vista-iso-download-create-installation-dvd-usb.html

thanks for this info,

i just wanted to update,

i did do as you suggested here and it worked perfectly, i have the computer running now using vista,

after about a month of use messeges started popping up on my screen saying the key was not valid or active or whatever, so i just kept ignoring it,

now when my computer boots up the background screen is completely black (but i can still see the icons and use them)

and in the bottom right corner it says "this copy of windows is not genuine"

does this mean i need to purchase an activation code?

other then the pop ups my computer still functions normal