New Box...want to use existing hard drive and windows

[Nightrain]

Building first computer...want to use existing hard drive and windows

Hey guys...Ive been coming here for a while but haven't registered before. But I cant seem to find what im looking for.

Right now I have an emachines with an intel celeron d 2.93gHz. The hard drive is a 100gig hard drive with windows xp. I want to use that hard drive in my new rig that im building.

I just ordered (coming in today...ordered couple days ago)

intel core 2 duo E6300
asus mobo wih NF570 chipset...sli
2 3d fusion 7600gs graphics cards to be used in sli (they were only like 50 something dollars a piece with the MIR) to hold me over till dx10 comes out and 7900s drop a lil bit
2 gigs ocz ddr2 667 (i know should have gone ddr2 800 to get the performance but...it was on sale for cheap)

im using the hard drive with windows on it...i have recovery disks for it but not actual windows disks...I was wondering if I was going to have issues with doing this? If there were certain things that I should look out for when putting it all together and trying to boot it. will it boot right up and can i get into windows to load the drivers for the new graphics cards?

Is it possible to simply put the computer together and take the hard drive out of the emachines, put it into the newly built core 2 duo, and have it boot correctly. I guess technically it should boot right into the bios and then i have the decision for it to boot from the drive or whatnot. I have dos boot floppies (not sure if im gonna need those or not) and live linux cd's...which both should be able to help me get into the system if i have issues right?

this is my first build. ive upgraded ram and added hardddrives and added graphics cards, but havent built a full computer yet. Ive completely taken computers apart and put them back together successfully. and even fixed and swapped parts of old athalons adn p2's but havent done a build from scratch...can i do this with the hard drive with windows already pre loaded.

i just dont want to be in for too many surprises thats all.


~Rick

(im taking computer hardware and software courses in college now and hope to get my A+ certification this semester!!!yay...although not a huge accomplishment i guess...)

just want to be prepared before hand...thanks guys

 

[Saurian]

Hm, not sure to be honest. Depends on what is on the recovery disk, and if the recovery disk is looking for a certain motherboard or code and such. But honestly, anytime you change hardware drastically it seems like the system is at its most stable after doing a good wipe anyways, like changing a processor or board or the like - an integral core component like that you know?

Why not just buy a copy of XP for ~100 bucks and be good to roll? Do you have an authentic Windows key-code? I wonder if you could get a disk sent to you by MS?

Have to have somebody else help you out with this. My best advice would be back up all your stuff onto a couple of DVD's (I'd assume you have a DVD writer if you just bought a Core 2 Duo), and give it a shot.

You might even consider downloading a Linux Live-CD (A linux iso you burn to a CD/DVD and put into your CD drive and it loads an operating system straight from CD rom into the RAM, so you don't need a hard drive at all) so that, should you get everything together but the hard drive gives you trouble, you can at least use the LiveCD to run your computer to make sure things work, maybe memtest the RAM (my Ubuntu LiveCD can memtest for me), and just be able to access the internet while you get a new OS.

 

[JFHuff]

It wont be a problem switching it over. Ive done it before.

More than likely ull get a message saying that the hardware has changed and that u need to reactivate ur copy. It wont reactivate over the internet so choose the over the phone option. Ull talk to microsoft and u tell them the situation. Theyll ask if its on any other computer which obviously its not since ur using the only copy. And theyll give u a new key code and itll be reactivated.

Its perfectly legal unless u have an oem copy. Hope that helps.

 

[Jet]

You will indeed most likely need to reinstall or at least repair your windows copy with the upgrade.

JFHuff, if you do minor upgrades, you don't usually need to reinstall windows (for instance, upgrading RAM or a video card), but for a motherboard you usually need to reinstall windows.

 

[Nightrain]

thanks guys...i just got all the parts, and tomorrow afternoon ill begin the assembly. if it gives me any issues ill just go buy a new hard drive and buy a copy of windows...that way my old box doesnt have to be useless and i can use it too (cuz i couldnt because i was taking the hdd from it). my cousin wanted to buy a computer from me and i think that one will be good for him (i installed a gig of ram and a ati 9250 graphics card on it [only had a pci slot, no agp or pci-e so it was a good boost for like 30 something bucks]). well thanks for the help. ill keep it updated if i get any trouble...thanks