Posted on 06/12/2012 2:57:35 PM PDT by saminfl
I have a new Dell desktop with Windows 7 operating system. There are certain features about that system i hate, such as Windows Live mail. Can I install the hard drive from my old Dell Desktop with XP Professional into a vacant slot and boot from that when i want to?
If the old drive is SATA you could do it but things could get ugly. It won’t have drivers for any of the new stuff, which probably includes the network adapter, which makes it difficult to get the drivers. Just turn off the stuff you don’t like, with the search that’s in 7 finding things and killing them is easier than ever.
Find another mail client..try Thunderbird mail.
“Can I install the hard drive from my old Dell Desktop with XP Professional into a vacant slot and boot from that when i want to?’
You could probably put your windows XP on a thumb drive and boot off of that.
Speaking of computers and Tech help, I wonder if it'd be possible to have a computer help forum---or maybe we do and I just haven't seen it?
Exactly. XP is obsolete and I’m sure this guy has a SATA drive. Just get rid of Windows Live Mail.
You can’t just put the drive from one computer into another and have it boot from that because of the differences in motherboards, chip sets, drivers, etc. unless the systems are totally identical. You could put it in and access the data on it as a secondary drive, though.
I downloaded an application I wasn't too crazy about and when I moved the icon to the trash can, it disappeared without a trace leaving zero remnants behind.
I know I sound like an Apple fanboy but there you go. This is my experience with my first Apple system.
I have a Toshiba laptop that I really used a lot. Unfortunately the slot into which the hard drive slit broke and now the hard drive will not make full contact with the slot tabs. I tried to use an external that has a UBS cable but the laptop will not boot from the USB port. Is it possible to solder a new slot onto the laptop in the pocket or does t require a whole new mother board? Blasted Toshiba set up seems to have this weak point where the hard drives are connected to their motherboards ...
“Yes.
When the machine first starts after a boot, you’ll see some sort of Dell screen and somewhere on it you’ll which which function key (F1, F2, etc.) you need to press at that point (before it starts booting windows off the hard drive) in order to go into Setup mode. (something like F12=Setup).”
That will let him physically boot off the drive, but the drivers installed on that copy of Windows will all be for the old machine. It almost certainly won’t work. If it (by some miracle) manages to boot, there will be no telling regarding crashes and corrupted data.
I think it’s much easier than what Pieter said. Newer Dell computers all have a boot selection ability built-in to the BIOS (I believe it is the F12 Key, labeled “Selective Startup” or something of that nature. Just press that during Startup, I believe you need to do it at the time the “Dell” screen displays, but before the Windows logon screen appears. Then, it will allow you to select the drive you want to boot from, overriding the default boot option on a one-time basis without editing the regular BIOS settings.
I know for certain you can use this to tell it to boot from a CD or a floppy, but I have not actually tried it to boot from a second hard drive with its own boot sector, but I think it should work just fine.
Hmmm, I don’t think it would be as difficult as you think. I just did a clean Windows install on a Dell, and it boots up fine without the chipset, video, etc drivers installed. You install all of those from the resource CD after you boot to Windows. Until then, it operated on default drivers included in Windows. I’d imagine it would be a similar operation with the old HD, but he might have to boot the old drive in safe mode the first time in order to get the default drivers to function instead of the ones from his old system.
Of course, he will need to make sure the drivers on his resource CD include the XP drivers. Dell resource CD’s usually have drivers for multiple similar models included on the same disk, so they might include drivers for legacy OS’s as well, but I can’t say for certain.
Luckily, you usually can make a bootable installation CD from a machine where XP is already loaded:
http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml
I’m sure it’s “possible”, after all, someone soldered those parts to the motherboard in the first place. Whether it’s something advisable to try on your own is another matter.
But, look at it this way. You’ve got a pretty much useless computer sitting there. At worst, if you try to replace the slot and screw up and damage the motherboard, you will just have to replace the motherboard anyway. You’d only be out the cost of the spare slot. At best, you succeed and save the price of the new motherboard.
Many folks seem to think that XP won’t detect new hardware an allow reconfiguration as necessary. Knowing M$ there may be some problem or another. I’m no windows expert.
I was working with a new drive that was a clean install; the old drive was still in the original machine, where you’re asking about putting the old drive in a new machine.
To be safe, you of course need backup copies of everything you want off your old XP drive first. I would always test the backups prior to trusting them and make at least two. Both new and old machines are Dell. I’m curious if the network would work.
Then you need a clean XP bootable install on media that the new machine can handle (DVD, etc.) (I’d boot from it to make sure the install starts ok, then reboot before I got too far).
As far as video drivers, I’m assuming you can get it to use the standard VGA driver and that your hardware will support that. XP is a little over 10 years old - is your old machine older than that ?
If you have good backups, and your new XP install media, you could attempt sticking the old drive in the new machine and booting from it.
If that fails too badly to continue, and you can’t get it set up nicely, you could install XP fresh over top of the old drive then copy your files from your backup onto the new XP install.
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