Swapping HDDs?

[teck21]

Hi everyone,

I have recently gotten my wife hooked on WoW :wink: (which means more playtime for me!) and am thinking of getting another copy of WoW and getting her an account under my name so she can transfer her toon to the new account.

However, the comp that she has is hardly adequate to run WoW. I have a another computer which can run WoW decently though. So instead of spending hundreds of dollars upgrading her comp or getting her a new one, I would prefer to jut let her have the spare one to WoW on.

Will both computers work fine if I just swap their HDDs? Cos both of them are already full of stuff and apps and I would rather not have to do fresh formats for both of them, especially since I might forget to back up stuff.

What issues might arise as a result? Will I experience major problems?

Thanks in advance!

teck

[Dynatos]

You assuredly will experience many many problems if you attempt to continue using the installed applications on the drive after you switch them. Different computers means different drivers, software paths, device paths, etc.

I wouldn't recommend it.

[Redmumba]

If you're using Windows XP, you will most likely run into problems, however. Because XP takes a "snapshot" of your system, a change in hardware--a new processor, a new motherboard, etc.--will most likely make Microsoft's anti-piracy policy bark at you.

You can probably solve this by explaining it to Microsoft, but...

[teck21]

Guess it's fresh formats and installs then, bummer. :)

Thanks guys.

teck

[Tsurani]

2 words:

Norton Ghost

http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/overview.jsp?pcid=br&pvid=ghost10

[Dynatos]

2 words:

Norton Ghost

http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/overview.jsp?pcid=br&pvid=ghost10

2 words:

Reading Comprehension


He has 2 computers, A and B. He wants to use the applications stored on Computer B with Computer A. Ghost is merely a backup utility. Please tell me how Ghost would help him.

[Tsurani]

2 words:

Reading Comprehension


He has 2 computers, A and B. He wants to use the applications stored on Computer B with Computer A. Ghost is merely a backup utility. Please tell me how Ghost would help him.

RTFM

Now on with how it can help. With ghost you can create an image of your HDD and then when you do a “fresh install” of strictly the OS then you take the image you created and put it on the new system (if you don’t want to do a fresh install on the new box you can still take the image you created and apply it to the new box, but I recommend doing a fresh install to make sure everything is perfect). Now this new system will look and act exactly likes the system you imaged. We do this all the time in the server farm I work in.


This is also what I told a colleague the other day this is a copy and paste of the e-mail, just change it to fit yourself

It's kind of extra work, but I've done complete drive swaps without ghost or other apps on systems that have multiple instances of Windows. If you make a 2nd install of windows on your 320 GB, and boot into it, and put the new 120 GB in as a 3rd hard drive, you can drag & drop the entire contents of the 40 GB to the 120 GB (make sure explorer is showing hidden and system files). Then shut down, pull the 40 GB and put the 120 GB in its place so it gets the same C: drive letter, and it should boot right up.

[Tsurani]

also look into Sysprep that comes with your M$ os

[mesonm]

You assuredly will experience many many problems if you attempt to continue using the installed applications on the drive after you switch them. Different computers means different drivers, software paths, device paths, etc.

I wouldn't recommend it.

Actually it depends on the degree of disimilarity...I swap drives quite often, and things work nicely...It isn't the drivers as much as the hard drive structure, IMO. drivers can always be reinstalled...the structure of the HD is much harder to change.

[mesonm]

If you're using Windows XP, you will most likely run into problems, however. Because XP takes a "snapshot" of your system, a change in hardware--a new processor, a new motherboard, etc.--will most likely make Microsoft's anti-piracy policy bark at you.

You can probably solve this by explaining it to Microsoft, but...


You sound so negative...heh

I did EXACTLY this a week ago...I built a brand new machine, took my four drives from machine 1 and put them into machine 2...Only reinstalled the motherboard and video drivers, and it worked fine...

Sure, the XP op sys said I had to reactivate...But, that took less than two minutes...

WOW, MS Office, and most of my other apps worked fine in the new box without reinstallation...Just keep the HD structure the same and you are most of the way there...

[rgirty]

The short answer here is, if you are running windows xp you may get lucky and the machine could boot into windows and pick up certain devices such as your network card and or other devices. At which time you may or may not need to reactivate with microsoft (easy process) and install drivers that were missed.

If you are unlucky you will have to reinstall the OS and any drivers that are natively included.

I wouldn't worry about ghosting, I would probably just pop the drive in and see what happens. If you are either going to do that and or format, what do you have to lose? If you are going to format anyway, might as well give it a shot.