"mb" <relax@home.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.265e7f6f5863f852989681@news.east.cox.net...
>I see information about this topic all over the Web, but much of the
> information is conflicting. I'm no computer whiz, hence the question,
> but I'm going to take a crack at assembling my own this month.
>
> I currently have a WD 1TB Caviar Black installed on my old HP with an
> upgrade version of Windows 7. I understand that I can't simply plug the
> drive into the new mobo/system, and that it might even damage the drive,
> but can I install the drive as is, boot to my Windows 7 upgrade CD and
> do a format/clean install? Or do I have to drag out all my disks from
> XP to Vista ugrade to now?
>
> Any advice on migrating a hard drive to a newly assembled system would
> be very much appreciated.
>
> mb
>
It's helpful that you already have some insight to know that moving the hdd
from one computer to another probably wouldn't work since the hardware on
the second system will be different requiring different drivers that were
already installed to the OS on the first machine.
A couple of things to ask are if your Win 7 upgrade is OEM or retail. If
it's OEM then license-wise it's legally only good for the HP and not
transferable to your new rig. Whether or not you could get it installed if
it were OEM I'm not certain. If your upgrade disk is retail then you would
have no legal problem reinstalling.
As for having to reinstall all your software you should bank on it and
locate your install disks. A clean install of all the programs loses the old
drivers and settings and sets up the new machine for only the files that are
necessary and avoiding conflicts.
However, I have come across some software that does allow complete
migration from one computer to another without reinstallation of the OS and
all the installed programs. This method allows simply adding the new drivers
to the new hardware that the OS needs. I've used TrueImage Home 2010 with
the added on TrueImage Home Pluspack to allow a universal reinstall and been
successful. The way it works is to install TrueImage Home 2010 on the old
computer, install the Pluspack software, make a backup image of the OS with
the software, make a bootable rescue media CD using the TI software. To get
the new computer running one boots with the rescue media, restores the image
to the new hard drive, and then installs the new drivers.I do remember
having to reactivate Windows 7 after doing this, but all my programs worked
without a hitch. Go to Acronis.com if you find this method for
consideration.
In any case, no matter what you do make sure you have backed up your
drive to an external drive before you begin any migration.
--
Jan Alter
bearpuf@verizon.net