Computer help forum: Help with a hard drive switches

Do both of your drives have Windows XP on them? [why?].

If you put the Drive [let's do one drive at a time] in the new system XP will at some point see the new hardware and eventually require you to call MS and reactivate.

When you put XP into a new [different system] it doesn't always re enumerate the hardware properly. Thus, it's possible that you will have to install XP over itself [not reformat and new install] to force it to reenumerate the hardware, it should work and not cause you to lose any data on that drive.

As Toni says you will have to get the mobo drivers on.

When you start the reinstall and get the window asking if you have SCSI drivers to install hit F6 and hopefully it will let you install from your mobo's CD. Even though it says SCSI it includes some other drivers.

This dialog box only shows for a short time so watch for it and move fast.

Possible posting this in the XP Forum will get more precise advice.

I think that you should wait for a few more replies on this before proceeding. XP does not behave the same way in this action as Win 98.

Once you put the harddrive into the system with the new motherboard, you won't need to do anything except boot it up. XP will detect the new motherboard and the hardware again.....and it will already have the Product Code information in the registry but it will tell you that you need to connect to the net to re-activate it.

If you have had XP on that harddrive for longer than six months, it will activate again without any problems; however, if it's less than six months, you will get a screen giving you the free 800 number to call Microsoft so a tech person can give you the new activation information. They will stay on the phone with you while you put that information in because it is a very long number, and then will tell you to reboot the computer to get that information into the registry and you'll be up and running.

Your programs and data normally will be fine...I've done this before and didn't lose anything. And since you don't have to reinstall XP over itself, you don't have to reinstall your programs either to make them work.

Once you get that harddrive up and running with the new drivers for your motherboard, you can shut down, hook up the second harddrive as it was hooked up before either as a slave to the first harddrive on the same cable or a Master on the Secondary IDE controller and it will be seen by XP and your data will be ok on it, also.

TONI