Can I take HD from an Intel rig and use it as boot drive for AMD rig?

[MichaelD]

I have a HD that was the boot (only drive, actually) drive in an Intel PIII rig. Can I put it on an AMD motherboard and boot it up?

I know I'll have to load the Via's. Other than that, anything else? Will it work at all? I mean, it's got an OS on there already....(W2K)

Thanks.

 

[Sukhoi]

Probably. You'll want to clear all of the old drivers out of the OS first though.

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks Sukhoi.

I was afraid of something like that....the PIII rig is in a million pieces though. 😱 No, I didn't smash it. Hahahah!!! I removed it all from the case it was in and put my server's guts into the case....Antec KS282/midtower....QUIET case...that's why I did it.

Shoot. Looks like I'm going to have to buy another HD, start from scratch and just suck the files I need off the old drive. Oh well. I lost nothing by asking. 🙂 Thanks again.

 

[Pink0]

When you boot it up you'll get a BSOD no matter what. What you can do if you have windows XP or windows 2000 is boot from the windows CD. Tell it to install and then choose repair current installation. Then you can install your new drivers. You won't lose any programs or favorites or anything.

 

[smp]

Originally posted by: Pink0
When you boot it up you'll get a BSOD no matter what. What you can do if you have windows XP or windows 2000 is boot from the windows CD. Tell it to install and then choose repair current installation. Then you can install your new drivers. You won't lose any programs or favorites or anything.

That sounds good...

It's in the FAQ's too 🙂

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: smp

Originally posted by: Pink0
When you boot it up you'll get a BSOD no matter what. What you can do if you have windows XP or windows 2000 is boot from the windows CD. Tell it to install and then choose repair current installation. Then you can install your new drivers. You won't lose any programs or favorites or anything.

That sounds good...

<a class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=113" target=blank>It's in the FAQ's too</A> 🙂

Sweet!! Thanks guys...I'd have never thought of that. *sniffle* I love this place! 🙂

 

[Bovinicus]

I upgraded my P3 rig to an Athlon rig under Windows 2000, and it updated all my hardware settings automatically. However, it is definitely recommended that you do a fresh install of Windows when making a drastic change such as that one. You could also uninstall all the devices related to your motherboard, and then install the new hardware. That may be easier. Fresh installs are just so nice though. =)

 

[earthman]

If you are not running Win XP this will probably work. It will just detect and try to install the new hardware. I've never got a BSOD doing this. However, Win XP will not finish booting because the hardware signature is all different. You will have to reactivate it once you get it reinstalled.

 

[Dufusyte]

The first time: boot into Safe Mode (F5), delete all devices in the Device Manager, then reboot and it will detect all the new hardware.

 

[DeRusto]

Yeah, as far as I know it will boot up just fine, but it will think you did some major component changing🙂 So there will be lots of new drivers getting installed and it will probably be rather slow.

The installation repair idea sounds like it is probably the best solution in this case..

 

[BFG10K]

If this is to be a permanent solution then I'd recommend a clean install of Windows just to be safe.

 

[MichaelD]

Hiya pals!

I am planning on a clean install....I know all of your great suggestions would most probably work, but this is going to be my "backup PC" and I want it to be right.

Sooooo, I have to go buy another HD, as the other one has info on it that I don't want to lose. Specifically, pics of my son and my GF and I on vacation. I know, I know....that's what CDR's are for. 😱 What can I say??????? 😀 I"m lazy.

Thanks very much for your help.

ps
Come to think of it...I guess I could just slave this HD onto one of my other boxes and suck out of it whatever I need. Cool! I don't have to spend $$$ to buy another HD!

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Hiya pals!

I am planning on a clean install....I know all of your great suggestions would most probably work, but this is going to be my "backup PC" and I want it to be right.

Sooooo, I have to go buy another HD, as the other one has info on it that I don't want to lose. Specifically, pics of my son and my GF and I on vacation. I know, I know....that's what CDR's are for. 😱 What can I say??????? 😀 I"m lazy.

Thanks very much for your help.

ps
Come to think of it...I guess I could just slave this HD onto one of my other boxes and suck out of it whatever I need. Cool! I don't have to spend $$$ to buy another HD!

Yup, you gots it right😀

 

[Maggotry]

Originally posted by: earthman
However, Win XP will not finish booting because the hardware signature is all different. You will have to reactivate it once you get it reinstalled.

Depends on what's being replaced. I recently upgraded my wife's pc from an ASUS CUSL2 / PIII to an ASUS A7M266 / 2100+. I did not have to re-activate.

 

[MichaelD]

Yeah, I'm gonna do a clean install. I'm going from an Intel to a Via mobo...I know the registry won't like that too much.

FWIW, I recently went from a Shuttle to an Epox mobo. Both have the Highpoint 372 controller. I took my RAID 0 stripe and just transferred it over.

W2K wanted the Highpoint drivers, the NIC driver and the SBLIVE driver. Other than that, it's been OK. My HD benchmarks are down quite a bit though. But I haven't really noticed any reduction in load times....I see a wipe and reload in the near future, though. Thanks. 🙂

 

[thorin]

I am 99.999% sure that you'll get Kernel exceptions and never even make it to the windows logo screen.

Thorin