New computer, old hard drive, no reformat

[MLSoccer06]

I have a brand new, recently assembled pc. (pc1)

I have a hard drive that has recently been used on a different pc (pc2).

Pc2 is no longer functional, and I was unable to backup the hard drive (which works fine).

Is it possible to take the hard drive, which has a windows installation on it, and somehow use it in pc2 without a reformat?

If not, what options are available for installing windows on a machine without doing a reformat?

Thanks in advance.

 

[law9933]

Does the new PC have a new HD & OS?

Do you have the CD to the old HD's OS? OEM or retail?

If so maybe slave the old HD to the new HD, save your info, then reinstall XP on old disk, install info??????

I'm just guessing.

 

[MLSoccer06]

new pc (pc2) is going to replace pc1, and I have an OS (xp pro) cd for it--I have 2 hds that will be going in pc2 that both have information I cannot delete.

Thanks for helping me illucidate.

 

[mpilchfamily]

OK. take the drive from the broken PC and put it into the working PC. Then pull the data you need off the dead PC's drive. Then you can refomat that drive and get a fresh install on it. Then you can get all the files off the otehr drive to where they need to be on the fresh instal drive.