Replacing mobo, cpu, case and memory

[imported_trajan]

This is with Windows XP.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed here, because I'm doing this for a friend and he's irrationally loathe to reinstall his system, even after I've talked him into basically rebuilding his computer from scratch. In essence my plan is to build a new computer minus a hard drive, and then plug his old drive in and start it up.

If I were doing this to my own computer, I'd back everything up, wipe the drive, and reinstall XP after assembling the new rig. Is this necessary, though?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I've had mixed luck with this. I've gone from Intel to Intel chipset based boards and had it work. When going to another brand, not so much.

Though you could always do the swap, boot to the WinXP CD and do an overlay install. It will keep his data and programs but reinstall key windows files. This is hit or miss too.

If I were in your shoes I'd tell him that you'll swap out the hardware, but he is on his own for the OS if he's not going to listen to you.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: trajan
This is with Windows XP.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed here, because I'm doing this for a friend and he's irrationally loathe to reinstall his system, even after I've talked him into basically rebuilding his computer from scratch. In essence my plan is to build a new computer minus a hard drive, and then plug his old drive in and start it up.

If I were doing this to my own computer, I'd back everything up, wipe the drive, and reinstall XP after assembling the new rig. Is this necessary, though?

Thanks for any advice!

It may or may not be necessary. I've had more luck pulling it off with Vista than with XP, but the biggest problem tends to be with the hard drive controllers - if it cant recognize the controller, it cant boot to the point where it can detect the rest of the hardware.

The only way to know is to try. Worst case scenario, you'll be back at square one and have to backup and reinstall.

 

[zerogear]

If he really hates it, get Acronis True Image Workstation edition, back it up, and use Universal Restore to restore it back (about 100$ worth of software). Essentially Universal restore (also by Acronis, and is bundled with ATI Workstation), is strip all the hardware profiles/drivers, and restore everything else. So all you need to do after restore is install the drivers for that individual PC. Though, unless you do that a lot, I don't see it as a good investment in the software, unless your friend thinks avoid a reinstall is worth 100$.

Acronis True Image Echo Workstation
Universal Restore Addon

 

[imported_trajan]

Thank you all for your answers!