Booting the ol' HDD

[Guest Novakane_]

I'm building a PC and want to have my old PC's hard drive in it, not as the main boot, but essentially a second 'computer' when needed.
I have gotten people saying yes and no to it working but never saying how/why it will/wont work and I kind of want to come to a conclusion about it.

It is Windows XP Pro. I do have the ability to upgrade it.

If you can answer just a couple of these thats still great:

1. Is it possible?
2. How so?
3. Are there any risks I should take into account ex: memory loss/ corruption?
4. If updating my drivers is the answer to #2, and when I do it doesnt boot on the new PC, how can I revert it?
5. Would upgrading windows 10 make the chances of it working higher?

Any tips with links and videos or even steps are really appreciated

[Coaxialgamer]

I'm building a PC and want to have my old PC's hard drive in it, not as the main boot, but essentially a second 'computer' when needed.

I have gotten people saying yes and no to it working but never saying how/why it will/wont work and I kind of want to come to a conclusion about it.

It is Windows XP Pro. I do have the ability to upgrade it.

If you can answer just a couple of these thats still great:

1. Is it possible?

2. How so?

3. Are there any risks I should take into account ex: memory loss/ corruption?

4. If updating my drivers is the answer to #2, and when I do it doesnt boot on the new PC, how can I revert it?

5. Would upgrading windows 10 make the chances of it working higher?

Any tips with links and videos or even steps are really appreciated

i don't really get what you are trying to do here .

 

Are you trying to use your hdd as secondary storage in your new build ?

 

If you want toi be able to use XP , why don't you just dual boot ?

[samcool55]

So you want 1 computer with an hdd in it with W7 on it and the old hard drive with XP on it?

[Guest Novakane_]

So you want 1 computer with an hdd in it with W7 on it and the old hard drive with XP on it?

 

It already has windows xp on it i just want to be able to boot it when needed.

[Guest Novakane_]

i don't really get what you are trying to do here .

 

Are you trying to use your hdd as secondary storage in your new build ?

 

If you want toi be able to use XP , why don't you just dual boot ?

Apparently its not as easy as dual booting on new hardware.

[Coaxialgamer]

Apparently its not as easy as dual booting on new hardware.

From what i know , install winddows 8/8.1/10/7 and just install xp in the empty space left.

[Guest Novakane_]

From what i know , install winddows 8/8.1/10/7 and just install xp in the empty space left.

 

Im taking a drive from my old PC and want to boot it on the new one. Ill only update the OS if its nessecary. I also have to make it work with the new hardware drivers, but I'm not sure how.

[samcool55]

It already has windows xp on it i just want to be able to boot it when needed.

So if i understand you have an old hdd from an old computer, and you want to put that old hdd in your new computer and just boot XP from that?

XP that is already on that hdd, the same XP you used on the old computer.

[W-L]

Apparently its not as easy as dual booting on new hardware.

 

Welcome to the Forums!

 

If it's a hardware steup like with a secndary HDD and SSD where the main OS will be you could basically setup the system to use the SSD as the primary boot and HDD as secondary boot but placing both OS's on the same drive you will need to partition the drive and select which OS to boot from each time. 

[Guest Novakane_]

So if i understand you have an old hdd from an old computer, and you want to put that old hdd in your new computer and just boot XP from that?

exactly. But not as my main drive just have the drive there if i ever need to boot up my 'old computer'.

[samcool55]

exactly. But not as my main drive just have the drive there if i ever need to boot up my 'old computer'.

K, i understand, the chance that works is like 0.1%

And i will explain why

When Xp got installed on that hdd, it was working in your old computers. And during the installation of windows XP, it configured itself to work properly with the rest of your old computer. And because it does that, it won't work in your new computer.

What happens is XP tries to boot, tries to communicate with your computer in ways the old computer understands, but your new one doesn't.

So Xp is like "dafuq iz thiz shit?" and it will kill itself, causing a bluescreen and rebooting or just freezing up completely.

 

You cannot boot from it. There are programs that might fix it however. But the results are like very varied and tbh i won't bother with it.

[Guest Novakane_]

Welcome to the Forums!

 

If it's a hardware steup like with a secndary HDD and SSD where the main OS will be you could basically setup the system to use the SSD as the primary boot and HDD as secondary boot but placing both OS's on the same drive you will need to partition the drive and select which OS to boot from each time. 

no its basically 2 different drives with 2 different OSs that I ill boot seperatly

[W-L]

no its basically 2 different drives with 2 different OSs that I ill boot seperatly

 

So basically just setup your boot list so it will boot with the main OS drive, and when you want to boot into the other go into the boot list to select the secondary, having it separate makes it a tad easier.

[Guest Novakane_]

K, i understand, the chance that works is like 0.1%

And i will explain why

When Xp got installed on that hdd, it was working in your old computers. And during the installation of windows XP, it configured itself to work properly with the rest of your old computer. And because it does that, it won't work in your new computer.

What happens is XP tries to boot, tries to communicate with your computer in ways the old computer understands, but your new one doesn't.

So Xp is like "dafuq iz thiz shit?" and it will kill itself, causing a bluescreen and rebooting or just freezing up completely.

 

So upating the drivers to the new specs wouldnt change that?. What If I try to boot it and it doesnt work, would that mess up the drive? I pretty much only want the data such as my browser bookmarts, and saved info which would make life so much easier, thats pretty much it. Using it as a data drive I guess i can re create the new user accounts and transfer all the data to them. In the end I'm realizing theres no real reason I NEED to boot it I guess, just need my data, which I'm not sure how internet info will transfer.

 

Also, In my new PC, im using a SSD for the OS and some games. Ill have a HDD as well. Can I save stuff to the HDD and have it appear on the desktop and/or documents normally as it all was on the same drive? Curious, I havent seen that before.

[Guest Novakane_]

So basically just setup your boot list so it will boot with the main OS drive, and when you want to boot into the other go into the boot list to select the secondary, having it separate makes it a tad easier.

 

Yea I wish it was that simple.

[W-L]

Yea I wish it was that simple.

 

Well you would need to reconfigure the old OS to work on your new system as sam pointed out it will not work just straight out of the old PC.

[samcool55]

So upating the drivers to the new specs wouldnt change that?. What If I try to boot it and it doesnt work, would that mess up the drive? I pretty much only want the data such as my browser bookmarts, and saved info which would make life so much easier, thats pretty much it. Using it as a data drive I guess i can re create the new user accounts and transfer all the data to them. In the end I'm realizing theres no real reason I NEED to boot it I guess, just need my data, which I'm not sure how internet info will transfer.

 

Also, In my new PC, im using a SSD for the OS and some games. Ill have a HDD as well. Can I save stuff to the HDD and have it appear on the desktop and/or documents normally as it all was on the same drive? Curious, I havent seen that before.

 

You can connect your hdd to your new computer and boot from the main hdd like you always do.

The drive should appear in My computer like your main boot hdd. You can browse it and do whatever you want with it. 

If the drive isn't there, we can help, there are some things that might need to be done before it appears. But it is possible.

 

Yes it's as simple as connecting the old drive and your main drive to your computer at the same time, and let it boot from the main boot drive as usual.

[Guest Novakane_]

Well you would need to reconfigure the old OS to work on your new system as sam pointed out it will not work just straight out of the old PC.

Yes I know that, my question up top was "How" do I configure the drive.

[Guest Novakane_]

You can connect your hdd to your new computer and boot from the main hdd like you always do.

The drive should appear in My computer like your main boot hdd. You can browse it and do whatever you want with it. 

If the drive isn't there, we can help, there are some things that might need to be done before it appears. But it is possible.

 

Yes it's as simple as connecting the old drive and your main drive to your computer at the same time, and let it boot from the main boot drive as usual.

 

Yep I got It. For programs though, the ones installed on the old drive can they be executed like they would if I were to actually boot that drive?

 

Or can I just copy and paste program files, would that work?

[samcool55]

Yep I got It. For programs though, the ones installed on the old drive can they be executed like they would if I were to actually boot that drive?

 

Or can I just copy and paste program files, would that work?

That could work, but it doesn't always work.

There are a lot of things that can break some programs, it really depends.

Some programs install files in hidden folders and maybe in the registery. If it needs them then it already ends there for that program.

It's also possible it doesn't like working with a new os and you need to run it in compatibility mode. Might fix it, always worth trying.

 

Just try every program you want to keep and give it a shot. Probably not all of them will work, but i'm quite sure some of them will work just fine. 

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

Hey there Novakane_,

 

You can have your old drive in your new build basically in two ways:

- The most common and easy thing is to add it as a secondary drive. You will have your OS on your primary drive with some data and you will have your old drive as a second drive towards your system all on the same OS. You can have them as your primary drive (C and D partitions) and your old drive (as E partition) for example. 

- You can have your new drive with your new OS and data and your old drive with another OS in order to do dual-booting with more data. Both drives should be visible no matter which OS you are booting from, but with the proper settings.

 

In order to use your old drive in both cases you would need to remove your old OS and either fix the remaining partition from it if you use it in the first case or do a fresh install of another OS if you use it like in the second. You can't boot your old OS on the new build in either of the cases (not without risking your data and with loads of complicated modifications). 

 

Which option would you like to do?

 

A note from me: whenever you are reusing an old drive in a new system I always recommend that you perform a diagnostic test to make sure the drive is healthy and safe to store your data. The manufacturer of the drive should have a tool that can perform the diagnostic check.

 

Captain_WD.

[W-L]

 

Yes I know that, my question up top was "How" do I configure the drive.

 

Oh well, for reusing the old drive it would be good to first wipe out all the old drivers from the PC beforehand and install all the new stuff on your current setup. For the most part it shouldn't give you too many problems once you inherit all the security details from the old drive by going into properties security, Advanced, and edit it so you take full control of the drive.

[Guest Novakane_]

 

Hey there Novakane_,

 

You can have your old drive in your new build basically in two ways:

- The most common and easy thing is to add it as a secondary drive. You will have your OS on your primary drive with some data and you will have your old drive as a second drive towards your system all on the same OS. You can have them as your primary drive (C and D partitions) and your old drive (as E partition) for example. 

- You can have your new drive with your new OS and data and your old drive with another OS in order to do dual-booting with more data. Both drives should be visible no matter which OS you are booting from, but with the proper settings.

 

In order to use your old drive in both cases you would need to remove your old OS and either fix the remaining partition from it if you use it in the first case or do a fresh install of another OS if you use it like in the second. You can't boot your old OS on the new build in either of the cases (not without risking your data and with loads of complicated modifications). 

 

Which option would you like to do?

 

A note from me: whenever you are reusing an old drive in a new system I always recommend that you perform a diagnostic test to make sure the drive is healthy and safe to store your data. The manufacturer of the drive should have a tool that can perform the diagnostic check.

 

Captain_WD.

 

 

So there shouldnt be a problem with dual booting but i cant just boot the old one by itself? What If I install a new OS onto the old drive while its in the new PC, would it configure to the new hardware settings that way?

 

I thought about it more, and realized I pretty much can drag and drop files from the old drive to the new ones. But it would be cool to be able to boot my "old PC" again for data and nostalgia reasons. Most people have to me its very unlikely that the boot will work, so Ive been thinking of alternatives.

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

You can't boot the old OS. This doesn't mean you won't have access to the data i the drive once you connect it as a secondary drive. You can reinstall the old OS when you plug in the drive in the new build but it will be a fresh install and you would need to do all the settings and reinstall all the old applications and games.

 

Captain_WD.

[Guest Novakane_]

 

You can't boot the old OS. This doesn't mean you won't have access to the data i the drive once you connect it as a secondary drive. You can reinstall the old OS when you plug in the drive in the new build but it will be a fresh install and you would need to do all the settings and reinstall all the old applications and games.

 

Captain_WD.

 

 

Would files be erased if i took that step of reinstalling the os?