Hey guys,

My current PC is running Windows XP/SP2, and I've got two hard-drives. XP is installed on drive C: Drive F: (running as a slave, if I have the terminology correct) has all my music and video content. I'll soon have to move drive F: to another computer (I assume it will also be a PC governed by XP on a separate drive, but certainly not the same copy of XP I'm currently using). Are there any problems I might encounter transferring this drive to another PC? The last thing I want to do is have to back up all the data on discs. Ughh. A local salesman told me yesterday that I won't be able to move the drive, owing to issues of motherboard compatibility. Any truth to this? Thanks a lot for reading, and for any help you might offer. Cheers.

DS.

I have done this in the past and i didn't experiance any problems under WINXP. Just make sure the new computer has room in the case to accept the drive, and that you have an IDE slot (if the drive is IDE) available on the new computer. I'm assuming that when you said drive F: is slave, you meant that it was a physically seperate drive from C:. Not sure what the "salesman" meant by compatibility with the motherboard. He might have thought that you were moving drive C: over which will give you problems with drivers.

Hope that helps....

Milkster,

Drive F: is indeed a physically separate IDE internal drive in its own bay. And the salesman certainly may have thought I was referring to the primary drive because I wasn't entirely clear. He did, in fact, mention motherboard and driver issues. Thanks for your help! Cheers.

DS.

If you have room I doubt moving the physical drive will be a problem. Your bios should pick it up right away.

I am not using XP but hopefully someone else will chime in.....could the file system be an issue? For instance if his current setup is all NTFS and his new computer is FAT32?

Joe

Both drives are NTFS, and I strongly doubt drive F: will be going into a FAT32 PC. In fact, it may be added as a slave dive to a new XP NTFS system, in a config similar to the one it's in now (but with different components, motherboard, memory, video , etc.). Make sense? Cheers.

DS.

There should be no problem what-so-ever. Just plug it in and it should be recognized instantly. Doesn't matter whether it is NTFS or FAT32, although NTFS is a better filing system.

rsambuca,

Thanks, mate. This is exactly what I was hoping to hear! I shall proceed with confidence. Cheers!

DS.

P.S. Apologies to the mods for originally posting in the incorrect area.

I do this on a very regular basis - there is no issue whatsoever in swapping drives - that is unless it is the drive that contains your OS.