swapping a hard drive

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creative username

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I'm looking at building a new pc for myself and giving my old pc to my parents, I would like to keep my hard drive and just swap their hard drive into my computer then move mine into the new computer. I've heard of driver issues and whatnot especially since their computer uses an amd processor and mine is an intel and the new cpu will be an amd. I have no experience building a pc, so can someone give me an idea of what the easiest and most cost efficient way of doing this would be? I'd like to avoid buying another copy of windows if I can, but if it's unavoidable, I'll deal with it.
 
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nzalog

nzalog

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You can just try it, it works sometimes but no one here would recommend that and it's not as good as a fresh install.

Most common error is with the sata controller driver but there is a fix for that in the form of a registry edit before moving the drive to the new computer:
http://www.wintips.org/how-to-replace-motherboard-without-re-installing-windows/
 
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C

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alright, so if just did a fresh install, what would be the best way of going about that while trying to keep the saves and other files when the hard drive got wiped? The bundle I'm getting with the new parts does come with a new hard drive that will be an extra if that could mean anything.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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You need to copy that stuff off to a whole other drive.
The above mention of a full drive image will not work for this.

pics, music, video can be copied.
Steam games also.

Other games and applications WILL need to be reinstalled with the new OS that you are going to purchase and install.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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So...you build your new PC, incl installing the OS and all your applications.
You take the drive from te other system, and connect it. Preferable with a USB dock ($20).
Transfer what you need. Applications, of course, won't transfer over. Doc/Music/Video/Pics, yes.
 
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RolandJS

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"...so how do I do that, I have zero experience doing this stuff so I'm a tad bit lost..." creativeusername
I don't have the English skills to walk you through Macrium Reflect or any similar backup/restore program. You will need to do some research in Google, take a quick look at a few backup/restore program, download a couple of likely contenders, install and test 'em out a short while.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Macrium (or other) imaging applications will not work for this.

A clean install is needed here. An image of that drive is attempting to recreate the original config on the new hardware. Exactly the same as trying to move the physical drive.

There is a function in the paid Macrium application that can (supposedly) deploy onto new hardware. I've never tried it, and no idea what the hardware limitations are.
But he will still need a whole new OS anyway, for this new PC.
 
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C

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Alright, that sounds like about as simple as I can get, if I've got my os on the new hard drive can I just install the other hard drive and leave the games and stuff on it? There isn't anything wrong with this current hard drive so If I could just use it for storage that would be nice.
 
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