I have a maxtor hd, and I recently got a new comp. I want to install this old hard drive, which has all the settings and data from my old comp, onto the new one. I was wondering if I needed to format it and start from scratch, or if I could just install it in the new comp and let windows take care of the rest. My old comp is a P3 800 mhz with an Asus CUSL2 motherboard, and my new one is a P4 2.0ghz with an Intel D845EBG2L motherboard. Thanks!

I think both XP and 2000 should be able to detect the hard drive. I, personally, formatted the old HD to NTFS format... but I think that Windows would have been able to recognize it. If you see that it can, then just move the stuff that you want to your primary hard drive and re-format the secondary (being the old) HD, and then move the files back if you want. The above is assuming that you will be installing the new hard drive as a secondary hard drive... If this HD is the only one that you have, then 9 cases out of 10 you will need to format if installing a different version of Windows. If you will be installing the old windows once again onto the drive then I am not sure... It's worth a shot. good luck

Thanks for the reply. Here's the thing. This "old" hard drive is actually a Maxtor 60g drive, exactly the same type as the new hd I will be getting in the new comp (my family needed an extra computer). I just want to swap them because I don't want to have to reinstall all my programs and settings on the new computer. So I will be using the "old" hd as the primary (and only) hd on the new comp, and taking the new, blank hd and sticking it in my old comp, which my bro will be using. My old comp is running win xp too, so my "old" hd already has xp installed on it. I just don't know if the fact that the motherboard and vid card are different in the new comp will affect anything. To make things more/less complicated, I will be taking my cd-rw, sound card and monitor from my old comp and installing them in my new comp (cuz they're better than the ones I just bought). Hope this kinda made sense!

Swapping HDD's is not a good thing with WinXP, it won't boot on a new computer, I tried. I loaded it on one with an MSI K7t2 turbo and 1.6 and put it in a Jetway with a 1.3 and no go. Seems that activation thing is a real PITA. Clyde

You'll definitely run into problems with windows activation due to the change in hardware configuration. If you're setting up a network, install the new system, get your network up and running, then just transfer the info from your old => new machine.

Ye I'm afraid in that case it will NOT work guaranteed... The problem is that Windows will map all your hardware onto a section of the HD read-only and only for use by the Operating System. The "mapping" done as addresses will be different for your new PC because you have different hardware installed! As simple as that... You could do it if pretty much all the hardware were the same though (as obvious as it sounds). Sorry dude but a good few 5 hours is meant to be wasted. :)

Thanks guys. I guess I'm just gonna have to back up everything and reinstall all the programs and stuff all over again... I'm just trying to be as lazy as I can!