Do I need to wipe my old hard drive if I'm building a new pc?

[Ominator]

I recently started to build me first pc. I had put everything together and when i tried connecting it to a monitor, nothing would show up. Everything was plugged in and working fine. Then i read that its because of the hard drive as it already has windows installed with other downloads. Would that be the problem or should something still show up even if its an old hard drive.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the TH Community, @Ominator!

Congrats on your first PC rig! However, the new motherboard on the PC build requires you to install a new genuine Windows OS. You will most definitely be able to use the old hard drive, once you re-format it. Keep in mind that this would erase all its contents, so you need to backup the data from it somewhere else first.
The operating system communicates with the motherboard, the new PC doesn't recognize the system because it doesn't belong to that motherboard. You won't be able to use the same OS activation code/product key either, unless the new PC's motherboard is identical to the old one. For more details, contact MS Support.

Once you have the new OS installation disk and you have backed up the data and reformatted the HDD, you should be able to start fresh and use it for the new Windows OS and your data (from the back up drive). Yet again, you will need to reinstall all the software/programs as well, because you won't be able to launch them on he new system.

Good luck! Let me know if you have more questions!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Ominator]

Welcome to the TH Community, @Ominator!

Congrats on your first PC rig! However, the new motherboard on the PC build requires you to install a new genuine Windows OS. You will most definitely be able to use the old hard drive, once you re-format it. Keep in mind that this would erase all its contents, so you need to backup the data from it somewhere else first.
The operating system communicates with the motherboard, the new PC doesn't recognize the system because it doesn't belong to that motherboard. You won't be able to use the same OS activation code/product key either, unless the new PC's motherboard is identical to the old one. For more details, contact MS Support.

Once you have the new OS installation disk and you have backed up the data and reformatted the HDD, you should be able to start fresh and use it for the new Windows OS and your data (from the back up drive). Yet again, you will need to reinstall all the software/programs as well, because you won't be able to launch them on he new system.

Good luck! Let me know if you have more questions!
SuperSoph_WD

Well the hard drive is from another custom built PC, that i didnt build, and i dont know what motherboard it had, but i had this old PC around my house and plugged the hard drive in, it worked fine. But i dont know if the motherboards were the same

 

[ArtPog]

It would help if you were entirely clear on precisely what your objective was (or is) re transferring a HDD containing an OS and other data to your newly-built PC.

Did you think that you could use that HDD in your new system as your boot drive? That the OS on that drive would be bootable? That the programs that were installed on that HDD would run on your new PC? Were you under that impression because that HDD functioned fine when it was installed in a different PC?

On the other hand...were you planning to use that HDD as a new boot drive on your new system so that you would be fresh-installing an OS onto that HDD? If that was the case, assuming the disk is non-defective, you could use that HDD in that way. Or perhaps use that HDD as a secondary disk for storage/backup purposes while using another drive - perhaps a SSD - as your boot drive.

As SuperSoph has explained, it is likely that you could use that HDD to fresh-install the OS on that disk and ensuring that you have a valid OS license so that the system will be activated.

However, there is a possibility that the transferred HDD containing the older OS might, repeat might, be able to function as a bootable drive. This would require that the HDD is a non-defective completely functional drive and that both the old & new PCs are non-OEM machines and both PCs contain Intel-based systems. NOW UNDERSTAND THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THIS WILL RESULT IN A BOOTABLE, COMPLETELY FUNCTIONAL SYSTEM but there's a reasonable chance under the circumstances I've outlined that it will, and it's worth a try if this is the route you would like to take. Please understand that you would still need a valid OS license to activate this system.

Do you understand all this?

 

[Ominator]

It would help if you were entirely clear on precisely what your objective was (or is) re transferring a HDD containing an OS and other data to your newly-built PC.

Did you think that you could use that HDD in your new system as your boot drive? That the OS on that drive would be bootable? That the programs that were installed on that HDD would run on your new PC? Were you under that impression because that HDD functioned fine when it was installed in a different PC?

On the other hand...were you planning to use that HDD as a new boot drive on your new system so that you would be fresh-installing an OS onto that HDD? If that was the case, assuming the disk is non-defective, you could use that HDD in that way. Or perhaps use that HDD as a secondary disk for storage/backup purposes while using another drive - perhaps a SSD - as your boot drive.

As SuperSoph has explained, it is likely that you could use that HDD to fresh-install the OS on that disk and ensuring that you have a valid OS license so that the system will be activated.

However, there is a possibility that the transferred HDD containing the older OS might, repeat might, be able to function as a bootable drive. This would require that the HDD is a non-defective completely functional drive and that both the old & new PCs are non-OEM machines and both PCs contain Intel-based systems. NOW UNDERSTAND THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THIS WILL RESULT IN A BOOTABLE, COMPLETELY FUNCTIONAL SYSTEM but there's a reasonable chance under the circumstances I've outlined that it will, and it's worth a try if this is the route you would like to take. Please understand that you would still need a valid OS license to activate this system.

Do you understand all this?

I figured out why nothing would show up on the monitor. I want to use the windows on that HDD, so i dont have to spend another $100 on the OS. Could i buy a new HDD and use the same windows product key as the old HDD? Or would i need a new one because that OS is only compatible with only the other motherboard.

 

[ArtPog]

You would need a new product key to activate the new system.

 

[Ominator]

You would need a new product key to activate the new system.

If i use the old OS, should the windows still show up on the screen?

 

[jsmithepa]

I want to use the windows on that HDD, so i dont have to spend another $100 on the OS.

You got 2 issues going.

1. You cannot just try to boot an already installed OS from another machine onto a new machine because the drivers are most likely different.

2. Because Microsoft doesn't want you to spend $100 and install that on multiple boxes, you have to do this the correct way. Assuming you are the rightful owner of the original Windows license, you first have to UNREGISTER from the old machine, install Windows on new machine from original CDs, then REGISTER the same license on the new machine. The proper an legal way to transfer license to the new machine.

 

[Ominator]

I want to use the windows on that HDD, so i dont have to spend another $100 on the OS.

You got 2 issues going.

1. You cannot just try to boot an already installed OS from another machine onto a new machine because the drivers are most likely different.

2. Because Microsoft doesn't want you to spend $100 and install that on multiple boxes, you have to do this the correct way. Assuming you are the rightful owner of the original Windows license, you first have to UNREGISTER from the old machine, install Windows on new machine from original CDs, then REGISTER the same license on the new machine. The proper an legal way to transfer license to the new machine.

but would the windows display on the screen if i dont do any of that