Hi -
The question of how to move a HDD from an old system to a new one has been asked before, but I've seen so many different answers (from "completely impossible" to "no problem at all") that I'm very confused. My apologies if it's a dead topic for some of you!
I'm moving to a new country for a few months. Since it's a relatively short time, I don't want to ship my big desktop computer. It's easier to just buy a different computer in the new place, and sell it when I leave.
My question is how to best and most easily bring my current computer set-up (files, programs, total environment) and put it onto the new computer system? Can I just bring my current HDD and slap it into the new system?
I know that I can put all my files and data onto a portable hard drive, and then access that drive from a new computer.
And I know that I can bring along the programs as well, and just reinstall those onto the new computer.
However, transfering files and data takes a while, reinstalling my many programs takes a verrry long while, re-jiggering all the settings in every program and system takes forever. Setting up my system took days. Ideally, I'd like to avoid having to re-do all this work I've already done in creating my personal computer environment.
So how feasible would it be to simply take my WD 250gb HDD with me (it's small and light!), and replace the HDD in the new computer with my current HDD?
Will I then have "my" computer on the new computer? Programs, OS, etc?
What steps could I take now (before I move and while I'm using my current computer) to make sure that it'll work well when I get my new computer?
Regarding the OS, I have a purchased copy of WinXP SP2. The nice thing about this is that I'm legally allowed to transfer this OS. (In other words, it's NOT a bundled, non-transferable OEM version. )
Also, to what extent do I have to get a new computer which matches the hardware of my current set-up? I currently have a Gigabyte P35 mobo, Q6600, Powercolor VGA. I was hoping to get a slightly less powerful configuration in my new set-up: mobo with vga onboard, a less powerful CPU. Can I still slap the new HDD into this different set-up?
Thanks for your help .... I definitely need advice as I really don't know how to do this!
THANKS!
- Julia
(fyi - not sure which section of the forum to post this; I'm putting it into New Builds and Storage, but please feel free to move as appropriate!)
The question of how to move a HDD from an old system to a new one has been asked before, but I've seen so many different answers (from "completely impossible" to "no problem at all") that I'm very confused. My apologies if it's a dead topic for some of you!
I'm moving to a new country for a few months. Since it's a relatively short time, I don't want to ship my big desktop computer. It's easier to just buy a different computer in the new place, and sell it when I leave.
My question is how to best and most easily bring my current computer set-up (files, programs, total environment) and put it onto the new computer system? Can I just bring my current HDD and slap it into the new system?
I know that I can put all my files and data onto a portable hard drive, and then access that drive from a new computer.
And I know that I can bring along the programs as well, and just reinstall those onto the new computer.
However, transfering files and data takes a while, reinstalling my many programs takes a verrry long while, re-jiggering all the settings in every program and system takes forever. Setting up my system took days. Ideally, I'd like to avoid having to re-do all this work I've already done in creating my personal computer environment.
So how feasible would it be to simply take my WD 250gb HDD with me (it's small and light!), and replace the HDD in the new computer with my current HDD?
Will I then have "my" computer on the new computer? Programs, OS, etc?
What steps could I take now (before I move and while I'm using my current computer) to make sure that it'll work well when I get my new computer?
Regarding the OS, I have a purchased copy of WinXP SP2. The nice thing about this is that I'm legally allowed to transfer this OS. (In other words, it's NOT a bundled, non-transferable OEM version. )
Also, to what extent do I have to get a new computer which matches the hardware of my current set-up? I currently have a Gigabyte P35 mobo, Q6600, Powercolor VGA. I was hoping to get a slightly less powerful configuration in my new set-up: mobo with vga onboard, a less powerful CPU. Can I still slap the new HDD into this different set-up?
Thanks for your help .... I definitely need advice as I really don't know how to do this!
THANKS!
- Julia
(fyi - not sure which section of the forum to post this; I'm putting it into New Builds and Storage, but please feel free to move as appropriate!)