Adding a hard drive with XP on one running 98SE?

[psongman]

Hi, I just bought a WD hard drive on ebay with Windows XP already on
it. Now, I want to either add this to my old computer which is already
running Windows 98SE or to one I can get with no OS. I searched the
Googling archives but can't seem to find a definitive answer. Please
assist me in this quest, so I can be up and running by the weekend.
Thanks for listening, psongman

 

[Rod Speed]

I just bought a WD hard drive on ebay with Windows
XP already on it. Now, I want to either add this to my
old computer which is already running Windows 98SE

Thats fine.

or to one I can get with no OS.

No need.

I searched the Googling archives but can't seem
to find a definitive answer. Please assist me in this
quest, so I can be up and running by the weekend.

Just wipe the XP off the drive you got off ebay.
You do that by formatting it. Just be sure you
are formatting the new drive, not the old one.

 

[Peter]

Hi, I just bought a WD hard drive on ebay with Windows XP already on

it. Now, I want to either add this to my old computer which is already
running Windows 98SE or to one I can get with no OS. I searched the
Googling archives but can't seem to find a definitive answer. Please
assist me in this quest, so I can be up and running by the weekend.
Thanks for listening, psongman

Bad idea. You should not try to get in a posession of
MS software that way. Did you read their license agreement,
by the way?

 

[psongman]

Hi, well I don't think anyone is getting the gist of my needed
assistance. I want to add the new used hard drive alongside my smaller
Maxtor one, with Windows 98Se on it, and then do some file transfers,
eventually probably using Windows XP as it is much more stable for the
music work I am doing. So can I just add the second hard drive, let it
boot up from the old one, then do some transferring, etc.? Please keep
helping me in this upgrade, appreciated, Psongman

 

[Rod Speed]

Hi, well I don't think anyone is getting the gist of my needed assistance.

Yeah, your original wasnt the clearest I have ever seen.

I want to add the new used hard drive alongside my smaller
Maxtor one, with Windows 98Se on it, and then do some file
transfers, eventually probably using Windows XP as it is
much more stable for the music work I am doing.

OK, that wasnt clear in your original.

So can I just add the second hard drive, let it boot
up from the old one, then do some transferring, etc.?

How well that will work depends on how the new drive has
been formatted. If its formatted FAT32, you will be able to
do what you want. If its formatted NTFS, and thats most
likely, you wont be able to see its contents from SE.

You may well not be able to use XP later either. When
the motherboard etc is different enough to the one that
was used to install XP on that drive, you will need to repair
the XP install on the drive, and you will need to have the
XP CD to do that. You dont appear to have the XP CD.

 

[Kevin Buffardi]

How well that will work depends on how the new drive has

been formatted. If its formatted FAT32, you will be able to
do what you want. If its formatted NTFS, and thats most
likely, you wont be able to see its contents from SE.

But, if it is formatted in NTFS you should be able to "see" the contents
of the FAT32 drive. In other words, if you wanted to transfer your old
data to the new drive, just boot up XP and copy the files over. But, as
Rod mentioned, you probably won't be able to boot to 98 and do the reverse.

All that being said, I'd agree with Peter. I don't know all the details
of your transaction, but it could very likely be considered an illegal
version of Windows XP. And if you didn't get the XP CD, you better make
a back-up image of your new drive in case any XP system files get
damaged/corrupted or you have any other serious issues.

//Kevin

 

[Rod Speed]

But, if it is formatted in NTFS you should be able to "see" the contents of
the FAT32 drive.

Not when SE is the OS booted.

In other words, if you wanted to transfer your old data to the new drive, just
boot up XP and copy the files over.

He wanted to boot SE initially.

But, as Rod mentioned, you probably won't be able to boot to 98 and do the
reverse.

All that being said, I'd agree with Peter. I don't know all the details of
your transaction, but it could very likely be considered an illegal version of
Windows XP.

Doesnt matter a damn what MS 'considers'

 

[Joe Doe]

Hi, I just bought a WD hard drive on ebay with Windows XP already on
it. Now, I want to either add this to my old computer which is already
running Windows 98SE or to one I can get with no OS. I searched the
Googling archives but can't seem to find a definitive answer. Please
assist me in this quest, so I can be up and running by the weekend.
Thanks for listening, psongman

Windows XP generates a hardware hash of ten system components present on
the original computer at the point at which it was activated. When it
boots it polls to see if the hardware has changed and if it has changed
substantially it will force you to reactivate. Since this drive
originated in a different system it will most likely fail this step. If
you have access to the original XP license you will be legally allowed
to reactivate. Getting a modern OS is a small price to pay for its
convenience:

I am at a University and because of campus licencing I have full legal
access to XP for very low dollars. I bought a copy but I did not put it
on even though it was essentially free because I did not want to deal
with product activation numerous updates & other concerns etc. I
recently put it on and am amazed at how well my system behaves. For
example, I can record video (TV) on an ATI All in wonder Radeon and keep
a live internet connection (dial up), update virus definitions and not
drop a single frame!! This is on a lowly Athlon 850 with AIW Radeon
9600XT and 649 MB ram. In 98SE on the same system I would drop frames
in a similar scenario. Clearly, the OS is managing the multitasking
environment very well. Given this knowledge I would be happy to pay
full retail for XP and kicking myself for not making the switch earlier.

Roland

 

[Rod Speed]

Windows XP generates a hardware hash of ten system components present on
the original computer at the point at which it was activated. When it
boots it polls to see if the hardware has changed and if it has changed
substantially it will force you to reactivate. Since this drive
originated in a different system it will most likely fail this step. If
you have access to the original XP license you will be legally allowed
to reactivate. Getting a modern OS is a small price to pay for its
convenience:

I am at a University and because of campus licencing I have full legal
access to XP for very low dollars. I bought a copy but I did not put it
on even though it was essentially free because I did not want to deal
with product activation numerous updates & other concerns etc.

The particular XP you can get a license for
cheaply may not even require activation.

I recently put it on and am amazed at how well my system
behaves. For example, I can record video (TV) on an ATI
All in wonder Radeon and keep a live internet connection
(dial up), update virus definitions and not drop a single frame!!

Yeah, I do that every evening, digital TV to hard drive.

This is on a lowly Athlon 850 with AIW Radeon 9600XT and 649 MB
ram. In 98SE on the same system I would drop frames in a similar
scenario. Clearly, the OS is managing the multitasking environment
very well. Given this knowledge I would be happy to pay full retail
for XP and kicking myself for not making the switch earlier.

Yeah, I've had no regrets and even run it on the dinosaur in the kitchen.

 

[Joe Doe]

I am at a University and because of campus licencing I have full legal
access to XP for very low dollars. I bought a copy but I did not put it
on even though it was essentially free because I did not want to deal
with product activation numerous updates & other concerns etc.

The particular XP you can get a license for
cheaply may not even require activation.[/QUOTE]


Initially staff and faculty got a volume license & students had
individually keyed licenses. Of course these licenses are very valuable
to pirates and so Microsoft got wise and now any home use computer has
an individually keyed license. Departmental use computers still have
volume licenses. Students get to keep their licenses when they leave,
faculty/staff theoretically have to return a home use license if they
leave.

I had the unhappy experience of installing activating and then
immediately hosing my machine through a combination of software and user
error. I had to format and reinstall and had to call Microsoft to
reactivate.

Roland