Vista 64-bit and XP simultaneously

  • Thread starter Thread starter MAT
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M

MAT

Recently I bought a new PC (stationary) with Vista 64-bit.
From the old PC with windows XP I have a harddisc which I´m going to use as
a second drive in the new Vista 64-bit PC.
Could there be any problems just to install the old harddisc with the old
files from the XP-PC, or should I format the old harddisc before using it?
 
MAT said:
Recently I bought a new PC (stationary) with Vista 64-bit.
From the old PC with windows XP I have a harddisc which I´m going to use
as a second drive in the new Vista 64-bit PC.
Could there be any problems just to install the old harddisc with the old
files from the XP-PC, or should I format the old harddisc before using it?
Click to expand...


There could be problems but there needn't be.

You can do either. Shrink the original partition keeping your files,
install XP on another partition, or do a full reformat.

The choice is yours.
 
First of all the hardware on the new system most likely is not the same as
was on the old system...so all of the drivers that are on the XP install do
not match what is needed.
If you are trying to save programs that are installed on the XP disk you can
hook it up
but you will need to change the BIOS boot order in order to boot from
it...and at the same time perform
a "repair installation" of XP back onto that drive to correct the hardware
drivers. This will put your copy of XP
back to the version that is on the CD...no updates no SP 1..2...3..unless
one of them is included on the CD.
Then of course you will need to do all of those updates. Once that is done
it time to install the 32bit drivers
for all of that new hardware which normally would reside on a mobo drivers
disk or be available for download from
the Computer manufacturer....it they have them.
When you are doing this it is best to disconnect the Vista drive. Once
everything is "updated" you can hook the
Vista drive back up..... but you will either need to push F12 at boot for
the disk boot order to show and then you
pick which HD to boot from or you might need to enter the BIOS and do the
same.

Of course all of this is moot if XP came preinstalled on that old system..
Then XP is an OEM version and only
usable on that old system. The best you can hope to achieve is to format the
old drive if you wish to use it
as extra storage space on new system...slave drive.

good luck.

peter
 
MAT said:
Recently I bought a new PC (stationary) with Vista 64-bit.
From the old PC with windows XP I have a harddisc which I´m going to
use as a second drive in the new Vista 64-bit PC.
Could there be any problems just to install the old harddisc with the
old files from the XP-PC, or should I format the old harddisc before
using it?
Click to expand...

There should not be any problem using the old hard drive as is. However,
my suggestion is that you backup all data you want to keep from the old
hard drive and then reformat the old drive for data storage use. I
assume you are not interested in letting the new machine boot to the XP
on the old hard drive as well as to Vista on the hard disk which came
with the machine.
 
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