Using a older hard drive.

[Corysti]

Hello Everyone,

So, I had to send my Hard Drive out for RMA and I need to have a way to stay on my computer during the rma process. I have an older HD which is IDE and it has Windows XP on it and Its been around a year since I used it. I was wondering if I could use it? Or would there be a lot of problems? I figured that I would have to update windows but would I need for format the hd and reinstall windows? Btw this hard drive was used on a different computer than the one I have now.

 

[lowteckh]

You'll have driver issues but if you're lucky and don't encounter major issues, you can get by until the replacement comes in.YMMV.

 

[Corysti]

would you suggest me just formatting the drive and reinstalling the os?

 

[lowteckh]

Unless you have stuff you want to retrieve from it..

 

[GonzoP]

would you suggest me just formatting the drive and reinstalling the os?

Just save anything valuable on your usb stick or if you got a dvd burner go that route

 

[engiNURD]

All you need is a repair install. Proceed as if you were installing XP for the first time, and it should detect the old installation and ask if you'd like to repair it. Hit "R" and that should get you all setup. You'll need to install drivers afterwards, and maybe re-activate if the repair works, but all your data should be fine unless you reformat.