Can I use an Old drive in a different computer??

[ImnoGuru]

Well just that actually.
Can I use the old drive with an operating system on it in another computer, and will it work on the other computer or will I "have to" format it and reload win xp?

and Question 2 is
I just got this other computer it has an 80 gig SATA connected drive, 256 Ram 2.8 (I dont know) chip maybe? htz? TPG Brand Box.
When I plugged it in the screen was just black no data seems to be processed, It doesnt post and no beeps are audible.
Is this normal? Can I just load an O/S CD and install it to make it work?

Ive never done any of this sort of thing before, Ive always just got them and everything worked from day 1, short of install programs here and there.
Any problems Ive had Ive always got my brother to fix, but he never teaches me how what or why.
Any help would be greatfully received thank you.

[BC_Programmer]

Any problems Ive had Ive always got my brother to fix, but he never teaches me how what or why.

Give a man a fish, and he has food for a day, teach a man to fish, and he has food for a lifetime.


For the first question, it is often possible to put an old Drive into another computer, and have it work. You will, however, need to perform a XP Repair using the XP CD (if you don't have one, your SOL for that method).


For the second question, the short answer is no- as far as that computer goes, it simply isn't POSTing- the problem lies within. Could be a number of problems, ranging from CPU or motherboard, to an Add-in card that the computer doesn't like.

[ImnoGuru]

Thanks BC_Programmer for answering.
I have the disks so that should work Ok then.

The other computer... well I'll have to wait then till the guy I got it from gets back from Holidays and let him run me through its operation. Im sure he showed it to me working, just no O/S.
No rush with that one it was a cheap computer (Au$100). I just got it to play with.

[nalee]

Normally you could just use the harddrive, because when you start it up it should ask you to verify the hardware changes.  You should have to press F1 and everything should be good.

[patio]

Normally you could just use the harddrive, because when you start it up it should ask you to verify the hardware changes.  You should have to press F1 and everything should be good.

Not true.