Putting an old hard drive in a new PC

[Alex91]

Hello all. I was wondering if any of you wonderful, intelligent people could help me here.

My PC's hard drive recently died on me. It was running Windows XP, but I don't have any boot disks so instead I dug out an older PC that is running Windows 98SE and I am using that for the time being.

I don't mind the dated version of Windows, but everything is so slow (when I double-click a desktop icon, the programme opens about a minute and a half later.) I am guessing the slowness is not something that is innate to Windows 98, but is due to the decrepit PC. My questions are:

1.) If I replace the dead hard drive in my newer PC with this working hard drive (which apparently holds a mighty 2GB) will my Windows 98 experience run a lot more quickly and smoothly, in this more up-to-date machine?

2.) Is such an operation even possible without a boot disk?

Sorry if I'm being really stupid here. Thankyou for your time. 

[quaxo]

While this normally won't work with an XP install, I have on occasion transferred a Win 98 drive successfully. You will need drivers for all of your hardware, and it your hardware is very new, there probably won't be any Windows 98 drivers for it.

Do you have your Windows 98 CD?

I'd suggest installing XP, but 2GBs isn't enough for a standard XP install plus any other programs you want.

[FoxTrottrGrl]

Honestly? I would buy a new hard drive (you can get some really good deals) and replace the dead one in the nicer PC. And maybe see if you can find a copy of Windows XP cheaply on E-bay or something....it's always a good idea to have a copy of your OS in case you need to reinstall it to correct an error or you need to format it.

[Alex91]

Thanks you two.

I was going to buy a new hard drive and a copy of XP eventually anyway, I was just wondering if I could put it off - I'm very miserly you see!

Thanks for your help! 

[daniel1212]

Slowness is not native to W/9x, but they can actually be faster in  basic tasks (boot up, launching folders, notepad. etc.) than a new PC with Vista, as my old rig is, with a AMD 650 mhz cpu with 320mb ram. vs a Dell E20 3.06 ghz cpu; 1.4gb ram.  But i sure thank God for the new one!

What are the specs on your 98 PC?

While you may be able to install 98 on your newer PC, provided the hardware is supported,  your 98 OS is "married" to the PC it came with (spec. the mobo) or was first installed on.  Unless it is a retail version, which would be rare.

You could burn an iso of Knoppix live Cd or PCLinuxOS or similar and boot from the CD rom on your newer PC and use it to surf for now if you need speed. http://distrowatch.com/