PC Gurus - Old drive into new box?

[oestek]

Hey PC tech gurus, I need a little help.



I've got a PC that took a dump, it's about 6 years old and when you power on, it sends no video signal and seems to make a buzzing / clicking sound. Unresponsive. Opened the box and can see the CPU fan spin, hear the drive whirring quietly, but the buzzing comes from the motherboard somewhere. I suspect the mobo is fried.

I am contemplating picking up a bare bones unit and transferring the hard drive from my dead box into it and life goes on. Does this actually work?

Thanks for the help..

- Kevin

[stealth71]

I assume it's a windows box? It can work, but it probably isn't just a plug n' play deal.

Make sure that both computers support the same physical connection to the drive. Most likely IDE, but a lot of new computers are SATA.

You can possibly have driver problems if the Windows install is configured to use a specific driver for the old PC's hard drive. So your mileage may vary.

Do you own a windows license? If so you can start from scratch on the new box with a new hard drive. Install windows (if you buy a machine without an operating system.) Then put your old drive in as a slave to get to your data.

[Rhino]

If you're interested in troubleshooting the PC, I'd first check the power supply. Out of all PC related problems with similar symptoms, the power supply is the cause the vast majority of the time.

As was said previously, your old drive is more than likely IDE. As long as you have an IDE controller (also known as PATA recently) on the new computer you should be ready to go. When picking up a barebones system, you'll be hard pressed to find one without an IDE controller.
The easiest way to get the drive working in a new computer is set the jumpers on the end of the drive for Cable select (instructions found on drive label usually) and plug it into the end of the IDE cable.

With drives being as cheap as they are any more, I would buy a new one for the new computer, and use this as a secondary hard drive. You have less issues to deal with and a smaller chance for data loss during a windows install.

[oestek]

Thanks for the advice. I found what seems to be a decent bare bones system that comes with some components - a drive, power supply, video card, etc. (not really bare bones, then, is it!) for a couple hundred bucks at TigerDirect.com. I have a windows license (XP). So assuming this new box has an IDE controller, I just stab in the old drive set as Rhino mentioned, install the OS on the new internal drive, and use my old drive as a secondary drive... if the OS is compatible, the old drive's apps should run, right? The machine won't explode seeing 2 copies of the OS on 2 separate drives?

[oestek]

And I do have a spare power supply I'll try first.

[derekf]

No, the machine won't explode just because the OS is on two drives. It'll only run the one pointed at by the boot files on the boot drive; the other one is just files.

It is extremely likely that your new machine has an IDE controller - can't say I've seen a desktop-class machine without one in years.

[Rhino]

It is extremely likely that your new machine has an IDE controller - can't say I've seen a desktop-class machine without one in years.

Lately, I've noticed Dell making a drastic leap to get away from IDE on business line PC's. Our most recent don't even run any IDE. It's all SATA. You're right that it's difficult to find without one, but I think the tide's about to change.

Kevin,
You will probably need to reinstall most of your applications after you reinstall windows on to the new drive. Unfortunately most applications save settings in the registry and also modify your windows install in subtle ways.

[6'9"Witha69]

Slave the old hd and transfer data files for the individual apps, but all apps should be reinstalled on the new hd.

[oestek]

OK, how do I slave the drive?

[6'9"Witha69]

Connection to any other slot on the MB via an IDE cable. I have slaved many a crashed HD through disconnecting the CD-rom and using that cable. If the new PC you have has a second HD cable then you're good to go.

[oestek]

OK, some good news... I removed the power supply and found the cooling fan was almost welded in place and requires alot of effort for me to turn it by hand. I think it locked up and is killing the power supply. I am going to replace the power supply before going any farther with the project. I'll report the findings. Thanks!

[Mathius]

SATA is the king right now, but most motherboards are still made with one IDE port. Should be enough to get you going.

If it were me, I'd start with a fresh install on a new drive, and then just copy whatever I needed from the old one.

That's how I usually do it. A fresh install is always nice every few years. The system will run faster without all the crap that's been collecting on your old HD. The bad part is making older programs work that you've either lost the install for (or don't remember where you got it from), or have a bunch of configuration settings and/or passwords that you can't just port over to a new install.

Mathius

[oestek]

SATA is the king right now, but most motherboards are still made with one IDE port. Should be enough to get you going.

If it were me, I'd start with a fresh install on a new drive, and then just copy whatever I needed from the old one.

That's how I usually do it. A fresh install is always nice every few years. The system will run faster without all the crap that's been collecting on your old HD. The bad part is making older programs work that you've either lost the install for (or don't remember where you got it from), or have a bunch of configuration settings and/or passwords that you can't just port over to a new install.

Mathius

That's part of the dilemma. I'm missing an install disc on one application that I am tearing the house apart looking for. I'm pretty good about keeping the machine clean and operating well, and I'd like to replace it on my time frame rather than it's time frame, if you know what I mean. I hope it's just the power supply. The extra I had was an old piece of junk, so a buddy is sending me one.

[Paul_J]

Good luck with your swap. I'm feeling your pain as I just started work on a similar project. My Father-in-laws office lost the roof in hurricane IKE and flooded. The PC was on the floor under a desk so the falling tiles and water didn't get to it but the 4" of water that collected on the floor got to the bottom of the system board and all kinds of stuff grew on it! The drive was up high in the chassis. My main issue right now is that it's an IDE drive. My first choice is to find the same system used on Craigslist or Ebay and just swap the drive.

[claytonisbob]

If your missing the install disk to some software and you have the license, just download an iso for it from something like isohunt and burn it. Most of the iso's on the net are for people stealing software, but I've used them when I lost one of my cd's, but still have the key on a slip (such as windows or office). Just make sure you get the same version.