cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Best of both worlds

petlew
Pro
Posts: 7,417
Thanks: 112
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎30-08-2007

Best of both worlds

My new PC has Vista, my old one had XP. the reasons for replacing the PC were never anything to do with old one's main hard drive (it eventually had two more fitted)
Can I take the old HDD (C:) complete with XP, and fit it into the new PC and dual boot it? and then transfer files etc. between them?
Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most.

When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you. But because in that brief moment while the coin is in the air. You suddenly know what you are hoping for.
3 REPLIES 3
MikeWhitehead
Grafter
Posts: 748
Registered: ‎19-08-2007

Re: Best of both worlds

It would involve modifying the Vista boot manager. If you google "Dual boot XP and Vista" you'll find some examples of dual booting between the two.
Also, if the new PC has a motherboard which has a different IDE controller than the previous motherboard, then the drive won't be able to be read in some cases, in which case you would need to format the old XP hard drive.
petlew
Pro
Posts: 7,417
Thanks: 112
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎30-08-2007

Re: Best of both worlds

Thanks Mike, the new PC has an ATA controller type HDD, the old one an ATAPI type.
Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most.

When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you. But because in that brief moment while the coin is in the air. You suddenly know what you are hoping for.
petlew
Pro
Posts: 7,417
Thanks: 112
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎30-08-2007

Re: Best of both worlds

Ooop's I should have said: IDE not ATAPI
Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most.

When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you. But because in that brief moment while the coin is in the air. You suddenly know what you are hoping for.