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e01estal

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reuse a hard drive in another computer

My problem is I want reuse an internal ATA hard drive on another computer that had XP pro on it.
However when I intsall it and try to reinstall another XP pro OS it won't take.
Is there some prep I need todo to  the hard drive.

Thanks
Alan
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Lee W, MVP
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XP is very sensitive to hardware change - if the old machine and the new machine don't use the same chipset, then it's VERY LIKELY the system will crash.

Further, you cannot transfer XP installs from one machine to another if the install you want to transfer was from an OEM CD.  That XP license dies with the hardware it was sold with.
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rindi
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XP install which version pre sp1, pre sp2, sp2?
How large is the drive? Does the system into which you are connecting the drive into see the correct drive size?

When you say it will not take, what does it mean? Starts install but fails, does not detect the drive? etc.
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e01estal

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I have a XP prof full license and yes it sees the hard drive. It stops before you would normally delete the previous install and then it fails.

Thanks All
The version is XP sp1
You mean where you can partition the disk? Have you run the diags I mentioned and used it to erase the disk? To quote arnold, how large is the disk?
Not a good sign if the drive dies before you get to the partition and format stage of setup.  

You do realize that if the hardware it came from is different, you should start with a fresh install.  It's not likely to just boot right up and work in a different computer.  Right?
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Thanks for all of the advice so far. I will work on this issue again tommorow.

It is 160 gigabyte drive. I didn't see a failure error and it was a clean install.

Hopefully running diags to erase the disk will work and allow an install. It fails right before I would normally expect to get to the get to the partition and format stage of setup.

I do not think windows XP Sp1 can see hard drives larger that 139GB.
Slipstreaming the XP2 at least should resolve this issue.
Does the system into which you are connecting the drive display the correct size of the hard drive in the bios?
Original XP did not support larger than 137GB

XP SP1 will, but the page listing fixes on SP2 advises you need SP3 to get any updates from Microsoft  The SP2 list of fixes is longer than all your arms and legs put together :o)   I've heard of some older hardware that has had problems when SP3 was installed.  Maybe run a google search on XP SP3 and your motherboard's model or go to the manufacturer's support forums to see if anyone has posted problems with SP3 combined with your board.

How to enable 48-bit Logical Block Addressing support for ATAPI disk drives in Windows XP

Windows XP SP1 includes 48-bit LBA support for ATAPI disk drives. With this support, you can use hard disks that are larger than the current 137 GB limit. By default, support is enabled in SP1. To determine if you are running SP1, right-click My Computer and then click Properties. On the General tab, Service Pack 1 will be listed under "System."

To determine if you have the latest ATAPI driver, verify that you have version 5.1.2600.1135 or later of the Atapi.sys file in your %systemroot%\system32\drivers folder.
Although SP1 supports larger than 137GB partitions, it doesn't during the installation as far as I know. When installing create a smaller partition to install the OS to.

It is better practice anyway to have the OS on a relatively small partition (For XP usually around 10GB is fine), and have all the data on other partitions.
another possibility is a bad drive (new does not mean OK)
download UBCD, and run a disk diag on it : http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/      
@rindi

I'm not advocating using SP1 as an install at all (see my remark about the list of SP2 fixes)  SP3 is needed for update support anyway and I couldn't imagine anyone living with all the bugs in the original or SP1 of XP anyway.  I didn't use XP until SP2 came out.  I've made it a matter of practice to wait until the complaints die off somewhat before upgrading.  Win 7 is the first one I've gone to with only a SP1 level release.

Data on another partition is a great idea, better yet an other physical (internal) drive if you can afford it.  (I have 5 HD in my machine.  4 have only user data, program install ISOs etc.)  That way you don't have to chase your data down using third party boot discs, pulling the drive for attaching to another computer etc when you get an OS issue.  You can just reinstall.
Jim, I wasn't really replying to you about SP1, but mainly to the auther. From what I remember even though SP1 supports disks larger than 137GB it needed an additional registry edit to enable. Because the registry can only be edited after the OS is installed you still couldn't install a slipstreamed XP SP1 directly to a partition larger than 137GB. You first had to install to something smaller, then edit the registry, and after that you could resize the partition using some Partitioning utility. With SP2 and above that wasn't needed anymore.

Personally I would integrate SP3 to any XP installation media anyway, for one thing the update process is much faster once installed, and as you say it's the only XP 32bit version supported (would be different for XP 64, which only has SP and that is supported).
I guess the first setp I will try is to run diags on the hard drive and make sure it wiped and funtional. Some things came up and I won't be able to get to to it till early next week.

I now realize I don't understaand slipstreaming. I'm currently planned to install via my XP Sp1 dvd. I'm using this disk because its the only full installation disk I have.

Can anyone enlighten me as how I slipstream. I guess I don't really undersatand the method. I see that Arnold mentioned using http://www.nliteos.com. Any further clarification would be appreciated.

Thank you all once again all your input.

.
i use the system described here :  http://www.howtohaven.com/system/slipstream-xp-service-pack-3.shtml
i found it easy to follow and it worked fine
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sorry jim-R, from that title i could not see it was the same
I wish I could reward all of you max points. You guys are the best and once again thanks for your input.

The problem was just a matter of running manufacturer's diagnostic utility on the HD. The other part was how to slipstream which I just went with the solution that seems easiest.