Hi. Can someone confirm whether a hard-drive that boots properly in one PC can boot just the same if it is removed and put in another PC with almost similar capabilities? (The operating system would be Windows 2000, if that is relevant.) Thanks in advance.
If the hardware is mainly the same, then it will most likely work in the other computer (meaning the mobo, cpu, or anything major that requires a specific driver) If the main components are different, then it might not work because windows installs the drivers for the system you first install it on, but not the drivers that do not relate to your system's first hardware.
Hi. Thanks for the reply. I understood your point. But, if the first computer (from which the hard-drive is to be removed) had a power-on password and a Windows Logon password, while the second computer did not, would/might that be a problem?
The power-on password is most likely a function of the BIOS which will be different on the second machine. If the hard drive contains the OS, then the Windows log-on password will be the same. If the purpose of this exercise is to hack the passwords, there are easier ways. You can clear the CMOS which will eliminate the power-on password and the web is full of Windows password hacks. Dick
Hi. Thanks for clearing that up for me, K7vc. No, I wasn't trying to bypass the password, but this hard-drive I tried to move doesn't want to boot in another system. I thought it could, because the processor speed and RAM memory are roughly the same. (And I would have really liked to avoid doing a fresh install of all those programs I had before, not to mention having to re-program them the exact way I had them working.) I'll just do a fresh Windows install, then - which would be the less tedious part of the whole process. Thank you very much, though.
Every few years that's probably a good idea to help clean out a lot of the little stuff you've forgotten about that's been taking up room for years. It will also give you a chance to do a full writing format and if you have sufficient time even a full Spinrite hard scrub. See http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm Best of Luck. Dick
