I have a extra sata hard drive has xp on it and the one is in my computer has win7 64 bit but I am trying to get rid of w7 cause about 80% doesn't work with it. I have try to put the xp hard drive in and put the xp disc in and gets a certain point than gives a error message won't load xp. I am not able to change anything in the BIOS changing from achi to ide cause its not listed.
A question about 2 hard drives
- Thread starter bravo14
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If the hard drive has XP on it already from another computer you should reformat it and do a clean installation of XP. Once you do that it should work.
If you still want to use Win 7 you could reformat the drive with Win 7 and partition it into 2 drives and install XP FIRST on one of them then install win 7 on the other one and dual boot it so you could use either one--and you would still have a spare drive to also install for more srorage.
If you still want to use Win 7 you could reformat the drive with Win 7 and partition it into 2 drives and install XP FIRST on one of them then install win 7 on the other one and dual boot it so you could use either one--and you would still have a spare drive to also install for more srorage.
The system files that are loaded in your XP installation are specific to the PC it was installed on. Generally speaking, you can't just swap an existing installation into a different computer (it doesn't contain the necessary system files to function properly). Also, unless you own a "retail" version of XP (or a non-manufacturer specific "OEM" version), then the installation is only licensed to for the PC it came with and it may be BIOS-locked to only function on that original PC.
If you own a retail copy, then your best bet is to take Thayne's advice and perform a clean XP install onto a freshly formatted hard drive. You might be able to get away with performing a repair install, but that method often results in system errors, and never works as good as a clean instal (if it works at all).
Good luck
W2PMX
Member
You don't have to format the drive first - do a new installation and the installer will - if you tell it to - format the drive. (We never reformat, we just do a full install. Reformatting is to resurrect a drive with bad formatting. Otherwise it's a waste of a lot of time.)
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