One feature that I like in Windows 98 is I can simply take out a hard drive that has Windows 98 installed and connect it to another computer. When I boot it up, it'll start to detect and install all device drivers again. Unlike Windows XP, when you change the motherboard or move your hard drive that has Windows XP installed to another computer, be prepared to get endless looping reboots or the famous blue screen of death (BSOD).
After nearly 7 years since the release of Windows XP, today only I learn how to move a Windows XP hard drive to another computer without getting blue screen. I found a solution on how to do this few months ago but I've never tried it. Yesterday night I had a little time so I decided to test on it and it works! It's never too late to learn…
What I did was I made a full backup of my laptop's hard drive using Macrium Reflect and then I restored it to my desktop. Since both my laptop and desktop hardware is totally different, I know for sure that my desktop will not be able to boot up properly. True enough, my desktop was not able to boot in to Windows and all I got was a endless restart. I can't even boot in to Safe Mode.
There are two ways to do it.
a) Before moving the hard drive
1. Go to Control Panel and open System
2. Click Hardware tab and click Device Manager button.
3. Expand IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers by clicking the + sign.
4. Right click on the FIRST controller on the list and select Update Driver.
5. Select No, not this time when asked "Can Windows connect to Windows Update to search for software?" and click Next.
6. Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) and click Next.
7. Select Don't search. I will choose the driver to install and click Next.
8. Select Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller and click Next.
9. Click No when ask to restart. Now shutdown the computer, remove the hard drive and install it on another computer.
b) After moving the hard drive
1. Download latest UBCD4Win and install.
2. Launch UBCD4Win from Desktop or Start Menu.
3. Insert original Windows XP CD to CD/DVD ROM and select the source. To confirm that the source is correct, click on Source from the menu bar and select Check.
4. If your computer can burn CDs, select Burn to CD/DVD and click Build button. If can't, select Create ISO image and once it has complete creating the ISO image, copy it to a computer that can burn CDs and burn it.
5. Boot up the computer with UBCD4Win. You need to go BIOS to change the boot sequence if your computer can't boot up the computer with CD.
6. Select Launch "The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows" from the UBCD4Win menu and wait for it to load. You can select No when asked to start network support.
7. Click Start > Programs > Registry Tools > Fix_hdc > Fix hard disk controller
8. Hit the M key on your keyboard to select Update MassStorage drivers.
9. When it's finished, press any key to continue and restart the computer.
