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Keeping HDD Changing Motherboard

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8 replies

by tjnash09

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I want to keep my old hard drive just as it is and install a new mobo. How would I do this?

8 replies

by robo_dev

You MUST change the IDE controller driver settings in Windows before moving the hard drive or you will get BSOD stop errors when it tries to boot. Been there, done that....

Windows can figure out all the other hardware changes, but the disk controller is a show-stopper.

Basically, you're changing from using the device-specific (intel, typically) IDE hardware to a real generic Microsoft IDE driver.

http://www.motherboard.windowsreinstall.com/problems.htm

by mjd420nova

If you wish to keep everything else and just swap the MOBO, boot to the OS CD and do a repair to re-characterize the OS to the new hardware.

by tjnash09

Is it the same process for SATA drives and SATA controllers? Also will the Vista OS DVD allow me to just do a repair and allow the old HDD to associate with the new mobo?

by robo_dev

But, my experience has been that if you don't change to the generic microsoft HDD controller drivers before you migrate the mobo, you can get stuck.

Of course if you try to launch Windows, it will BSOD with a stop error.

But I've also had the experience that doing a repair install will fail too. Windows just falls in love with the old hard-drive controller, and I've seen setup do a BSOD or just stall when trying to do the repair.

Note: That's with XP, not vista.

by willcomp

Vista or XP? -- assume Vista from prior comment.

What are SATA controllers on each motherboard?

Vista does not have a Repair Install like XP and W2K do. It does have a Repair option that will handle some of the same functions.

The best approach is to install SATA drivers for new mobo while drive is connected to old mobo.

by tjnash09

OK, I switched mother boards and when windows tried to load it gave me the load bar then went to a blue screen. Apparentely Foxconn doesn't make vista drivers so I don't know what to do. I reinstalled vista with all of my files in windows.old and I tried to restore it via the microsoft procedure but of course it doesn't start again. How do I load the proper generic drivers on my old version of windows (in windows.old) with the new one running?

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