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Windows 7 hard drive into new computer

3K views 13 replies 4 participants last post by  brobarapas 
#1 ·
I bought an E-machine EL1358G-51W (the slim tower) from Walmart, and while it is a good computer, I find that I can't play certain games like WoW unless I have all graphics turned to their absolute lowest setting. I can't figure out how to upgrade the video card in this computer.

I have another computer - a Dell - that recently experienced hard drive failure, and it has no hard drive currently in it. It has a much better video card in it, so I was going to pull my hard drive out of the E-machine and put it into the Dell.

However, I ran into an issue because my E-machine has the Windows 7 operating system, but the Dell had Windows XP. I suppose I was caught off guard that this would matter since the Dell has no hard drive in it, but apparently there is some sort of XP memory still in the Dell that prevents Windows 7 from booting on it.

Is there any way to configure the Dell to remove the XP requirements so that it will boot off the Windows 7 hard drive?

Thanks
 
#2 ·
The problem when moving a drive from machine to machine is that the drivers/hardware are not going to be same between these machines. Some people have luck booting to safe mode or running a startup repair when booting the drive for the first time. I've never really tried it, I just do a clean install.
 
#5 ·
I would move it into the Emachine, but either I'm missing something or my motherboard won't accept a video card. I see the plug for it, but the problem is that metal bracket on the video card that has all the output plugs on it. (The part of the card that is visible from the back of the computer.) The bracket sticks out too far and hits the motherboard if I try to plug it in.

Near as I can tell, every video card has that bracket that sticks out past the edge of the card itself, so I don't see how it's possible to use the slot for the video card.
 
#8 ·
I have looked up the emachine site for the specs of the model you have posted
there is no where the mention of pci express slot in that machine
the card running in dell machine is a pci-express card

now if you move the drive over you can install the XP that was installed on the Dell if you have CD for it only thing you need to change would be go under BIOS under Advance and SATA configurations change it to IDE/SATA mode from RAID mode or AHCI mode

if you just boot off the hard drive then it will not work probably will end up giving you blue screen of death because you can't install any operating system in one system and then move the drive unless you know that both systems have same model motherboard which in your case it won't be the case

i would change the SATA settings and install the XP if you have the CD once installed make sure to get the drivers for your dell machine from dell's website install wow and you should be fine
 
#9 ·
At the end of the day you are going to have to get a xp disc,,what you are trying to do moving your o/s from your E-machine EL1358G-51W to your Dell is ILLEGAL,,,Like the posts above say, you will have different hardware in the 2 machines and it wont work,,You will only cause yourself grief,
 
#10 ·
Thanks guys. Okay one last question, if I switch the operating system over to XP do I have to back up my files first, or will it transfer everything over automatically? I figure the smart thing to do would be to back the files up anyway for safety's sake...
 
#11 ·
The best thing would be to buy a new hdd for the dell,you can buy hdd,s nowadays quiet cheap,,,,why you would want to loose a o/s with windows 7 on it is beyond me,

If you work it out,,,you have to back up all your data?
you will have to create recovery discs?you will have to get a xp disc,,Do you have the activation key for xp?If you decide you want windows 7 back again ,,more chopping and changing,,,Have you a windows 7 disc now for the install?drivers? All a big headache,,,
 
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