Replacement computer with Dual Boot

I have a Dell compact case desktop XP-Pro machine that I have been thinking about replacing - due to the limited hardware upgrade capability.

The computer has started shutting down without warning after being on for an hour or so. The power button has a blinking light which does not go off until I unplug/replug the computer power cord. It then reboots fine with no error messages - just as if it were shut down normally. The repair cost will be more than the PC is worth.

I am going to buy a mini-tower to give me some upgrade capability, such as a better graphics card. I highly desire keeping the XP-Pro capabilities.

There are a couple of options that I am considering and would like to know of difficulties/pitfalls of each:

1) Can I buy a new/used machine, swap the hard drives and be up and running with XP-Pro again? Obviously, some of the hardware cards and CPU would be different than in my failing system.

2) Buy a Win 7 machine and install the XP drive in the case as a secondary drive. Could I then make the machine dual boot?

Whatever option I choose, I would like to keep my current desktop configuration and, if possible, look.

Can I do the work myself, with a little help, or do I need to pay the local computer store $70/hr to do it for me?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

1) You should be able to use both hard drives, do you know what connection your current one is? e.g IDE or SATA? I ain`t installed a SATA hard drive before, but i did an IDE one, after making sure the cable and the bumper was in the slot i wanted them in (bumper was in cable select, and my hard drive was with master cable), i just went into bios and enabled auto detect, and it worked fine.

2) You should be able to dual boot, as i`ve done it on two hard drives myself, so i can`t see why not,can`t remember how i did it tbh (Was bout 2-3 year ago) but i did do it.

And yes you can`t do it yourself with little help, other knowledgeable members on here should be able to help you, or if they can`t there`s plenty of guides on the net.

Hope i`ve been of some help.

 

I think the told me it was a SATA drive.

One additional concern I have. The WIN 7 will be 64 bit, but my XP-Pro version is 32 bit. Will there be any problems with all the 32 bit software on that disc?

 

So long as the CPU supports 64 bit i can`t see why not, but this explains it in more detail:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/32-bit-and-64-bit-explained.htm

For installing a Sata HDD
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...3c90e010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD&locale=en-US

The guide mentions Parallel ATA that`s what IDE is also known as, just thought i`d tell ya so you know.

 

When you purchase a new PC you'll need to make sure it supports the OS's you want

It will be more of problem then its worth using your old HDD with old install of XP on a new PC with different chipset/drivers etc.

Your better off with fresh clean install of your OS

You can dual boot on a single HDD if you want...

I run a dual boot Laptop Win 7 64bit and XP 32bit...:major

 

Ahh, neither option is good IMO. The XP is tied to your old machine and the drivers will be missing if you install the HD on your new one as first boot and W7 as your second(mandatory unless you want to learn the ins and outs of BCDEdit). Since these are both OEM installs I can imagine a whole bunch of hurt to get a dual boot going.

I was around when everyone was seemingly wanting to revert to XP from Vista OEM and there were horror stories even when one had a retail XP disc, again no or minimal drivers but quite a few managed it. MS likes to install oldest first, that's easiest and doing the OEM shuffle I think would be a waste of time besides introducing unknowns into the mix.

Use Microsoft Easy Transfer instead and forget the XP install. This way you could transfer your files and settings, at least hopefully some of them.(I never used it).

I highly doubt 'the look' would transfer, W7 is nice man.:cool

Sounds like the power supply is dying to me.

It would be better to make a clean break from XP as the learning curve is very low for W7. Trust me, I'm sure you'll like it after a couple of weeks and XP will look 'cartoony' in your mind in comparison.

I doubt there would be any takers to try and accomplish what you want to do unless they really know their way around or are complete thieves. A very specialized area even when possible and with a gap of 10 years between the two with hardware changes and no drivers being written for XP anymore.

Enjoy your new machine!:wine

 

Yes, I was going to mention some of the problems Asus and Augie detailed.

You really are better off concentrating on which programs on your current XP installation you would like to install on the Win7 computer and whether you have the installation discs for them or the license codes.

The other thought is depending on how old the current XP machine is, it may have an IDE hard drive and a new computer may very likely not even have an IDE connector on the motherboard. That might be one more thing you should check to help convince you that trying to get the old XP installation to run on the new computer is not worth the trouble.

 

LoneWolf: Thanks for the excellent links - they answered most of my questions.

Augiedoggie: I bought the computer used, and do not have any install disc. I would like to have XP available.

If I get an adapter to install the old disc through a USB port, will I be able to read the data off it? I have a lot of freeware programs that I would rather not have to download again over my dial-up connection.

 

Another thing that i just remembered (thanks to augiedoggie post) is Windows Xp updates are stopping this year aswell.