Venkat -

I'd have to respectfully disagree - one may install the replacement 
drive and run the "repair" option from the Win XP CD which will correct 
any hardware discrepancies and allow the existing Win XP installation to 
be used.

Tony Mayer



Venkat Viswanathan wrote:
> Robert writes (clipped)
> 
> <<<<< Can I put the newer drive in to replace the one in the machine with the crashing drive >>>>
> 
> 
> well..... yes, BUT you need to take some additional steps since otherwise the system will not boot due to change in hardware.
> 
> (1)after fixing the HDD,in the same primary IDE slot as master, power up the machine and enter the bios.
> 
> (2)change the boot sequence to CDROM/DVDROM....whatever as the first priority. 
> 
> (3)insert your win xp cd in the cd/dvd rom and save your boot settings and exit.
> 
> (4)choose the option to install xp
> 
> (5)choose the options to delete current partition, then the option to create a new partition (the size is up to you to decide)then the option to format the new partition.
> 
> (6) now choose to INSTALL win xp in the new paretition.
> 
> (7) the whole process will take about an hour and your good hard drive will have a fresh installation of win xp with the new hardware configured.
> 
> 
> NOW the problems...
> 
> decide if you want to save any data on the drive before you change to the new machine and take the steps to do so.
> 
> after you install a fresh copy of win xp the biggest problem will be
>  " ACTIVATION  AND UPDATES".
> 
> microsoft are known to be easy on this but mostly luck...
> 
> HTH and good luck----Venkat
> 
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