Swapping HDDs in Windows 2000 4

[RashMorbius]

I have a Hard Drive in one computer running Windows 2000 Professional. I decided to remove that Hard Drive from said computer and place it in another computer, but with no success.

Now, all of my jumpers for the Hard Drive are set correctly, so please don't question that and all hardware is on the 2000 HCL.

The error I get is, "If this happens again you will need to reboot and run chkdsk /f"

Problem is I never get past the 2000 Blue Screen.

I've done this before with NT; even with as fussy as NT is.

Can anyone help me?

 

[wolluf]

When you move a hard drive with operating system from one machine to another its never certain that it will run properly on the new machine. Sometimes when windows is reinstalling all its drivers for new hardware, something gets corrupted, and it never boots.

Suggest backup & reinstall might be needed.

PS. Presume you've tried safe mode?
PPS. You could try a repair.

 

[Eguy]

RashMorbius;

"...and all hardware is on the 2000 HCL."

This may be true however W2K installed one set of drivers for the original hardware configuration, and now it is all different. Don't forget Windows installs drivers for PCI busses, chip sets, etc. The scenario you describe almost never works.

Ed
Please let me know if the suggestion(s) I provide are helpful to you.
Sometimes you're the windshield... Sometimes you're the bug.

 

[RashMorbius]

I understand what you are saying, what I don't understand is that even NT (fussy NT) will work with swapping drives at times.

2000 with its 50M driver file should at least be more forgiving.

 

[wolluf]

c'est la vie!

 

[rrsub]

You can't swap HDD that contains the OS if your intention is to move the OS from one system to another. You can only move it as a data drive.

It's part of the C-2 crap that M$ says they're certified for. Basically it's so that someone can't steal your HDD with the security info and put it in their machine, even though it will work as a data drive.

With their new file structure they're touting with Palladium will make even data swaps impossible except OS to OS. No flat files anymore, just one database with the file representations inside.

 

[G0AOZ]

In true Christmas pantomime style, Oh yes you can! The trick is to use a common driver for the HDD interface. I've found this works with about 95 percent of machines...

BEFORE you move the HDD over, put into that PC a Promise PCI local bus IDE controller card, but don't connect the i/face, i.e. leave HDD still connected to original on-board IDE i/face. Boot up W2K, install the Promise driver it asks for, close down and transfer your IDE cable to this new card. Remove HDD entry from BIOS, or set to AUTO, and boot up to establish it work ok. Now take out card and HDD and move BOTH over to new PC. Immediately connect HDD to Promise card, and boot up. This could take a lot longer than normal as the operating system is taking account of all the new hardware changes. It will invariably ask you again for the Promise driver - just do as it asks and put the driver in again! Reboot when requested and ensure machine starts ok. Make sure there are no more "new hardware found" messages, then close down, remove Promise card, and connect HDD to on-board IDE i/face. Make sure HDD is in the BIOS, then reboot machine.

Happy New Year!

ROGER - GØAOZ.

 

[WindowWizard]

That's a tough way to do it, but that's the only way I've found to do it too. NT4 is more forgiving than 2000 because it uses a "generic" HDD driver to boot up. Win2K does not. It only used the generic driver during the install phase. Once installed, the appropriate driver is set for boot up. Thus if you change hardware configurations, chances are the old drivers previously selected won't work in the new configuration.

 

[rrsub]

Pretty neat trick. I'll have to remember that one.

 

[pbxman]

To expand on that idea, what I do if i need to move HDD drives containing an OS between computers is go into device manager and remove or uninstall everything in it i possibly can. 99.999% of the time it's the motherboard system drivers that cause the blue screen right when 2K initializes it's kernel and a mis-match is found. DOn't forget - in device manager there are hidden devices as well.
Open device manager, click View at the top, and click "show hidden devices". Those are most often the buggers that crash you.
First - go to services, and stop the plug 'n play service. Leave it set to automatic, though. Then, remove as much as you can, then shut down. Do NOT restart. When you move the HD to the new computer, windows will think it's freshly installed, and plug 'n play will detect as many correct drivers as it possibly can. While it's off, remove any and all hardware devices that require 3rd party or specialized drivers in order to work. (soundcards are the most picky). You can reinstall those devices manually after the OS boots cleanly.

I've yet to run into a computer that crashed when doing this. Give it a shot. It's been a good thing to know and use for me, so hopefully someone else gets good use out of that trick as well.

Good luck! pbxman
Systems Administrator

Please let Tek-Tips members know their posts were helpful.

 

[pangolin]

You should use sysprep.exe which can be found om microsoft.com (Q2757813) and run it just before changing the harddisk.
It's that easy!

 

[pangolin]

Oops, that works if you replace the harddisk in one and the same computer (and are using an image from the old harddisk on the new one).
If it works with the same harddisk to another computer is quite possible, but doesn't have to work, because a lot more has changed then just the harddisk.