Are they the sameee?

BuckNekkid · 05-21-2012, 10:34 AM

Mornin' from the Radio Ranch!

Yes, this is a WINDBLOW$ question, but it also has Linux in it as well, LOL! I have this Dell 2400 desktop with Dell XP on it. My wife has a Sony Vaio desktop with Sony XP on it. If I take the wife's computer hard drive and put it as the "slave drive", will it be compatible with the Dell 2400's XP? If not then I'll just load Xbuntu 10.4 on the Dell and get an after-market power supply for the Sony so the wife can get all her "songs" she spent good money for and I'll have her old SONY as a WIN XP HOME computer to
do things with.

.

Yeah, I weird, LOL!

Respectfully submitted,
Regards,

Buck/KA5LQJ

Doc CPU · 05-21-2012, 10:43 AM

Hi there,

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuckNekkid

I have this Dell 2400 desktop with Dell XP on it. My wife has a Sony Vaio desktop with Sony XP on it.

apart from the branding (a DELL or SONY logo here and there), the OEM Windows's are the same. The drivers for the system components included on the OEM CDs are different, however.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuckNekkid

If I take the wife's computer hard drive and put it as the "slave drive", will it be compatible with the Dell 2400's XP?

Yes, of course. You're not booting off that disk, so it's irrelevant that there is another Windows installation on it. It's a perfectly normal HDD, probably a regular 2½" SATA drive.
But does your notebook have a second drive bay? If not, you'll have to connect it through a USB/SATA adapter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuckNekkid

If not then I'll just load Xbuntu 10.4 on the Dell and get an after-market power supply for the Sony so the wife can get all her "songs" she spent good money for and I'll have her old SONY as a WIN XP HOME computer to do things with.

I don't have to understand that, do I? .oO(?)

[X] Doc CPU

allend · 05-21-2012, 10:51 AM

There should be no problems accessing files from the wife's computer hard drive if fitted as a slave drive. Just do not try to boot from it!
If your wife has an Apple iTunes library, then check how to migrate an iTunes library so that copy protection keys are preserved.

TroN-0074 · 05-21-2012, 10:59 AM

Yes, you can add the hard drive from the Sony to your Dell if the motherboard has the right connection (IDE or SATA) on it.
But you wont be able to use XP from the Sony Hard Drive. Your Dell will still boot from its primary hard drive (Unless you change the order on its BIOS, but you don't want to do that)
You will need a data cable and the power supply installed in dell should handle the connection for and additional hard drive.
So yo will be able to see the list of files in the Sony Hard Drive and you will be able to save them to an external device and format the new hard drive.

Good luck to you, and let us know how you did with this project.