Disk swap?

Bottom Line: I have a Gateway NX250X running XP and an NX570X running Vista. Can I swap the disk drives in them so that the NX570X is running XP or will this cause problems?

I know it's a strange question but I recently upgraded the memory on my LT20 and had memory left over that enabled me to raise the 570X from 1gb to 1.5gb. This provided a big jump in performance (it was horribly slow before using Vista). The 250X is my main machine but, since the 570 is now kicking its butt in performance, I would like switch but don't want to go through the pain of moving all of my apps etc.

Will this work or will differences in the components (video card, audio card, etc.) cause problems?

Thanks!

 

If the drivers are different, then you would need to install the opposite computers' drivers before switching the drives. Wait a minute. The OSs' default drivers would probably work, so you could switch the drives then install the right ones. This is assuming that the OSs wouldn't try using the wrong drivers. Maybe uninstall the drivers before switching. But make sure it is safe to do so.

 

Thanks for the reply. I agree, since the OSs' are different I don't think I would be able to do it until after the swap. Assuming that it starts in some sort of simple mode (VGA?) that should be possible.

I was going to try it but was worried that the OS might try to change the drivers, or that I would get part way through and give up, and I would some how end up with a drive that didn't work any either machine anymore.

 

You could always back up one of the drives either onto the other one or onto a desktop one using EASEUS Todo Backup before you try it.

 

I think XP is stastic in terms of what drivers it installs and will only run on the machine that it was installed on. I had read something when Vista came out that suggested that the new driver model would be able to accomodate different hardware, so it might work -- I've never tested it.

I think ideally you should have a separate hard drive to perform backups on for all your systems. Backup software is free/cheap.

 

At the least you will most likely have to reactivate windows after swapping drives then maybe install some drivers to make up the difference in the systems.