Adding a second HD teomporarily

[infiltrator7]

I need to get some files from my SATA II HD on my computer. This drive has windows xp installed on it. I want to put this drive into my dad's computer temporarily to get some files from it, because my video card is not here. My dad's computer is also running XP and has a spot for another SATA connection. My question is, can i take my HD from my computer and put it into my dad's computer, and not lose any data? I've heard people say that if a HD is added to a new motherboard then the HD has to be reformatted. Also, will XP on both drives conflict with eachother? Thanks in advance

 

[Baez]

ur safest bet would be to get a separate SATA II controller card so that ur mobo and dads OS wouldnt recognize the drive as a drive capable of running windows. then u could transfer files easily. i have a controller in mine and its perfect. windows doesnt recognize it as a HD that could have an OS installed on it. i dont know for sure that both xp's would fight but i wouldnt put it past them

 

[jeremy]

the data will remain intact , however depending on the chipset your dad's pc mobo is based on there might be a detection issue (if the chipset doesnt support sata compatability mode you might have to make a repair install on his hd of course not yours and use the sata controller driver) theres no data loss on a repair install it only replaces windows files all drivers/programs and various other data remains intact and remember a repair install on his hd not yours , on the other hand you can make it easier by buying an sata to ide converter like this
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002FGEAS/002-0389616-4687222?v=glance&n=172282 you can probably find such an adapter for bit less in some places , or an sata to usb adapter , but its really not hard to do a repair install see this guide http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm and if theres no floppy drive on your dad's pc you can just slipstream the driver to the installation using nlite , if your dads hard drive is sata then there will be no detection issues as the driver is alredy got installed with windows or the chipset supports compatabiltiy mode , as for what you *heard* thats true only when you wanna run windows from that hd after moving it to another motherboard and no it wont conflict just make sure the bios boot order is set right

 

[TheMajor]

Just hook it up and it will work. If your BIOS settings are incorrect it could boot from the wrong disk, though, which could cause problems because XP will then try to install drivers for the new motherboard and devices.
So make sure your BIOS is set to boot from your dads disk.

 

[infiltrator7]

ok so as long as i set the bios to boot from my dad's disk there shouldn't be any problem? should i set this after i install the second disk but before windows boots?

 

[TheMajor]

ok so as long as i set the bios to boot from my dad's disk there shouldn't be any problem? should i set this after i install the second disk but before windows boots?

That would be the safest way, yes.

 

[infiltrator7]

ok thanks, i'll try it out and tell you guys how it goes.