14 replies to this topic

[roofless]

after a moderately nasty virus one of my PC's wont fire up.
the virus has been neutralised, but 2 dll's to make windows fire up ( even in safe mode ) has been vaporised also.

I know - i'm an ass. I followed an on-line guide to sort the problem and mis-read the last instruction.

question is....................

If I buy a new PC, can i take the hard drive from this one, plug it into the new one and refer to the files on it?

is it that easy?

thanks

[Jammy]

Not if the hard drive contains the operating system. If thats the case the drive will contain drivers that will be specific to your motherboard, or at least the motherboard that was connected to the drive when the OS was installed.

If you know which dlls are missing, its possible to stick them on a floppy and move them into the correct folder using the command prompt. In fact if you have a Windows installation CD you should be able to copy them from that.

Did you not have windows restore check points?

[Roo]

Yesh you can... But you need to be careful the virus isn't still there... and passes over to the new hard drive...

If you go to computer active they will tell you how to go about doing it

believe it needs to be plugged in as a slave drive

Link to computer active.

[Roo]

Not if the hard drive contains the operating system. If thats the case the drive will contain drivers that will be specific to your motherboard, or at least the motherboard that was connected to the drive when the OS was installed.

You can.. my step dad will be linking his hard drive up with an operating program installed onto his current pc.... to move files off.

Edited by Roo, 09 September 2008 - 10:13 PM.

[Jammy]

To do what Roofless asked, as I understand it you can't.

Your talking about taking a hard drive from another computer, that contains the operating system, and installing it in another computer, and booting up from this hard drive?

If so, it can't be done without installing the drivers for the motherboard chipset for the computer into which you install the drive.

[roofless]

the new PC will boot from the new operating system on the new hard-drive.

I just want to reference files from the old hard-drive. like having a secondary slave drive.

there is protection available against the mal-ware, I've just got to make sure its operational before I hook up the drive at a guess.

the virus was more of a maliciuos piece of software, protected itself from removal, and deleted restore points.
got rid of it in the end.

there is just a bunch of files that I shoved on there last week off my mac that didnt get backed up yet and it would be a real shame to loose them.

thanks for the help.

[Jammy]

Still ever so slightly confused. If your just taking a hard drive out of another computer, and putting it in another computer, just to get personal files from it, then it'll work fine. Just make sure you get the jumper settings on the back of the hard drive correct, and you might need to set up the drive in the BIOS, but nearly all relatively new BIOS should automatically detect the correct settings.

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

could you not just download the files for the OS of the microsoft website and make a boot disk?

[Roo]

it'll be fine.. plus if you wanted to operate both systems along side each other there is a software called virtual drive 2007 which will allow you to do it.

[Jammy]

could you not just download the files for the OS of the microsoft website and make a boot disk?

No, that would mean Microsoft giving away their OS for free if they just gave away all their dlls.

[roofless]

I think I've clearly demonstrated the level of my mending computer prowess

the old girl is 5 years old now and showing her age - the machine I'm on is twice as fast and its what the kids use to play on - its well past an up-date and this has kinda prompted me into it.

I think a new dual core puppy with 4 gig o ram would do just nicley for my 3D studio max shennanigans. just need to reference a bunch of files for projects I'm working on right now so speed is of the essence.

once the files are duped across I'll wedge the old drive back in old faithfull and re-format it. It'll come in handy for something.

thanks again guys n gals.

[Ethel]

As long as you didn't have an encrypted file system set up (who does?) and the virus hasn't been munching on the disc's file allocation table you'll be able to read it. Unless you're looking for an excuse to upgrade why not just get a 2nd disc to back up to & install a reserve operating system on?

Outlook and many Email progs encrypt their user folders so try 'n remember to save copies of them every now 'n then even if you're as bad at backing discs up as I am


You could even avoid adding another disc you have something like Partition Magic that will boot of a CD or Floppies.

[Jammy]

Have a look at Norton Ghost if you want to copy whole HDDs.

[Rhyd]

4GB of RAM on a 32bit OS won't be fully utilised. Googlage of "windows xp memory limit" will cast some light on this (64bit is your friend).

If you're planning on using Vista, check that your version of 3DS is compatible.

[Minisniper]

Hiya yes you can put your old HD in your new Pc, so long as your sure the virus has been dealt with I have 3 Pc's and from time to time I do switch my HD's so you will be fine , hope this helps

Minisniper