"Jim" <jmcconaughey@houston.rr.com> wrote in message
news:469d337c$0$30672$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> Is it OK to install a master hard drive with Windows XP taken from a fried
> computer into a new computer with different hardware?? I did a backup in
> early June, but would like to rescue a few items from it before I do a new
> install of Windows.
Yes, you can do this IF you do a repair install. Otherwise, it's unlikely
to boot at all. You will need to change drivers as soon as you boot
following the repair.
You'd only need to do this if you have to recover items from a running
system. And if it's XP Pro and if the items you needed to recover are
encrypted with EFS, you need the certificate backup diskette, otherwise that
data will be permanently unavailable. If EFS was used and if the diskette
isn't available, do not write anything to that drive - only recover data
from it, do NOT do a repair install. Later, find a way to get very similar
hardware and boot the system as possible, and remove encryption or export
the certificates.
If you don't need a running system to get the data, no need to do the
repair. Simply attach the old drive to the new system, Take Ownership of
the folders you need, and copy the data. Quick and easy!
HTH
-pk