My first reaction was that I couldn't agree with Troy about the hard drive. But Troy is right. A 7200 would be better. So then in that respect I do agree with Troy. I'm just thinking that, if your system has been running gradually slower, that ain't the HD. A few million people using notebooks have no complaints, although sure, technically it's not a fast drive.
Slower over a period of time is almost always your XP install getting increasingly bloated, as it does with Windows Updates + your own additional apps over a period of a long time. And there are the usual speed-decreasers that are taken care of in any list like this:
- CCleaner, almost every time you finish a surfing session
- your built-in Disk Cleanup app, almost as often as you use CCleaner
- TuneUp Utilities 1-Click, set to automatically function at least once a day
- RegSeeker if you like registry cleaners; some folks hate them; some swear by them
- If you run AVG in Guard mode, or Spybot's Tea-Timer, these definitely slow down your system noticeably—but you may prefer slower and safer; your call. If you run any of the internet browser safeguards, those will have a big impact on slowing down your surfing. Personally, I think they exist mainly to record your surfing habits, but again, that's your call.
Anyway, you know all that.
(Er—when was the last time you sped up your mouse speed? One reason systems get slower is because their users get
faster.)
What you suggest is worth the work if you think the work is fun.
It is worth the money if that is what the money is worth to you. Some people here would have to wait 2 years to get $250. Others could shell out $250 on their way home and never even blink.
The system will work, sooner or later. Moving a system disk (system does not mean OS; it means the partition/disk where XP keeps its boot files) onto a new box can go smoothly—or not. You might want to back up your boot.ini and all those, and maybe do some reading. If it tells you it can't find HAL, you should know what to do, because some of those are generic warnings and you have to know enough not to take them literally. Is your i386 file somewhere handy? What if things don't work the way you want them to? Are you prepared to do a clean install? (I would never recommend an over-the-top repair.)
—If you found yourself doing a clean install, is your data backed up?
"But why wouldn't it work?" people say. Well, read what you can
BEFORE you do it, so if it works beautifully, that's nice; and if it doesn't, you're ready for it. Computers have no compassion when their distraught owners are saying, "But it
SHOULD work—in theory."
When you know more than you need to, you're in a very good position. You've learned easily, because you were under no stress. That's my point. But the idea of simply moving your XP hard drive to a very different box—sure, it
should work, just fine, first time.
(The DVD-RW is of almost no concern at all. It is a peripheral; easy as pie.)
Edited by Grongle, 20 October 2009 - 07:48 AM.
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