RealGM

i gotta virus on the pc i use, tried repairing windows but that wont work so i have to reformat everything. i backed up most of my files before all this happened, but i have a buncha new stuff i d/l'ed. since i cant use the computer w/o reformatting, i was thinking if it'd be possible for me to take the hardrive out and put it in an older computer.

the old computer is win98, i use it as a backup (on it right now), its not that bad at all but it is old. would i be able to take my hardrive out of my computer and put it in the old computer? w/ all the files intact? 250gb hd btw

Win98, wow. I think you can. Work in XP. I just don't have much memory using Win98.

i gotta 12gb hd and a 75hd on my old comp

roxfashoballin wrote:i gotta 12gb hd and a 75hd on my old comp

wait a minute, i think older version of windows can't detect harddrive larger than 1xxgb, so your 250gb is a problem
i remember my old xp one can't detect 200gb hard drive

roxfashoballin wrote::(

i remember i have to update to xp sp2 to able to detect hd larger than 1xxgb
don't think microsoft give support to win98 at that time
it's best to buy a new hard drive to put in your pc to reinstall window
then put in your 250gb harddrive in your pc to get your files back

how would that work. dont all hardrives need to be formatted?

if it can work, wat about reformatting w/ the 75gb, then put in the 250gb after? would that work?

roxfashoballin wrote:how would that work. dont all hardrives need to be formatted?

if it can work, wat about reformatting w/ the 75gb, then put in the 250gb after? would that work?

yes

- I seriously hate restore disks. Stupid things never seem to work, and install loads of software that I'd never want when they do.
- Invest in multilicense windows 7 or buy a used win2k/xp disk off craigslist/ebay/half/whatever
- XP can detect a 200gb hard drive, I was using a 1 tb hard drive on mine. I don't know how big 98 supports, but a quick google search should say.
- Formatting a hard drive just sets it to its blank, factory-released state (kinda).
- I don't recommend downloading warez-ed applications, if that's what you were doing.

It kinda depends what virus you have. I believe lots of viruses can get in the boot sector, then when you plug in the drive, BEWM you have another infected drive.

Personally, I'd attempt to clean the virus for a few days (which would probably turn into a couple months while I procrastinated, as it's not the most fun or least time-consuming of tasks...), then plug the 250gb drive into an external drive case, pull the files I wanted, then either .... delete most of the 250 drive's files from windows explorer, check the registries and boot locations and some other crap on both PCs, and virus scan the hell of out of it, .... or format the thing, reinstall windows to it, copy the old files back over, plug it back in the new pc, then plug the 75 in as well, just for fun.

Note that I also tend to end up buying lots of new hardware whenever my PC fails.
Fixing stuff like this is typically a colossal PITA.
(it doesn't help me that I run mine in a multiple mirrored RAID configuration - and HAD been attempting to run Windows off a striped drive [which is a HYOOOJ mistake, FYI] )