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How do I migrate Dell XPS Hard Drive with Win-7 To New Dell Workstation ?

dan99t

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Hi,

I just bought a brand new Dell workstation T-7500 without any Pre Installed Winows but only DOS installed.

I have a Dell XPS System with a Hard Drive that has Win-7 installed in its own partition with data in other 4 partitions.

I want to use that hard drive in new workstation.

I tried using it as it is with no luck.

It did something called initializing & some other MPT ROM etc which I know nothing about & then crashed.

I also put in Win 7 DVD to repair windows, but that didn’t help either.

Do I need to format OS Partition & fresh install Windows -7 ?

OR does this new PC needs some kind of initialization OR other stuff ?

I have no knowledge of DOS Commands.

Thanks
 
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Do I need to format OS Partition & fresh install Windows -7 ?

Almost always, the answer is yes. Moving a boot drive from one motherboard to another different one will simply not work.

When Windows installs, it loads many I/O machanisms for BIOS and device types that are part of the motherboard hardware. You move the install to a system with a completely different set, and it goes haywire.

In rare cases, you can boot into safe mode, or do a windows repair but your asking for trouble. A fresh install is the way to go.

Oh and welcome to TPU! :)
 

dan99t

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Almost always, the answer is yes. Moving a boot drive from one motherboard to another different one will simply not work.

When Windows installs, it loads many I/O machanisms for BIOS and device types that are part of the motherboard hardware. You move the install to a system with a completely different set, and it goes haywire.

In rare cases, you can boot into safe mode, or do a windows repair but your asking for trouble. A fresh install is the way to go.

Oh and welcome to TPU! :)

Thank you for a welcome & a very quick reply.

Fresh install is not a problem besides a half day's work with all the apps, I have done it many times.

But do I need to do any kind of initialization or any other DOS related inputs ? OR any kind of fooling around with BIOS etc ? If yes, than I am dead because that is not my cup of tea.
 
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10,881 (1.63/day)
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System Name Senile
Processor I7-4790K@4.8 GHz 24/7
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Memory 16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card(s) GIGABYTE Vega 64
Storage Samsung EVO 500GB / 8 Different WDs / QNAP TS-253 8GB NAS with 2x10Tb WD Blue
Display(s) 34" LG 34CB88-P 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD (3440*1440) *FREE_SYNC*
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Power Supply Corsair HX750
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Keyboard Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
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But do I need to do any kind of initialization or any other DOS related inputs ? OR any kind of fooling around with BIOS etc ? If yes, than I am dead because that is not my cup of tea.

The trick may only be:

1. Verifying that your hard drive is recognised by the system
2. You can boot from the Win 7 DVD (set boot priority in the BIOS)

Both may require some changes to the BIOS. If you have trouble with either, I'll try to help. cheers.

With Win 7 install, you typically wont see any DOS windows.
 

dan99t

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The trick may only be:

1. Verifying that your hard drive is recognised by the system
2. You can boot from the Win 7 DVD (set boot priority in the BIOS)

Both may require some changes to the BIOS. If you have trouble with either, I'll try to help. cheers.

With Win 7 install, you typically wont see any DOS windows.

I have removed the HDD that came with DOS.

I have put in the old HDD with Win -7 in Workstation.

By tapping the F-12, I am able to start Win-7 installation from Winows 7, DVD

Should I go ahead with it ?
 

Kreij

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Do you have all of your data backed up somewhere else?
 
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
10,881 (1.63/day)
Location
Manchester, NH
System Name Senile
Processor I7-4790K@4.8 GHz 24/7
Motherboard MSI Z97-G45 Gaming
Cooling Be Quiet Pure Rock Air
Memory 16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card(s) GIGABYTE Vega 64
Storage Samsung EVO 500GB / 8 Different WDs / QNAP TS-253 8GB NAS with 2x10Tb WD Blue
Display(s) 34" LG 34CB88-P 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD (3440*1440) *FREE_SYNC*
Case Rosewill
Audio Device(s) Onboard + HD HDMI
Power Supply Corsair HX750
Mouse Logitech G5
Keyboard Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
Software Win 10
Do you have all of your data backed up somewhere else?

Good question to ask.

I have removed the HDD that came with DOS.

I have put in the old HDD with Win -7 in Workstation.

By tapping the F-12, I am able to start Win-7 installation from Winows 7, DVD

Should I go ahead with it ?

If you have nothing valuable on the HDD, delete the primary partition, create new, do a quick format (or full if you have the time), then install Windows

It'll need to go through a few reboots during the process and you'll need an activation key.
 

dan99t

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Do you have all of your data backed up somewhere else?

Yes.

I am using a cloned drive.

So experimenting with it is not a problem.

If I can make it work, then I will do it on original drive.

Ok, windows 7 is installed but during restarts, it was showing initializing & some SAS ec then restart.

So after it was completely installed, I shut down the PC & restarted to see if I get those intialcommands & I do. I will have to restart & write down all the DOS Commands it goes thru & tell you in a minute.
 

dan99t

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I restarted seceral times to see those intial commands it displays before starting windows.

It goes something like this :

Dell SAS 6 Host Bus Adapter BIOS

BIOS 6.22.03.00 ( 2008.08.06 )

Press Ctrl-C to run SAS

Initializing

Searching for devices at HBA O....

MPT Boot ROM Successfully installed

All of above without me touching or inputting anything. It shows all that & then Windows-7 starts.

I haven't installed any drivers.

But I am able to run Paint, wordpad etc.

I am able to see l other partitions with all of my data.

So what is going on ?
 

Kreij

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Looks like normal hardware initialization prior to Windows loading.
It's not DOS commands, it's just full screen test reporting as the BIOS goes through its paces prior to loading windows.

My system display stuff like that when it initializes on-board RAID and other BIOS related things.
 

dan99t

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Looks like normal hardware initialization prior to Windows loading.
It's not DOS commands, it's just full screen test reporting as the BIOS goes through its paces prior to loading windows.

My system display stuff like that when it initializes on-board RAID and other BIOS related things.


I never seen anything like that on any of my previous systems.

Why on this only ?
 

Kreij

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Probably because it has things built into the mobo that report on initialization and the other, older systems did not?
Just guessing as I don't know what hardware you are/were using other than they are Dells.
 

dan99t

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Probably because it has things built into the mobo that report on initialization and the other, older systems did not?
Just guessing as I don't know what hardware you are/were using other than they are Dells.

Even old PC XPS 8300 was top of the line with i-7 & H67 chipset with 8 GB DDR3,

New Dell workstation T-7500 has following configuration :

Intel(R) Xeon(R) E5645 2.40GHz, 12M cache, 5.86 GT/s QPI, Turbo, HT, 6C
Intel(R) 5520 Chipset
DOS Factory Installed (English)
Integrated Intel(R) SATA 3.0Gb/s controller with support for RAID
Integrated High Definition Audio
Integrated Broadcom(R) 5761 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
12 500GB 7200 RPM 3.5" SATA Hard Drive 1
Integrated LSI 1068e SAS/SATA 3.0Gb/s controllerGB (6x2GB) DDR3 RDIMM Memory, 1333MHz, ECC
16X max SATA DVD+/-RW with Dual Layer Write Capabilities
Chassis Intrusion Switch
Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24 Monitor with LED
256MB PCIex16 ATI FirePro(TM) 2260 Multi-View, Dual DP, DP-DVI cable x1
AX510 Multi-Media Audio Bar 1
Dell(TM) MS111 USB Optical Mouse 1
Dell Multimedia Pro Keyboard with Detachable Palmrest, English 1

Does it help answer my problem ?
 

Kreij

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I still don't see a problem.
Your system is initializing the HBA, then searching the HBA for devices, then loading from ROM the SCSI (SAS) boot code ... LSI calls it MPT.

I don't see any errors.
 

dan99t

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I still don't see a problem.
Your system is initializing the HBA, then searching the HBA for devices, then loading from ROM the SCSI (SAS) boot code ... LSI calls it MPT.

I don't see any errors.

Don't understand much about what it is doing but your logic makes sense because it is all done in few seconds & then Windows-7 boots. So extra few seconds won't kill me.

Thank You.
 
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