Can you put an Operating System on a blank Hard Drive?

Question

If I 'build' a computer, like on ibuypower.com, but don't select an OS, to save money, can I put Windows XP, Vista, 7, etc. on it myself?/How would I do that?

OR

Could I take a HDD that has XP and easily put that onto my blank HDD? (i.e. Copy files)

Thanks in advance for any help.

Answer 1

if you were just going to copy the content of the hdd that has xp on it by doing the normal copy paste procedure it will not work. the new hdd needs to be formatted in a way that the system will boot on it. you can buy the computer with blank hdd and just install the xp by yourself or whatever operating system you want. you can also use a third party software to copy the whole system from a working computer. that process is called disk CLONING. you can try like acronis true image or partition manager. there are lots of the on the net just search for it.

you can also check my posted topic about installing windows xp using a USB disk. just follow the link.!

MindStuff: XP in your Pocket! http://bit.ly/3BsSXO

Answer 2

you buy the retail version of the os...

try www.thesoftonline.com for windows xp sp3, pretty cheap there while they still have it...

as for wht you ask about copying an os laden hdd, no, it wont work as files are in use that windows needs ot operate and you can't copy them while in use.

feel free to emai/ask more if you like

Answer 3

You could put an operating system on a blank hard drive, however it wouldn't be blank anymore :P



Seriously though, buy a cd for whatever os you want and follow the directions.