No, they would have to be the same make of computers.

You can try it, but I doubt that it will boot up.

They are the same maker, (gateway).
But each computer has different specs. One has a faster processor than the other is about it.

Thanks, Neal

Neal,
It should work then.
You'll know right away if the computer reads the master boot record (MBR) on the partition and it boots.
If it does bootup and windows sees to many changes, it'll want you to reactive the windows copy.
I regularly switch a harddrive between a Emachine T2200 and a Emachine T2605 with no problems at all.

Since they're both Gateways, you should have success.

Maybe you can and maybe you can't. It all depends on what you are trying to do with the operating system. If you are swaping hard drives and starting over treating the upgraded computer as a new system and re-installing everything, it should be ok so long as the hard drive is compatible with the upgraded computer. However, if you are trying to pull a fast one by taking the hard drive with its operating system from the first computer to the second computer, there will probably be problems.

If all that you want to do is to swap drives, try the procedure below.

This assumes that you have only one hard drive in the second computer, or that the operating system and all installed programs are installed on one drive. It also assumes that we are dealing with s desktop, not a laptop, since we will be connecting two hard drives to the computer.

We are going to copy an image of your present system onto the new drive, then physically install the new drive in place of the old one. This requires opening the computer case.

1. You can temporarily install the new drive in one of the empty bays of your computer using only one or two mounting screws to hold it in place, or connect it up with it sitting loose on the table next to the computer. To protect from shorts, tape an insulator across the exposed circuit board (of the hard drive) to keep it from accidentally making contact with the case or yourself. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE LOOSE CONNECTION METHOD EXCEPT FOR EXPERIENCED COMPUTER TECHNICANS.

2. Connect the IDE data cable to both dirves and connect power leads to both drives. Set the jumpers to make the original disk the master with the new disk as slave. (When a computer has only one drive, there may not have been any jumpers on the drive. You will need jumpers when connecting 2 drives.) The computer will boot from the master drive.

You may be reqired to format the new disk. You can use the quick format for this. However, it may be a good idea at this time to perform a surface scan of the new drive to head off potential problems with any bad sectors if present. I have seen new hard drives right out of the box that had bad sectors that had not been marked off.

3. Use a utility such as "Drive Copy" to copy an image of your computer to the new drive. (This is more than a simple copy. It will be an image of the operating system and all files on the source disk copied to the destination disk.) After the image transfer is complete, disconnect and remove the original hard drive, and then install the new hard drive. Change its jumper to master and if all went well, it should work.

4. If you can't get it to work, put the original drive back making sure its jumper is set to Master and you should be back where you started. That's the beauty with this method: You can return to the old hardware and system so long as you did not destroy any files on the suorce disk.

By the way, the old disk can be installed as a...

Thanks for the detailed post jemdandy, What is (or would be) the benefit of using a second drive (or slave). I've always been curious about that. I have lots of computer parts lying around but I've never really hooked up a slave for any reason.

BTW, I already pulled the "fast one" and it works but now I have one day left to register my copy of xp.
See link

Thanks, Neal

Here is a link that might be useful: reregister xp

Using a second hard drive inside your computer offers 2 advantages and 2 setbacks that I see.

The advantage is additional storage and the ability to save personal data on 2 separate drives in case one goes bad

The 2 disadvantages are an increased hydro bill, not great but still a fact. You can of course offset this by setting your hard drives to go off after a given number of minutes of inactivity The other is more heat generated inside your tower. Try to leave a space between the 2 drives to allow air to pass over both.

Hi Owbist, I'm not sure I know what you mean when you say "hydro bill" Are you meaning electricity? As for heat, does the hdd really produce any heat? I didn't realize they produced much heat at all.

So if I have two hooked up I can have an icon on my desktop for using for storage etc? So I need to have a jumper then? Whats the configuration of the jumper?
What would the second drive be called? A slave is that right?

Thanks for the explanation, Neal

Neal it is surprising how much heat a hard drive can generate. They are quite warm to the touch and of course any heat added to an already warm environment creates a potential for problems. Of course if the tower is well ventilated then all will be well with a second drive.

Yes the 'hydro bill' is your electricity charges.

To set up a second drive we will assume you already have one hard drive set as the master on the primary IDE ribbon cable and the CD/DVD player set as the slave on that cable.

You will need an 80 wire ribbon cable (that wide grey one you see in there already) and your hard drive. Ensure the jumper on the hard drive is set to 'Master'. The jumper pins are located between the power connection and the ribbon cable connector. The label will show you which 2 pins to use the jumper on.

Remove both sides of the tower, shut down and remove the power cable from the rear of the tower. (Newer motherboards stay live even when the power switch is set to 'off' and you do not need that. You may see a LED light on the motherboard) Look where the current hard drive is, move it up or down if necessary for space.

When working inside a computer case be sure to keep your bare arm or wrist resting on the metal frame to avoid static electricity. Slide the new drive in a slot and secure with 4 screws.

Attach your grey 80 wire ribbon cable to the secondary connector on the motherboard being sure the coloured edge goes to pin #1. Probably the Primary and secondary are side by side so just copy the one already there. There is also a groove in the connection on the motherboard making it almost impossible to do this wrong. Then attach the middle connector on the ribbon cable to the hard drive with the coloured edge towards the power connector. Connect the 4 wire power cord to the hard drive.

Take a few seconds to review your work, connect the power to your computer and start it.

If you are unsure of anything I have written be sure to ask before moving forward. You can remove the sides and have a look around while the computer is running but keep your fingers out till after you shut down.

Another consideration is whether or not both drives are ATA and not a mix of ATA and SATA