Using old HDD??

Hey i have a question, I am builindg my first PC. I have everything picked out and ready to go, the only thing i am wondering is can i use my old HDD from ym current pc and just simply put it in the new pc im building. i want to do this to obviously save all my files without haveing to back them up, save money on purchasing a new hard drive, and save money on purchasing a new OS. Will this work?

What OS are you using?

If your running windows 7, i think you need to perform a clean install when you change your mobo

Windows 7 professional. the only problem is that it was purchased as a student upgrade from Vista so i do not have a CD or anything. the only thing i have is the product ID number, however, when i went to check out microsoft support page they asked for my product ID. I typed it in and was given a prompt that the ID i typed in was no longer valid.

To reuse your drives, you have to check if your old drives are IDE or SATA, all new computers uses SATA. Most new mobo don't have IDE ports. In all cases, you don't need to erease your data but you will need to reinstall your o/s on top of the old one, so make sure you still have the discs.masterdrat

the HDD and mobo are going to work together that was the first thing i checked into. the issue is that i dont have a cd it was download off microsoft website.

Then it was preinstalled, the installation files are on a different partition on your drive or something.masterdrat

what do you mean?

http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/hp-pavilion-a6757c-phenom/1707-3118_7-33778670.html

the specs are listed ont he side

From this info, you can create recovery disks but it might not work on a different pc: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01895783&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=1842155#WhenCreatemasterdrat

it could work possibly, the only thing is a serial key which not so intelligent me cannot seem to find. this has become such a head ache i may just buy a new HDD and a copy of windows for the build

since i have your attention how do you feel about this build?

video card:radeon hd 6850 1024MB GDDR5

mobo: GA-p67X-UD3-B3 LGA 1155 P67 ATX Intel

ram: XMS3 8GB DDR3 1600

cpu: i5 2500k