How to replace a hard drive without copying it?

If you have Windows 98se or ME the computer may just boot up and the OS will then find all the drivers for the motherboard etc if you have the installation files on the disk( in a directory such as W98, win98 or such). Otherwise you should be able to boot up and when it asks for the windows CD just put it in the drive and it should install all the drivers automatically. You may have to download drivers from various websites if the CD doesn't have them. If you have win 2000 or XP you may have to re-install the OS and in XP's case re-activate it. Most modern bioses recognise the hard disks automatically so you may not have to do anything there. If you have Linux or such - good luck with that!