I'm considering purchasing a "Bare Bones" kit from a major retailer. The kit would include basically everything but the actual drive(s). Not a problem since I currently have a system that I'm wanting to upgrade. My question is, would it be possible to simply pull the primary hard drive from my old system and install it into the new system? A friend of mine said it wouldn't work because the processor and other settings wouldn't match. However, if I set up all drives as they currently are, wouldn't a simple reconfiguration of the setup be sufficient?

Hi cmdecker, and welcome to the PCHF!

Unfortunatly your friend is correct...in a sense.

It's not because of the CPU changing, it's because of the chipset itself.
I've only ever heard of 1 person successfully transfering a hard drive from one chipset to another, and he doesn't even know how he did it.

I'd say back up your files that you want to keep, and then try plugging it in anyway to see if it will work.
If not - no big deal as you've got the backup. If it does...you just saved yourself about 50 minutes.