This has been a tried and true method for Windows because it is finicky with hardware changes without a reinstall (eg BSOD on boot is what happens 9/10 times unless you move to the same hardwar). Surprisingly, if you use a QEMU VM and do a standard install, it has worked in every system I've thrown the drive in afterwards. So the play is this, use a USB SSD, physical SATA drive plugged internally or for convenience, you could use a SATA to USB adapter on another computer to perf........

I took an educated guess because it kept happening at the same spot when loading the XP install. I thought it was the hard drive or motherboard. But it turns out my heavily used but loved NEC 3500 DVD-RW drive was the culprit. After disconnecting it and swapping it for another much beloved Pioneer DVD-RW, everything has gone smoothly. I never ran into this or many issues because I've hardly used this drive since moving it to another Desktop years ago. I actua........