SATA Replacement

I've done a bit of searching but my questions still remain.

I have a Dell 4700 with a 40g hard drive. I have a new Seagate 320g drive waiting to go in. What I'd like to do is make the new drive the primary - run XP from there and use the old drive for storing other stuff. What is going to be my best bet on doing this? I do want to move most of the contents from the old drive to the new. Thanks!!!

 

You'll need some type of 'imaging' software to copy the entire 40gb to the new 320gb. Many people swear by Acronis. Personally, I use Norton Ghost, but neither are free. Free imaging (or 'cloning') software is available on the Ultimate Boot CD; a free collection of diagnostic tools and other programs that is worth it's weight on platinum. Download it from: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ and all the info on how to burn the CD is right there too. It's easy! Also, look at the data backup downloads here at Major Geeks.

hopperdave2000

 

Intersesting I read 2 different version on how to do this. One was using the imaging software and the other was to remove the old drive, install new with a fresh copy of XP on it, then reinstall old drive, move files and reinstall software.

Does the image burning software copy the operating system over too? I'm assuming everything will be fully functional??? Seems a lot easier than the other way. Are there any problems that go with the image method?

 

The imaging software basically 'photocopies' the old drive onto the new drive. When you boot to the new drive, the PC will start up exactly as it did with the old drive: all your programs, documents, shortcuts, favorites, etc will all be there. You can do it the other way (clean install on the new drive, slave the old drive and copy from it to the new one), but you won't be able to copy the programs over, only docs and favorites. Technically, you can copy the programs and shortcuts, but 95% of 'em won't run. I won't get into the technical reasons why, but it has to do with file associations, file locations, etc....

hopperdave2000