Migrating windows

[imported_Moses]

I finally got a SATA hardrive and want to move my whole system and its contents from my IDE drive over to the SATA and then make the SATA the master. I really do not want to deal with re-installing windows and all my programs. Now how would I go about doing this?

Also a quick side note: my SATA drive is in the safe removal icon in my start menu, how do I get that to go away? I am never going to remove the drive...

 

[mgob]

use norton ghost to copy the drives, works like a charm

 

[imported_Moses]

Could you please explain the steps involved? I have never used the program, but I am downloading it right now. I will have it in around 50 mins.

 

[birdpup]

All that is needed is a diskcopy utility, which is often provided in the drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility.

[*]Hard Drive Manufacturer Diagnostic Utilities

• Seagate
• Samsung
• Western Digital
• Maxtor
• Fujitsu
• Hitachi
• Everest Diagnostic Software (not confined to any one hard drive manufacturer)

[*]OEM Support Sites

• abs
• Acer
• Asus
• Averatec
• Compaq Support
• Dell Product Support
• Dell 32-bit Diagnostics v1257
• eMachine
• Fujitsu
• Gateway
• Hewlett-Packard
• Lenovo
• Panasonic
• Sharp
• Sony
• Toshiba Support: (Computer Systems & Digital Products) or (Storage Devices)

 

[sivart]

Yes, use the one from the manufacturer. I use Ghost for a backup of my "test system." That way if something goes wrong, I can ghost it back to how it was before the problem. Works better than Windows system restore.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

Be aware thatyou may also have to perform a Boot Sector repair since the hardware address of th SATA drive will likely be differen than the address the IDE drive used (you'll get a blue screen when you boot).

BOOT SECTOR REPAIR:
Boot from the XP Install CD-Rom and choose the "Repair from Recovery Console" option during setup. At the command prompt type FIXBOOT and press the Enter key.

In some cases you may need to perform a Windows Repair install: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

 

[birdpup]

Originally posted by: FlyingPenguin
Be aware thatyou may also have to perform a Boot Sector repair since the hardware address of th SATA drive will likely be differen than the address the IDE drive used (you'll get a blue screen when you boot).

BOOT SECTOR REPAIR:
Boot from the XP Install CD-Rom and choose the "Repair from Recovery Console" option during setup. At the command prompt type FIXBOOT and press the Enter key.

Thank you for this information. You are always providing something new and this is appreciated.

I realized something similar would need to be done to account for the different drivers between the IDE and SATA but I was not sure exactly what is would be. A full repair install seemed too much so I did not mention it.

I will incorporate this into the list I have put together.

 

[imported_Moses]

Well I decided that I would just install windows again because it is always good to have a fresh install especially if I am going to a new HD and especially from IDE to SATA. Thanks to all of you guys who provided this information to me and it will not go unused because I will migrating windows on my other computer.