Very old Pentium! to a new Dell Studio

[dunca123]

Pentium 3. I am wondering if anyone can give me any information on how to swap my operating system from my old hard drive to my new one. What are the steps. I am currently running Windows XP. I also need to know how to let the new computer add the hard ware onto the hard drive. Any information is greatly appreciated.

 

[brucethetech]

norton (symantec) ghost. you may be able to find an open source one that can do the same thing. but by far ghost is the most popular

 

[brucethetech]

1. install both drives into the system
2. run the ghost (or other app) utility to duplicate the old drive contents onto the new hard drive
3. remove the old drive and install the new drive as the master hd on that machine.,

but I just saw the hardware you are switching from and to and there is no way that it will work easily
you can try to do the above steps and then repair the windows installation once the new hd is on the system

 

[dunca123]

Thanks

I figured there would be no simple solution. I might just use the operating system that came with the studio, but I really like using XP.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

If you mean moving an OS to a different computer, don't do it.

 

[captaincranky]

What OS is in the Dell? If it's Vista, I see your point about wanting to use XP.

The other course of action would be to bite the cost bullet, and grab an OEM copy of Windows 7.

From personal experience, I avoided Vista like the plague, but Win 7 is pure joy.

 

[dunca123]

I'll use the operating system

Thank you for all the information. The Studio has Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit. I will stick to that, but I still need to transfer all my files over. Do you know a fast and painless way to do that?

 

[captaincranky]

Assuming these old HDDs are IDE, and you should have at least one IDE buss on you Dell motherboard, just jamb the drive(s) in the Dell, then copy and paste you files to the HDDs of the Dell.

I'm not certain whether you optical drives in the Dell are IDE. If that's the case, you'll have to disconnect them to use the cables (& Buss), plus maybe the power supply cables to power the HDDs..

You should post the specs on these relics, just so we can check if they're compatible.

(And I mean "relics" in the nicest possibe way, of course).

I'm guessing that the old Pent 3 machine is only USB 1.0 capable. If swapping the HDDs into the Dell become not feasible, you could use flash drives for the transfer, not difficult, but rather time consuming.

There is also a USB "crossover cable, specifically for this job. I've never used one personally, so I won't comment about their efficacy. Again, I have no idea what these are about but for your perusal;

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812339025

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812120646

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817399018

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812227010