New Hard Drive, new OS

[leespooner]

i've just got a new hard drive and want to install a new operating system on it.
But i also want to copy over the contents off of my old hard drive, which also contains an OS.
What is the procedure for a sucessful transfer, without the 2 OS clashing.
Thanks
Lee

 

[SNGX1275]

IDE or SATA?

Assuming IDE, Disconnect old hd, set new one to master, connect it, install Windows.

After that you have a couple options, 1 connect old hd as slave, copy files over by hand. Or if your new OS is XP (Vista probably has this too) you can use the File and Settings Transfer Wizard to get the files. If your old OS isn't XP you will need to run File and Settings Transfer Wizard from within your new OS (XP or probably Vista) so it can create an executable to run on your old OS, if its Windows.

If your old OS was XP, you can disconnect your new hd, boot into old OS (by leaving it as master) and run the Wizard, saving the file on the HD. Then shut down, switch jumper over to Slave, connect in and boot up with new hd/new OS (as master) and then run the File and Settings Transfer Wizard and find the file on your old hd.

File and Settings Transfer Wizard took a lot of text to explain, but it is far simplier if the option is available.

Basically the biggest thing is Master vs Slave, and that isn't an issue with SATA drives. You could also run into ownership problems, but those are easily taken care of. Do a forum search for "Take Ownership" if you run into those issues.

 

[Char_X]

Hello! I think the easiest (but not the cheapest=)) way is to use backup imaging software like Ghost or True Image. I prefer True Image for backup and in your case True Image is better. True Image has a feature PC cloning that will easily transfer your data from old drive to the new one. Good luck!

 

[leespooner]

thanks for the replies
well, my new hard drive is sata, and the old is ide,
can i copy the drive including the OS onto the new drive, and use the copied OS instead,
I've got norton ghost and tried copying the drive over, but when i disconected the IDe, and set the Sata as primary boot, it displayed a message saying no operating system installed.
What do i have to do to get it to work,
Thanks
Lee

 

[Char_X]

Ghost is not designed for transferring data in case of an upgrade. But I think if you'll spend some time searching for the Ghost-solution you'll find it.

P.S.: Why can't you leave the OS on the old drive and transfer all other data to the new drive?

 

[leespooner]

well wen i turn the pc on, i get a warning message saying:
'pri master hard disk: smart status bad, backup and replace'
so i am trying to.
I'm not sure what this message really means, and i suppose i could leave the OS on that drive, but i dont want it to stop working on me.
Any thoughts

 

[Char_X]

'pri master hard disk: smart status bad, backup and replace'

This message means that your hard disk is bad or is going to fail soon. So you need to transfer your data to the new drive as soon as you can.

SMART is a BIOS utility which let you know when the hard drive is
defective.

 

[leespooner]

yea, but ive been having it for months
but regardless of that, cant ghost copy the OS?
i basically need to know, if i can copy my OS over to the new hard drive, and run off that