HD question

[Dan Conrad]

I have an asus P4S800D-X MB running XP SP3 with 80 G IDE hard drives.
Want to switch to a 250G SATA. Once I load OS -- how do I migrate
programs from old hard drive so do not have to reload everything? Thanks.

 

[inavlis]

Hi Dan,

I am afraid you have got to get a migration software like Acronis or CA DNA
and such.

 

[Bob I]

Once you load an OS you HAVE to reload everything, all the install files
and registry entries have to be put in place and that's what the install
program does.

 

[Billy Buddusky]

I have an asus P4S800D-X MB running XP SP3 with 80 G IDE hard drives.
Want to switch to a 250G SATA. Once I load OS -- how do I migrate
programs from old hard drive so do not have to reload everything? Thanks.

Good luck. Start reloading now.

OR... clone the old to the new.

 

[Anna]

I have an asus P4S800D-X MB running XP SP3 with 80 G IDE hard drives. Want
to switch to a 250G SATA. Once I load OS -- how do I migrate programs from
old hard drive so do not have to reload everything? Thanks.

Dan:
In another post you've indicated that you want (or at least are planning) to
upgrade your processor from its present P4 2.4 GHz to possibly a 3.2 GHz
one.

So I would guess re the processor that this would be an expenditure of
roughly $70. (If you do go that route may I suggest that you purchase a
*new* processor, not a "refurbished" one. Those processors are fast
disappearing from the market.)

Your motherboard, while not exactly ancient, isn't exactly state-of-the-art
as you know. On the other hand I've worked with quite a few of those ASUS
models in years gone by and found them quite reliable. But I'm wondering
whether you'll get enough "bang-for-the-buck" through the processor upgrade.

I do hope you have at least 512 MB of RAM in that system.

As you also probably know, your motherboard is SATA-I (not SATA-II capable).
Still, you *could* purchase a SATA-II HDD and shouldn't have any problems
with it since it should be backwards capable and at the most you would have
to jumper the drive for the 1.5 GB/s interface. I would advise you to
purchase a SATA-II model anyway so that you can at least use it in the
future if & when you upgrade your system to a new one or purchase (or build)
a completely new system.

So I suppose you're talking about another $50 for a 250 GB or larger
capacity HDD. (I see newegg is selling a 320 GB HDD for $50).

So all-in-all we're talking about an expenditure of about $125. Is there any
chance that you might consider a *new* off-the-shelf system (or one you
could build)? I see the prices at our local Office & mass-merchandise stores
for desktop PCs has dramatically fallen to the point where one can purchase
a decent system for not much more than $300 or so. And they seem to be
coming equipped with a substantial amount of RAM - more & more 2 GB seems to
be the standard from what I've seen. And a very large-capacity HDD (SATA-II)
as well. (Sans monitor & printer of course, but you have those already,
right?). And a new up-to-date system will really be a substantial
improvement over your current one performance-wise. Anyway, something to
consider if you can swing it.
Anna

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have an asus P4S800D-X MB running XP SP3 with 80 G IDE hard drives.
Want to switch to a 250G SATA. Once I load OS -- how do I migrate
programs from old hard drive so do not have to reload everything? Thanks.

If you reinstall Windows, you also have to reinstall all your
programs.

You can not do what you want to do, unless, instead of reinstalling
Windows, you clone it to the new hard drive.

 

[Lil' Dave]

Dan:
In another post you've indicated that you want (or at least are planning)
to upgrade your processor from its present P4 2.4 GHz to possibly a 3.2
GHz one.

So I would guess re the processor that this would be an expenditure of
roughly $70. (If you do go that route may I suggest that you purchase a
*new* processor, not a "refurbished" one. Those processors are fast
disappearing from the market.)

Your motherboard, while not exactly ancient, isn't exactly
state-of-the-art as you know. On the other hand I've worked with quite a
few of those ASUS models in years gone by and found them quite reliable.
But I'm wondering whether you'll get enough "bang-for-the-buck" through
the processor upgrade.

I do hope you have at least 512 MB of RAM in that system.

As you also probably know, your motherboard is SATA-I (not SATA-II
capable). Still, you *could* purchase a SATA-II HDD and shouldn't have any
problems with it since it should be backwards capable and at the most you
would have to jumper the drive for the 1.5 GB/s interface. I would advise
you to purchase a SATA-II model anyway so that you can at least use it in
the future if & when you upgrade your system to a new one or purchase (or
build) a completely new system.

Anna

There are some SATA-II hard drives that wont backstep to SATA-I. No jumper,
no built-in nothing for backstepping. SATA-II only. Safest way to shop for
SATA-I compatiblility is find one with a jumper for such on a SATA-II.

The safest way to implement SATA on an awkward motherboard like this is to
enbable the SATA controller in the bios with nothing connected to SATA and
let XP do it's thing installing the drivers. Bear in mind that the SATA
will be masked as ide anyway by the bios. ONLY one ide controller and SATA
can be enabled, OR both ide controllers. Not all of them. This will
increment for activation potential. If needed, he could do it at that point
in time. Next step would be a simple image of the ide drive for use on the
SATA drive.

SATA-I is 150 MB/sec nominally. SATA-II is twice that.

 

[Anna]

There are some SATA-II hard drives that wont backstep to SATA-I. No
jumper, no built-in nothing for backstepping. SATA-II only. Safest way
to shop for SATA-I compatiblility is find one with a jumper for such on a
SATA-II.

The safest way to implement SATA on an awkward motherboard like this is to
enbable the SATA controller in the bios with nothing connected to SATA and
let XP do it's thing installing the drivers. Bear in mind that the SATA
will be masked as ide anyway by the bios. ONLY one ide controller and
SATA can be enabled, OR both ide controllers. Not all of them. This will
increment for activation potential. If needed, he could do it at that
point in time. Next step would be a simple image of the ide drive for use
on the SATA drive.

SATA-I is 150 MB/sec nominally. SATA-II is twice that.

Dave:
Of all the major brands of consumer desktop SATA-II HDDs available here in
the U. S. (Hitachi, Maxtor, Samsung, Seagate, Western Digital), which if I
had to guess account for probably 90% or better of consumer purchases, only
the Hitachi brand (insofar as I know) is *not* equipped with the 1.5 GB/s
data interface limitation, i.e., no jumper configuration covering that.

I've installed (or been involved with the installation process) of more than
a hundred SATA-II (3 GB/s data interface) HDD's in systems where the
motherboard supported only the SATA-I 1.5 GB/s data interface (such as the
OP's motherboard). In only a small handful of cases (I would guess perhaps
not more than 1/2 dozen cases) did we even find a problem involving the
backwards compatibility of any SATA-II HDD that was installed with reference
to the SATA data interface.

When, in the rare event, we *did* encounter the problem, the SATA-II HDD was
jumpered accordingly.

In the case of the Hitachi, I can't recall a single instance where we ran
into a problem along the lines we're discussing. In every case the Hitachi
SATA-II HDD proved backwards compatible with a motherboard that supported
only SATA-I. Admittedly I haven't had extensive experience installing
Hitachi SATA-II HDDs in systems that had only SATA-I capability.

You infer that your experience has been different. If so, (should you
recall) could you point me to the specific make/model of a SATA-II HDD (and
the make/model of the motherboard) where you encountered this
incompatibility?
Anna

 

[Anna]

Of all the major brands of consumer desktop SATA-II HDDs available here in
the U. S. (Hitachi, Maxtor, Samsung, Seagate, Western Digital), which if I
had to guess account for probably 90% or better of consumer purchases,
only the Hitachi brand (insofar as I know) is *not* equipped with the 1.5
GB/s data interface limitation, i.e., no jumper configuration covering
that.

I've installed (or been involved with the installation process) of more
than a hundred SATA-II (3 GB/s data interface) HDD's in systems where the
motherboard supported only the SATA-I 1.5 GB/s data interface (such as the
OP's motherboard). In only a small handful of cases (I would guess perhaps
not more than 1/2 dozen cases) did we even find a problem involving the
backwards compatibility of any SATA-II HDD that was installed with
reference to the SATA data interface.

When, in the rare event, we *did* encounter the problem, the SATA-II HDD
was jumpered accordingly.

In the case of the Hitachi, I can't recall a single instance where we ran
into a problem along the lines we're discussing. In every case the Hitachi
SATA-II HDD proved backwards compatible with a motherboard that supported
only SATA-I. Admittedly I haven't had extensive experience installing
Hitachi SATA-II HDDs in systems that had only SATA-I capability.

You infer that your experience has been different. If so, (should you
recall) could you point me to the specific make/model of a SATA-II HDD
(and the make/model of the motherboard) where you encountered this
incompatibility?
Anna

Dave:
This is an addendum (actually a correction!) to my post above...

I did neglect to mention that the WD line of SATA-II HDDs are also not
equipped with the 1.5 GB/s interface limitation jumper configuration.

I think the reason I failed to mention the WD drive as well as the Hitachi
one was that I honestly couldn't ever recall a problem with the WD SATA-II
model that was installed in a system where the motherboard was *only* SATA-I
capable (at least with respect to the issue under discussion).

The last shop I worked in carried only Seagate's and Samsungs as a general
proposition unless the customer opted for a different make. So I hadn't had
much experience with the WD line (insofar as installing new WD SATA-II HDDs)
for some time.

And in virtually every case where we installed either a Seagate or Samsung
the default jumper configuration of 3 GB/s interface was untouched even when
installing the disk in a system having only SATA-I capability.

As I'm sure you know, SATA-I drives are fast disappearing from the popular
online vendors. And AFAIK they've already disappeared from the "Office" &
mass-merchandise retail stores.

I also did want to make it clear re my last post that the info I provided
was based solely on my own experience involving the issue at hand. I learned
a long time ago in this business (at least try) to expunge the words
"always" & "never" when it comes to discussing issues & problems affecting
PCs.
Anna