Transferring to a new computer. Will this work?

[Bruce Chastain]

I wish to move my entire Windows XP Home boot volume from an old computer to
a new computer (not yet purchased).

The new computer will be radically different. SATA harddrives and optical
drives instead of PATA. PCI Express video instead of AGP. Core 2 Dual
instead of a Pentium 3. SATA optical drive instead of PATA.

My plan is to

1) Use Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to create an image backup
file of the old computer boot drive to an external USB hard drive.

2) Move the external USB hard drive to the new computer and again use
Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to restore the drive image to the
new boot drive.

3) Boot from the Windows CD (already slipstreamed with SP2) and do a Repair
Installation of Windows.

Does this sound like a workable plan?

Thanks for your advice.
Bruce.

 

[RJK]

Bad plan, install from scratch !

regards, Richard

 

[Rock]

I wish to move my entire Windows XP Home boot volume from an old computer
to a new computer (not yet purchased).

The new computer will be radically different. SATA harddrives and
optical drives instead of PATA. PCI Express video instead of AGP. Core 2
Dual instead of a Pentium 3. SATA optical drive instead of PATA.

My plan is to

1) Use Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to create an image backup
file of the old computer boot drive to an external USB hard drive.

2) Move the external USB hard drive to the new computer and again use
Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to restore the drive image to the
new boot drive.

3) Boot from the Windows CD (already slipstreamed with SP2) and do a
Repair Installation of Windows.

Does this sound like a workable plan?

At the minimum that's what it will take. A repair install might not do it,
though. You might end up having to do a clean install.

 

[Cliff Wild]

I wish to move my entire Windows XP Home boot volume from an old
computer to a new computer (not yet purchased).

The new computer will be radically different. SATA harddrives and
optical drives instead of PATA. PCI Express video instead of AGP. Core 2
Dual instead of a Pentium 3. SATA optical drive instead of
PATA.
My plan is to

1) Use Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to create an image
backup file of the old computer boot drive to an external USB hard
drive.
2) Move the external USB hard drive to the new computer and again use
Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to restore the drive image to
the new boot drive.

3) Boot from the Windows CD (already slipstreamed with SP2) and do a
Repair Installation of Windows.

Does this sound like a workable plan?

Thanks for your advice.
Bruce.

I used a rather old version of Ghost to write an image to the second drive
then installed that drive in the new system and booted. The both were Intel
one was p4 2.4 the new one was P4 630 Dual core. Everything went well as I
reactivated it over the phone and have been using it fine for 6 months or
so. New system 100% new hardware. The old drive was an 80 Gig and the new
one is a 300Gig.

Cliff

 

[Anna]

I wish to move my entire Windows XP Home boot volume from an old computer
to a new computer (not yet purchased).

The new computer will be radically different. SATA harddrives and
optical drives instead of PATA. PCI Express video instead of AGP. Core 2
Dual instead of a Pentium 3. SATA optical drive instead of PATA.

My plan is to

1) Use Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to create an image backup
file of the old computer boot drive to an external USB hard drive.

2) Move the external USB hard drive to the new computer and again use
Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to restore the drive image to the
new boot drive.

3) Boot from the Windows CD (already slipstreamed with SP2) and do a
Repair Installation of Windows.

Does this sound like a workable plan?

Thanks for your advice.
Bruce.

Bruce:
Your plan is "doable" but assuming you've had some experience with the
innards of a PC, a more straightforward approach (assuming this is a desktop
PC) would be to simply install your "old' HDD in the new machine and clone
the contents of that drive to the new one. Then disconnect the old HDD and
boot to your new HDD. It probably won't boot and as you suspect you probably
will need to run a Repair install - but it's worth a try.

Following the successful disk cloning operation and the successful boot &
functioning of the new HDD, (no doubt you'll need to install necessary
drivers), you can reconnect the old HDD if you want to keep it in the
machine as a secondary internal HDD or remove it if you have other plans for
it.

On the other hand, if you're uncomfortable with the thought of getting
inside your
desktop PC to make the necessary connects & disconnects, then your plan is
fine.

There's always the chance that the Repair install (for one reason or
another) will fail. So be prepared to undertake a fresh install of the OS
should that be necessary.

We're assuming in all this that there are no OEM considerations affecting
your new PC that might have a bearing in transferring the contents of your
old HDD to the new machine.
Anna

 

[Kerry Brown]

I wish to move my entire Windows XP Home boot volume from an old computer
to a new computer (not yet purchased).

The new computer will be radically different. SATA harddrives and
optical drives instead of PATA. PCI Express video instead of AGP. Core 2
Dual instead of a Pentium 3. SATA optical drive instead of PATA.

My plan is to

1) Use Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to create an image backup
file of the old computer boot drive to an external USB hard drive.

2) Move the external USB hard drive to the new computer and again use
Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to restore the drive image to the
new boot drive.

3) Boot from the Windows CD (already slipstreamed with SP2) and do a
Repair Installation of Windows.

Does this sound like a workable plan?

Thanks for your advice.
Bruce.

That should work fine. As has been mentioned a clean install is more work
but probably a better approach.

 

[Bruce Chastain]

I used a rather old version of Ghost to write an image to the second drive
then installed that drive in the new system and booted. The both were
Intel one was p4 2.4 the new one was P4 630 Dual core. Everything went
well as I reactivated it over the phone and have been using it fine for 6
months or so. New system 100% new hardware. The old drive was an 80 Gig
and the new one is a 300Gig.

Interesting. Thanks for your experience!

Bruce.

 

[Bruce Chastain]

Your plan is "doable" but assuming you've had some experience with the
innards of a PC, a more straightforward approach (assuming this is a
desktop PC) would be to simply install your "old' HDD in the new machine
and clone the contents of that drive to the new one. Then disconnect the
old HDD and boot to your new HDD. It probably won't boot and as you
suspect you probably will need to run a Repair install - but it's worth a
try.

Yes, I've had lots of PC hardware experience and am very comfortable inside
a PC.

The reason why I was planning the external USB drive is because I think some
of the new motherboards I might buy no longer have PATA ports on them.
However, you are absolutely right. If the board has a PATA port on it that
works without a special driver, I'll hook up the old drive and do a clone
instead.

There's always the chance that the Repair install (for one reason or
another) will fail. So be prepared to undertake a fresh install of the OS
should that be necessary.

I'm really hoping that won't be necessary. It would complicate this project
a 1000 fold.

We're assuming in all this that there are no OEM considerations affecting
your new PC that might have a bearing in transferring the contents of your
old HDD to the new machine.

Good point, and correct. The old PC is one I built scratch from parts.

Thanks very for your advice.

Bruce.

 

[Bruce Chastain]

That should work fine. As has been mentioned a clean install is more work
but probably a better approach.

I know but a lot of the installed software has been lost over the years.
Doing a fresh install would add several hundred $ to the project.

Thanks.

Bruce.

 

[Anna]

Yes, I've had lots of PC hardware experience and am very comfortable inside
a PC.

The reason why I was planning the external USB drive is because I think some
of the new motherboards I might buy no longer have PATA ports on them.
However, you are absolutely right. If the board has a PATA port on it that
works without a special driver, I'll hook up the old drive and do a clone
instead.
(SNIP)
Thanks very for your advice.
Bruce.


Bruce:
We haven't come across *any* new motherboard that didn't contain at least
one IDE connector (I assume that's what you meant by "PATA port") so you can
rest easy about that. And no "special driver" will be necessary re
recognition of a PATA HDD.

Good luck.
Anna

 

[Bruce Chastain]

Bruce:
We haven't come across *any* new motherboard that didn't contain at least
one IDE connector (I assume that's what you meant by "PATA port") so you
can rest easy about that. And no "special driver" will be necessary re
recognition of a PATA HDD.

This is the reference that worried me. I had been considering an ASUS P5B
motherboard but found this in a review:

"It is very important to notice that the single ATA/133 port available on
this motherboard is controlled by the JMicron chip, not by the chipset. This
means that if you still have a parallel IDE optical drive it will only be
recognized on Windows after you install JMicron's driver. The problem is
that this driver comes on the motherboard CD-ROM, and you won't be able to
install it, as the system does not recognize your optical drive. You can
download the driver from the net, however the driver for the on-board LAN
port is also on the CD-ROM. The only option you have is to copy the JMicron
driver from the CD to a floppy disk or a USB pen drive using another PC.
This problem happens not only with this motherboard from ASUS, but also with
all other motherboards based on Intel P965 chipset we've seen to date."

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/408

Since a special driver is required for IDE (PATA) port, I don't see how any
bootable IDE CD count work. Even if I could boot the CD (say from a SATA CD
drive), the Acronis True Image CD does not give you the option of installing
a special driver at boot time, so I wouldn't be able to access the IDE
harddrive. I wouldn't be able to do the cloning.

Thanks.

Bruce.

 

[Anna]

This is the reference that worried me. I had been considering an ASUS P5B
motherboard but found this in a review:

"It is very important to notice that the single ATA/133 port available on
this motherboard is controlled by the JMicron chip, not by the chipset.
This means that if you still have a parallel IDE optical drive it will
only be recognized on Windows after you install JMicron's driver. The
problem is that this driver comes on the motherboard CD-ROM, and you won't
be able to install it, as the system does not recognize your optical
drive. You can download the driver from the net, however the driver for
the on-board LAN port is also on the CD-ROM. The only option you have is
to copy the JMicron driver from the CD to a floppy disk or a USB pen drive
using another PC. This problem happens not only with this motherboard from
ASUS, but also with all other motherboards based on Intel P965 chipset
we've seen to date."

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/408

Since a special driver is required for IDE (PATA) port, I don't see how
any bootable IDE CD count work. Even if I could boot the CD (say from a
SATA CD drive), the Acronis True Image CD does not give you the option of
installing a special driver at boot time, so I wouldn't be able to access
the IDE harddrive. I wouldn't be able to do the cloning.

Thanks.

Bruce.

Bruce:
I find it incomprehensible that a current motherboard would be designed in
such a way that the user would need to install an auxiliary driver for a
common industry-standard CD-DVD optical drive in order for that device to be
recognized by the system. While I can't recall working specifically with the
ASUS P5B motherboard, I've worked with scores of different ASUS boards and
have never encountered the situation described by the source you quoted. I'm
not aware of any restriction re the Intel P965 Express chipset along the
lines mentioned by the review. If you (or anyone coming upon this thread)
can confirm the reviewer's comments I would appreciate hearing about it.
Anna

 

[Bruce Chastain]

Bruce:
I find it incomprehensible that a current motherboard would be designed in
such a way that the user would need to install an auxiliary driver for a
common industry-standard CD-DVD optical drive in order for that device to
be recognized by the system. While I can't recall working specifically
with the ASUS P5B motherboard, I've worked with scores of different ASUS
boards and have never encountered the situation described by the source
you quoted. I'm not aware of any restriction re the Intel P965 Express
chipset along the lines mentioned by the review. If you (or anyone coming
upon this thread) can confirm the reviewer's comments I would appreciate
hearing about it.
Anna

I took it to be an early sign that PATA is dead. Intel removed PATA support
from their P965 chipset so ASUS added it back with JMicron chip, which
unfortunately requires a special driver. I'd guess that working with PATA
is going get harder and harder over the next few years.

The review spelled out the problems of having a non-standard IDE
hardware/driver. A real catch-22 as far as installing the IDE drivers.

Anyway, all that drove me to think about using an external USB harddrive
rather than installing the old drive internally in the new computer.

Bruce.

 

[R. McCarty]

For a minimal cost you can purchase an IDE-to-SATA adapter.
I've used several of these with good success. Works well on a
hard drive, some issues with Optical drives and certain burning
applications. ~<$20.0 US.

 

[Anna]

This is the reference that worried me. I had been considering an ASUS P5B
motherboard but found this in a review:

"It is very important to notice that the single ATA/133 port available on
this motherboard is controlled by the JMicron chip, not by the chipset.
This means that if you still have a parallel IDE optical drive it will
only be recognized on Windows after you install JMicron's driver. The
problem is that this driver comes on the motherboard CD-ROM, and you won't
be able to install it, as the system does not recognize your optical
drive. You can download the driver from the net, however the driver for
the on-board LAN port is also on the CD-ROM. The only option you have is
to copy the JMicron driver from the CD to a floppy disk or a USB pen drive
using another PC. This problem happens not only with this motherboard from
ASUS, but also with all other motherboards based on Intel P965 chipset
we've seen to date."

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/408

Since a special driver is required for IDE (PATA) port, I don't see how
any bootable IDE CD count work. Even if I could boot the CD (say from a
SATA CD drive), the Acronis True Image CD does not give you the option of
installing a special driver at boot time, so I wouldn't be able to access
the IDE harddrive. I wouldn't be able to do the cloning.

Thanks.

Bruce.

I took it to be an early sign that PATA is dead. Intel removed PATA
support from their P965 chipset so ASUS added it back with JMicron chip,
which unfortunately requires a special driver. I'd guess that working
with PATA is going get harder and harder over the next few years.

The review spelled out the problems of having a non-standard IDE
hardware/driver. A real catch-22 as far as installing the IDE drivers.

Anyway, all that drove me to think about using an external USB harddrive
rather than installing the old drive internally in the new computer.

Bruce.

Bruce:
PATA is indeed "near death", at least with the current crop of middle to
upper-end motherboards. No doubt the final nail in the coffin will be when
virtually all optical drives will discard the PATA interface in favor of the
SATA one.

Be that as it may, I'm still not convinced the situation is as described by
the reviewer. Are you indicating that you've confirmed the reviewer's
comments re this issue? Or are you simply accepting them at face value?

In any event, we have some contacts at ASUS and I'll check this out with
them.
Anna

 

[Bruce Chastain]

PATA is indeed "near death", at least with the current crop of middle to
upper-end motherboards. No doubt the final nail in the coffin will be when
virtually all optical drives will discard the PATA interface in favor of
the SATA one.

Be that as it may, I'm still not convinced the situation is as described
by the reviewer. Are you indicating that you've confirmed the reviewer's
comments re this issue? Or are you simply accepting them at face value?

At this point, given that it's my only source of information by a profession
motherboard reviewer, I don't think I have a choice but to accept what they
say as being most probably the truth.

That is until I see even more reputable information to the contrary.

The whole thing seemed to make sense to me. Intel in their monopolistic
ways decided to drop PATA/IDE support in their latest chipset, which sent
ASUS scrambling to find another chip that still supports it but
unfortunately requires a special driver. That's fine once Windows is up and
running but can make the initial install a big challenge as noted in the
review.

In any event, we have some contacts at ASUS and I'll check this out with
them.

Excellent. Thank you very much.

Bruce.

 

[Ron Martell]

I wish to move my entire Windows XP Home boot volume from an old computer to
a new computer (not yet purchased).

The new computer will be radically different. SATA harddrives and optical
drives instead of PATA. PCI Express video instead of AGP. Core 2 Dual
instead of a Pentium 3. SATA optical drive instead of PATA.

My plan is to

1) Use Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to create an image backup
file of the old computer boot drive to an external USB hard drive.

2) Move the external USB hard drive to the new computer and again use
Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to restore the drive image to the
new boot drive.

3) Boot from the Windows CD (already slipstreamed with SP2) and do a Repair
Installation of Windows.

Does this sound like a workable plan?

What version is your installed Windows XP Home - OEM or Retail?

If it is an OEM version then you need to check to see if it is a BIOS
Locked OEM version, which is what all of the larger manufacturers have
been using for the past few years. Use Start - All Programs -
Accessories - System Tools and look for an "Activate Windows" menu
choice. If there is no Activate Windows item on the System Tools menu
then your OEM version is BIOS locked and you will not be able to
activate it in the new motherboard unless that motherboard is from the
same OEM as the original computer.

Also you should be aware that the End User License Agreement (EULA)
for an OEM version permanently locks that license to the first
computer that it is installed on and it cannot be legitimately
transferred to another computer under any circumstances.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Bruce Chastain]

What version is your installed Windows XP Home - OEM or Retail?
Retail.

If there is no Activate Windows item on the System Tools menu
then your OEM version is BIOS locked and you will not be able to
activate it in the new motherboard unless that motherboard is from the
same OEM as the original computer.

I have the Activate Windows menu entry.

Thanks for your reply and thoughts.

Good luck

Thanks!

Bruce.

 

[Paul Johnson]

I wish to move my entire Windows XP Home boot volume from an old computer
to a new computer (not yet purchased).

The new computer will be radically different. SATA harddrives and
optical
drives instead of PATA. PCI Express video instead of AGP. Core 2 Dual
instead of a Pentium 3. SATA optical drive instead of PATA.

My plan is to

1) Use Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to create an image backup
file of the old computer boot drive to an external USB hard drive.

2) Move the external USB hard drive to the new computer and again use
Acronis True Image (from a bootable CD) to restore the drive image to the
new boot drive.

3) Boot from the Windows CD (already slipstreamed with SP2) and do a
Repair Installation of Windows.

Does this sound like a workable plan?

No. The odds of a repair install actually working after a motherboard
change is so small as to not be worth the wasted time.

Try:

1) Copy c:\Documents and Settings and wherever else you may have stashed
files to your backup disk.

2) Start with a fresh copy of Windows on the new system.

3) Move your files off the USB drive into your new profile.

 

[Paul Johnson]

I know but a lot of the installed software has been lost over the years.
Doing a fresh install would add several hundred $ to the project.

Uh oh, is someone pirating software instead of properly licensing it in the
first place? If you think it's expensive getting licensed correctly now,
wait until the bastards at whatever vendor you're ripping off catch wind...