New build and cloning o/s

[steve s]

Ok....I need a little advise from some of you who may have done this. I'm building a new machine....totally and will be using a SATA drive. My old machine has a fairly new HDD that I would like to get all the o/s and games from. I have been looking at this link http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=418,
and it's very helpful, but I'm not sure my old mobo supports the sata drive? How can I tell? And if not I guess I'm dead in the water at this point? This old computer is about 3 years old maybe 4 and made by Powerspec.

Also my old machine is P4 and new one will be AMD 64 x2 4400.

I don't mind getting either the cloning s/w or a new Windows XP if need be.....but I have an XP retail box already.

In short is it a bigger PITA to do the clone in my case, or just reload the O/S and games on the new machine and drive? Which is best in the long run and why?

Cheers,

[Steve R Jones]

I would go for a whole new install. The install on the other machine is full of hardware that the new machine doesn't have.

[Timoteo]

I'm not sure my old mobo supports the sata drive?

Goto the motherboard manufacturer's website and lookup your model. You can also look at the motherboard and see if it has any SATA connections.

BTW, I think the article you refer to is talking about putting a new harddrive in an old machine. Where as you are talking about build a whole new machine. I don't think you can clone your OS to the new system. The best bet is a fresh install of the OS and then move your data over to the new PC.

Timoteo

[steve s]

Goto the motherboard manufacturer's website and lookup your model. You can also look at the motherboard and see if it has any SATA connections.

BTW, I think the article you refer to is talking about putting a new harddrive in an old machine. Where as you are talking about build a whole new machine. I don't think you can clone your OS to the new system. The best bet is a fresh install of the OS and then move your data over to the new PC.

Timoteo

Yes the articel covers both old and new machine...it's two di. sections. The fresh install is ok....but I just can't copy over the programs I understand cause the correct files will not get in the correct places this way no?

I will check out my SATA cababilitity thought.
Thanks

[steve s]

I would go for a whole new install. The install on the other machine is full of hardware that the new machine doesn't have.


So is removing those items more or less difficult than re-loading all that software and updates and stuff? I mean the article says you have to do a "repair install" when going to a new machine (board). Does that not remove the old and install the new. I'd just really rather not install all my programs again....that's what I'
m trying to avoid....of course without generating a new task equal to it.

[Midknyte]

doing a repair should work, but it's kind of "mickey mouse". you will have latent files from old drivers, etc. some programs may not work and you may have "ghost" problems.

A repair install rebuilds the HAL, but you would still have old registry information for programs, etc. some programs may still need to be reinstalled.

I know you are trying to cut corners, but there is a difference between what will work and what is preferred. in the long run, you'd be better off with a clean install.

[steve s]

Thanks, I don't mind going around the corners if it' s the preferred way...which it seems to be in this case. That's what I wanted to know really......if it was a good idea or not.

One more.......if I keep my current drive for the new system as a slave, should I wait till after the new machine is up and running before I plug it in. Seems like it could aviod possible conflicts and trouble?

thanks

[Midknyte]

yeah, i would keep the old drive out. you don't want to accidentally format it during the winxp install or something.