transfer all 35 GB to another hard drive questions

[ttodd]

My 40 GB IDE Harddrive ( 39.0 total) from 7 years ago is and has been for many months sitting at 36 GB.. I have purchased a 750 GB sata drive and am going to transfer over all my C: drive to this new HD ..
Need to know a few things . Should I just drag and drop the whole works? should I drag and drop certain elements or folders one at a time including the operating system first? should I show hidden fields and folders or does it not matter? Once it is compete will the new HD start up the PC ( boot files etc) off the new sata HD? ( as primary) ... as I want to retire this older drive ..

thanks

[SpywareDr]

Should I just drag and drop the whole works? should I drag and drop certain elements or folders one at a time including the operating system first? should I show hidden fields and folders or does it not matter?

No, doing any of that will not do what you're after. Use something like Macrium Reflect Free to clone the old to the new.

Once it is compete will the new HD start up the PC ( boot files etc) off the new sata HD? ( as primary) ... as I want to retire this older drive ..

Whether or not your computer will boot off of the new SATA hard drive depends on your computer's capabilities and the Operating System.

What is the make and model number of your motherboard? If you don't know, what is the make and model number of your computer?

Which Operating System and Version is this computer running?

[ttodd]

I currently have installed and working a 160 GB sata drive my O/S is :
Operating System System Model
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600) WinFast 6100M2MA
FAB1.0
Enclosure Type: Desktop
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
2.00 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: WinFast 6100M2MA FAB1.0
Bus Clock: 201 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 08/28/2006

[Midknyte]

Going from IDE to SATA will probably result in a BSOD, since the hard drive controller would change. If anything, you could try a repair install.

Again, why only SP2?

[Murf]

As said, you cannot just drag and drop everything from one drive to another, will not work for programs or operating system. IDE to SATA, since you have the SATA hooked up, I assume as a second drive, then the controller is already loaded. When you clone a drive, you copy everything on it onto another drive, so that the two are effectively identical. Then you can swap the drive and boot from it. Imaging is a little different; you are basically making a big zip file of the drive, without the zip extension. This image is compressed, and would need to be "uncompressed". As stated the easiest is cloning the drive, the suggested software will work. Obviously if the current files and/or operating system is somewhat corrupted, you are cloning the corruption. A clean install, if you have the original operating system cd/DVD and program cd/dvd is always the best.

[SpywareDr]

OMG, Murf! Where you been?

[Murf]

Still alive and kicking, come by once in a blue moon. Since BJ passed, been spending all my forum time in another forum.

[SpywareDr]

Still alive and kicking, come by once in a blue moon.

Well that's good. Looks like a 'blue moon' is a bit over a year?

Since BJ passed, been spending all my forum time in another forum.

Yep, seen you there. Welcome back.

[druggas]

Why doesn't he just run both HDs?

Use the big HD as a backup.

[ttodd]

Going from IDE to SATA will probably result in a BSOD, since the hard drive controller would change. If anything, you could try a repair install.

Again, why only SP2?

where under system info can I find out out if I am sp2 or Sp 3 ?

[SpywareDr]

Press [Winkey][Pause/Break] or click Start, right-click Control Panel and select Properties.

[druggas]

control panel/ system.

[ttodd]

I am SP 3 ... thought I was ..

[Midknyte]

You better check where you got this info then:

I currently have installed and working a 160 GB sata drive my O/S is :
Operating System System Model
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600) WinFast 6100M2MA

Ok that's good that you have SP3. SP2 isn't getting Windows Updates anymore.