Transfering my HDD

[Androme]

My mobo went bye-bye and instead of getting a new mobo I decided to get a new pc which is on its way soon. However, the data on my old HDD I need so I'll be installing it on my new PC when it comes. A few queries though:

1.) With the new PC already having XP Home installed on it, and it being designated C:, will there be any problems if I then connect my old HDD to this setup? (I set it as a slave drive yes? - it's going to be my 2nd hdd - not replacing the new one if u get confused) As I remember that if a HDD detects more than 6 hardware changes (5 hardware, 1 network?) then it needs re-activation but XP was installed by Tiny who er...went bankrupt ages ago ffs.

2.) Will XP Pro on the 2nd hdd conflict in anyway with XP Home being on my 1st hdd when I connect my 2nd hdd?

3.) How can I migrate my windows patches over? Being on 56k, re-downloading would take a while & I doubt a migration software package like Norton Ghost would do the job.

I can't try Google as the inet café's are expensive where I am and I don't have much time. Thanks for any help since I haven't been able to "Google it" - cheers.

[zenopus]

1.) Adding an old HDD to a new PC.
Lets assume the new HDD is ATA 133.
Adding the old HDD as slave on the same cable will slow the new HDD down to the speed of the old - not a problem if the old HDD is ATA 133 as well.
The alternative is to put the old HDD on the same cable as the CD-ROM/DVD drive.

As for XP detecting hardware changes and requiring re-activation - I cannot be sure, but I don't think adding a HDD would trigger anything. You will be running XP Home tho (as that is what is on the HDD in the new PC).
If you still have the license certificate that came with your XP Pro, I suppose you can put that on instead - MS must have a support line for questions like that.

2.) Will XP Pro on the 2nd hdd conflict in anyway with XP Home being on my 1st hdd when I connect my 2nd hdd?

Should not cause any problems - it's just data.

3.) How can I migrate my windows patches over?

Probably not possible.

[djbass]

1. The drive should operate perfectly fine providing it is setup properly. I do not believe that adding a new HDD is considered drastic enough for XP to request re-activation.

2. Although the old installation of XP will exist on your old HDD, the new installation will not in all likelyhood even know what it is other than just another directory containing files unless you tell it otherwise.

3. You can't, the patches are cumulative but non-reversable which means too much of the previous operating system will have been changed to allow for the the files to be migrated over, at least not easily.

=[DJ Bass]=

[Vaio]

Originally posted by djbass
1. The drive should operate perfectly fine providing it is setup properly. I do not believe that adding a new HDD is considered drastic enough for XP to request re-activation.

=[DJ Bass]=

The new hard drive isnt a problem but as he is using a setup from another motherboard (different IDE/USB/various other dull stuff) XP WILL spot this and you WILL need to reactivate. I was caught out with this a couple of months ago. If you have a legit copy of XP then all you have to do is speak to one of the monkeys at Microsoft.

Vaio

[zenopus]

Originally posted by Vaio
... as he is using a setup from another motherboard (different IDE/USB/various other dull stuff) XP WILL spot this and you WILL need to reactivate.

I don't think he is using the setup from another MoBo.
As I understand his post, Androme is getting a new PC with XP Home preinstalled and just putting his old HDD with XP Pro in as second HDD (the fact that it contains XP Pro set up for his old broken MoBo is not really relevant).

[Vaio]

Originally posted by zenopus
I don't think he is using the setup from another MoBo.
As I understand his post, Androme is getting a new PC with XP Home preinstalled and just putting his old HDD with XP Pro in as second HDD (the fact that it contains XP Pro set up for his old broken MoBo is not really relevant).

Yes spotted that, my mistake, I was not paying attention as the wife was rabbiting away for no reason at all

Vaio

[Androme]

you're correct Zenopus - thanks

the problem if WinXP on my old HDD is that a Tiny engineer installed it off a CD after my PC kept crashing reguarly with Win98, despite my lists of installed patches heh... neway, I don't actually own a license for the WinXP Pro which is where I fall into a stumble - I'm thinking I could claim I do at least own another license of XP but I doubt that will help as you can only run one license per HDD/computer setup or something like that? - but if you're saying the reactivation won't come up then ignore what I just said

the new HDD is a SATA150 seagate barracuda drive, which I'm going to connect to the CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive, so that when I add the old HDD (ATA100) on the 2nd channel I can add a DVD-Rewriter at later date when the prices go down

thanks dj & Vaio for all your help - pity I cannot transfer the 13 odd patches

[meglamaniac]

I tried to post earlier but the forums were fubared again.
Anyways, all the questions have now been answered but one thing I would say in response to Zenopus' first post is that different speed drives (in terms of UATA ability) will not necessarily cause issues.
The argument has been had many times on this board allready, and the general outcome so far is that while it's not entirely clear, it seems modern chipsets (and OSs with supporting drivers for them) can support different speed drives on the same channel without "downclocking" the faster drive.

Seeing as you're getting a brand new mobo and you're using WinXP which will undoubted have drivers available (they'll be on the mobo CD) then it shouldn't be a problem.

[zenopus]

Oh, yes my knowledge may very well be obsolete (apply to ATA-33 or summat).
Anyways, since his new HDD is SATA, they won't be on the same cable.

[Androme]

oooo - does the drive being SATA mean I cannot connect the CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive on the same channel? This wouldn't be a problem for the moment as I can then just connect the 2nd HDD to the CD-RW/DVD-ROM channel instead (if I have to put the SATA drive on the 1st channel)

[spanker]

Originally posted by zenopus
Oh, yes my knowledge may very well be obsolete (apply to ATA-33 or summat).
Anyways, since his new HDD is SATA, they won't be on the same cable.

your info must be older then that, the problem with different transfer speeds on the same drive chain was during the 486 era. With the BX chipset around p1 133 timeframe this was not a problem anymore.

[spanker]

Originally posted by Androme2
oooo - does the drive being SATA mean I cannot connect the CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive on the same channel? This wouldn't be a problem for the moment as I can then just connect the 2nd HDD to the CD-RW/DVD-ROM channel instead (if I have to put the SATA drive on the 1st channel)

You wont have any problems whatsoever, just plug in your old hd on one of the ide cables.

the sata drives use a different interface. you will have 2 ide connectors for 4 drives, and 2 or more sata connectors for your sata units