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by tom

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Hey guys (and rather doubtfully, ladies) i was hoping that someone could give me a hand.

I am currently upgrading a clients computer, but couldn't be bothered re-installing everything onto the user's new PC, as the previous machine was set up for the job well, but is now old and crap.

I basically want to clone the data off th old hard drive, onto the new one, unfortunately the old machine has an IDE drive, but the new machine has SATA.

Both machines run windows XP SP3, and i don't have any specialised software to this with, or a budget to get some with, if i can't do it this arvo, my user is up the proverbial creek.

10 replies

by thumbsup2

Does the new computer have an IDE controller connection? If so, just drop the old drive into the machine, boot up like normal, then copy and paste the data, and JUST the data, from the old HDD to the new one.

You're going to need to 'be bothered' eventually and reinstall everything. You haven't saved yourself any time. You can't copy programs. They must be installed.

If you want to clone the old drive, that's possible too. BUT... You'll end up having to reactivate and validate the OS as well as find drivers for the new equipment. If you're prepared to do that, the HDD manufacturers have tools you can download for free which will do the cloning for you.

by tom

If i didn't keep one locked in my basement, in our world, it is unlikely i would ever meet a female. Let alone on as a colleague. BTW users are all asexual as far as I am concerned, once you come to me with a problem as a user, you and i can never talk again.

by oh smeg

Acronis True Image will cone the HDD and you will not need any SATA Drivers if this is a [b]New[/b] Computer but there is still the matter of the different M'Board and associated drivers that are required. Not to mention Legal Problems with having 2 different computers with the same M$ Product Keys on them. You can use the Trial version of Acronis available here

http://www.acronis.com.au/enterprise/products/ATICW/

But the reality is that it would be better to pull the IDE Drive fit it to a USB Caddy and copy & Paste the data directly to the new HDD and then install any required Software. XP even has a File & Settings Transfer Wizard that may make this easier for you to perform.

As for doing a straight Clone it will require a lot of messing around to find the necessary Drivers and getting them installed though if you have a M$ Branded Install Disc I suppose you could perform a In Place Install after you clone the drive and then add the required Drivers.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341OH just a word of warning here cloning a HDD from an old computer to a new one is Piracy and if you are a Business doing this when M$ finds out about it they will want you to donate them $250,000.00 and then publish your Name & Home as well as Business Address in their Enforcement Alerts and be available for a very long time on their Web Site to discourage others from Pirating M$ Products. ;)

Col

by seanferd

Your first post was answered by a female.
Hence my laugh.

I'll agree, women are largely under-represented in some sectors. I wonder, now, if any of our Australian regulars have had similar experience.

Cheers!

by oh smeg

When I first started working with computers I didn't run into any Females even at the End User Side of things it was all Males. I'm sure that there where Females involved back in the Main Frame Days but I didn't get to meet any of them. :(

When Windows 95 became widely used there where lots of Females as End Users and I must admit that they where generally speaking far more creative than the males that I used to work with. I remember one complaining about Word Perfect 6 for Windows as having way too much to chose from. She insisted that WP5 for DOS with it's 5 or so Fonts was better because you just didn't have to chose what Font or Format to use but when Novel came out with WP6 they had several hundred Fonts that you could chose from and then when Corel got their hands on it they used to Advertise it as More Fonts that you could ever use which was pretty accurate as you could easily install over 1,500 Fonts by Default and then add more as they where required. So there was the possibility of spending more time choosing a Font to use than what it took to create the Document.

Females seemed to get more involved when Windows was the base install on the End User Side of things and during my time when I ran a department as a Tech I only ever had 5 Females apply for jobs doing that work. It was one of the bigger crowds so I'm not sure if that worked against them or not but every one that worked in my department seemed to be happy though they all moved to easier work which didn't involve 200 Hour Days in 356 Day Weeks. But after saying that after the AU Day Floods here the 2 females that worked in the Service Side of things took less time off to be with their families or do other things but both of those females eventually when to work that didn't require so much time & effort to do. ;)

Col

by thumbsup2

My computer experience (other than data entry) started in the early 70's in the Main Frame days working for a large railroad, qualified first as the only female Operator in the company - later as one of 3 female Programmers and finally as the only female in MIS Operations Control. I guess you just didn't bump into me because the Operators were locked away in the basement of a one square block building where the huge Main Frame was housed inside of a clean room and Programmers/Operations Control were housed several floors up, also behind locked door!

At the time, I was single and had no family nearby, so there was no need to take any time off. In fact, I frequently volunteered for double shifts, averaging 60 hours a week, so the men could go play their sports! Guess I'm just a glutton for punishment! ;)

by andrew caple

This reply might be to late for you ... but you'll know for next time.

Do you have a copy of Windows XP Pro? If you do you'll find a program called FASTWIZ.EXE on the CD (..\SUPPORT\TOOLS). This can be used to copy a user profile from one computer to another.

When you run it you'll get different options to what to you want to export (ie just docs or docs + favs etc).

I've used it a couple of times and it's saved a lot of time.

by oh smeg

Back in those days things where very different and the hardware that we worked with was very valuable so the companies who employed us valued their investment in both Hardware and their Staff's Training. Totally different today where IT Staff are a Dime a Dozen. :(

I'm not so sure that things have actually got better but they have got more rushed. They where interesting days weren't they? :D

Col

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