Using my old hard drive

[canan]

Hi pcguide members,

I am going to build myself a pc. Mainly for work, downloading and music production (not into gaming yet!)

At the moment I have 250g sata2 maxstor hard drive running winxp sp2 with ALL my stuff on it. I know I know will need to install an os on my new system hd, but i need to know the easiest/quickest way of accessing my original drive.

Can I simply configure it as my slave drive and continue to use it as normal (i.e open, save, edit etc)? I am having worried that I will end up copying over 250g worth of stuff and then reformatting the drive and then reloading it all back on again (minus the operating system).

I read somewhere that it is a good idea to have a dual boot system in case 1 of the hd fails.

Also, any advise on amd2 x2 or intel core 2 duo systems?

thanks

[Rick]

You won't need to format the old drive
Just install it on the second sata connection and set the bios to auto detect it

The make sure the bios is set to use the newer drive as a boot drive

IF you want to at a latter date you can just delete the Old drives operating system folders
In fact If you have your data saved in a folder or folders away from the OS
You can delete all the folders on that drive except the data folders

IF you do this
When you are finished deleting the old folders you will want to defrag that drive
Also you will need to set your new OS to allow viewing hidden and system files and folders
Other wise it will not show you all the folders on the old drive

You can change it back later to hide system and hidden again

[Rick]

For high end multimedia media work.
I would go with the Intel

[canan]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the advice.

Is it not a good idea to have an os on each of the drives in case of failure?

Also I have been told to go to a computer fair to get parts as they are cheaper than on-line. However I cannot see how someone who sets up a stall can be cheaper than an online store. Do you have any idea if this is true?

Thanks

[Rick]

I went to one of these computer fairs ONCE
I have no intent to ever attend another

From my observation of the fair

EVERYTHING was open boxes, returns, defective, over stock, and out dated hardware

The only time I have a second O/S on another drive is when I dual boot

If your primary hard drive fails the second will most ly be of little or no use to you

Unless you boot to that drive regularly and Install all your software on BOTH drives
That is a waste of time, drive space and way to much hassle

Make a backup of your O/S using one of the drive cloning or ghost programs

Back it up to an external removable drive AFTER you have everything installed
Then when If you have a problem .
You can just recover the drive and go on.
Even if it requires a new drive because of a total drive failure

[canan]

Thanks Rick, you were a great help.

I am unclear of how one copies the o/s system. I have never heard of such a thing. When the o/s is copied does it automatically copy the files as well or do the files need to backed-up separately?

If fairs are not recommended... most ppl seem to quote goods from Newegg, are they relatively a good stating point for parts?

Thanks

[Rick]

O/S = Operating system
A good backup program will allow you to backup the complete O/S and all related files

A good clone program will also do the same thing
The clone works best when done to another hard drive

Backup can/should be able to back up to almost any media type.
cd,dvd,external hard drive

I use a number of resources for new hardware
I use newegg along with many others
newegg sells both new retail and new oem

The few extra $ you pay for retail products can be worth it
When/If the hardware has a problem.

In some cases oem has a shorter warranty

[canan]

Hi Rick,

I forgot to thank you for your help.

I am going to build the pc over this weekend.

[Sylvander]

Some good ideas:

1. Keep Windows and Programs on one partition [C:]...
And all your data files off C: [on one or more other partitions D: E: F: according to data type?].
BiNG (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-bootit-next-generation.htm) can non-destructively re-arrange partitions but make an image before doing this.

2. Make image backups of the Windows/Programs partition [C:]
Use a program that works outside of Windows [Windows not running when you make the image].
Image for DOS [IforD] (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-image-for-dos.htm) is my favorite program for doing this; it can save to [and restore from] a USB 2.0 HDD, or make bootable optical disks that include IforD which auto-runs to allow you to restore the image on the disks.

3. Use the FREE version of SyncBack (http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html) [that runs within Windows] to make 2nd up-to-date identical copies of the folders/files on your data partitions.
These too can be saved to an external USB 2.0 HDD, and easily restored, or simply copied back using Windows Explorer.
SyncBack takes only a few minutes to detect the "differences" between the original "source" copy and the 2nd "destination" copy, then do what you tell it to do in response [copy over, ignore, delete the original, delete the destination copy when the source no longer exists, etc].

4. With this arrangement, one or other of the HDD's could fail and you can recover easily.
You either have the originals, or the backup copies and/or images.
You'd need to lose BOTH HDD's at the same time to be in trouble, and how likely is that? :)

[canan]

Hi Sylvander,

Thanks for all this. I didnt know you could do this stuff.

What is the significance of putting my programs onto a separate file?

When you say put different data types onto separate drives, do you mean put MS office files onto one drive, music files onto another drive etc.?

Finally, if I use the 30 day evaluation copy of the disk partition program, when the program runs out will I lose my partitions and data?

Thanks for all your help

[Paul Komski]

If I use the 30 day evaluation copy of the disk partition program, when the program runs out will I lose my partitions and data?

No - the image files will still be there if you made any and if you copied whole partitions then they will still be there as well. You would just be unlikely to be able to restore the images using the specific software program involved.

There are numerous imaging/cloning programs and there are links to these as well as of some freebies at HDD & Partition Imaging/Cloning (http://www.paulski.com/zpages.php?id=1917)

What is the significance of putting my programs onto a separate file?I guess you meant separate drive.

There is a trade-off when making images of partitions between keeping data together with the OS for simplicity or separate from the OS to make restoration of your system much quicker and easier. Keeping anything with large data components on a separate partition is a good way of keeping the system lean and mean; not only for direct spacial and backup reasons but also when it comes to disk-checking and defragmenting.

[Sylvander]

1. "What is the significance of putting my programs onto a separate file?"
I think what you mean is:
"What is the significance of keeping Windows and Programs on a different partition to the data files?"
There are a number of advantages to doing this as follows:
(a) It's best to make "Image Backups" of the Windows/Programs partition from outside of Windows [using IforD], whereas data files don't need to be backed up in this way, but instead are better [more quickly and easily] backed up using a program [like SyncBack] that works inside Windows.
(B) IforD can both make and restore images when Windows isn't running, perhaps because Windows isn't functioning [cannot boot?]
Therefore it becomes an important way to get back a functioning Windows/Programs installation.
(c) Once you restore an image you will have both Windows and all your programs working again, one of which may be something like SyncBack.
With SyncBack working you can then use that to QUICKLY AND EASILY [3 min instead of 30 min with IforD] restore all your separate data partitions.
(d) Now do you understand?
This is just one of many reasons why it's so good to separate the data files from the Windows/Programs files.

2. "When you say put different data types onto separate drives, do you mean put MS office files onto one drive, music files onto another drive etc.?"
Because I'm using the FAT32 file system on my data partitions....
What I try to do [something to attempt, but perhaps not achieve] is to keep:
(a) All the smaller files on a [probably] smaller partition using smaller cluster sizes.
And...
(b) All the larger files on a [probably] larger partition using larger cluster sizes.
This makes for more efficient use of storage space with less "slack" [wasted/unused space in the clusters].
(c) What this means in practice is holding music files on one partition, and video/image/photo files on another, and small personal data files [emails, address book, My Documents etc] on a 3rd.
It also has the advantage of making it easy to know where I'm likely to find certain types of files.
It's like keeping kitchen things in the kitchen and gardening tools in the shed, and not parking the bicycle in the dining room. :)

[canan]

Wow... thanks a million.

I thought I had a good knowledge of the right and wrong ways of doing things, as I have build a few computers in the past. But most of this info I had know idea could help.

One last question (yeah right!! ;) ) if I put a HD with old data and OS onto a new MB, can I boot to the OS cd and re-format the HD or will I need to re-format the HD before I connect it to the MB, then add the OS?

[Paul Komski]

One last question (yeah right!! ) if I put a HD with old data and OS onto a new MB, can I boot to the OS cd and re-format the HD or will I need to re-format the HD before I connect it to the MB, then add the OS?

With WinXP you have a few options.

If you do nothing to the drive it may or may not boot up - probably not -and if so without the drivers; it will also want a reactivation of the OS. You can then boot to the WinXP installation CD and either repair the original installation (http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm) or use setup to delete/create/format partitions and clean install a new system.

You could also delete any existing partitions (or zero the drive) using any number of applications and then boot to the installation CD and setup will treat it as if it were a new HDD.