I'd like to buy a new 6Gb/Sec hard drive because i just upgraded my motherboard and it has the new Sata connections. But ideally, i'd like to just completely copy my existing hard drive...meaning windows system files and all. So that i copy to the new drive and boot from it. Is that possible?

Nah, won't work, you'd have to reinstall the os and programs.

Agreed but if you still want the files from your old hard drive excluding the OS just pick up an external hard drive then transfer it to the new one.

Not sure about copying the whole thing. Even if you could I would do a fresh install when you are at it. It's just nice to clean stuff up when you are at it. Your mother board will have more than one sata input on it. (it will also have a pata input if your hard drive is that old) Hook both your old and new hard drives up and install the fresh OS on the new one. Then transfer the files you want to your new hard drive and then wipe the old one clean. After that's done use your old hard drive as a back up for all your important files. Include any .exe install files that you can save on your backup drive. You may love yourself one day for it.

Yes. You can compl;etely copy it (Norton Ghost, for one), but unless it's the exact same model PC/Laptop, then it won't boot. It'll bluse screen on boot. Years ago, Microsoft put the kibosh on that.

Easiest way is to buy a new drive. Build the pc to that drive and connect the old drive as a slave so you can still have access to the old files.

This guy probably got a new computer by now... but for reference. If he is already running the old hard drive on the new mainboard, imaging the hard drive to a new one will boot up just fine. If you upgrade a mainboard and the machine doesn't boot, you can do a repair install on Windows XP. For Windows 7 it gets a bit trickier. You have to install the new mainboard chipset drivers while the system is running on the old mainboard. Typically it's the hard drive controller that prevents booting. Obviously that's difficult if the old mainboard is dead, but works well in an upgrade situation.

Truck32 wrote:


I agree with truck32 i have done this many time with norton ghost. you can copy everything over but if it isnt the same size hard drive you will lose some of the space until you combine it back to the partition but it is possible with norton ghost they have come a long way. If you do any motherboard changes it will blue screen unless they have the same chipsets.

If you get a copy of Acronis Workstation w/ Universal Restore feature you can do it. All you need are the SATA controller drivers possibly. BackupExec system restore can also do it.

But if you have had that OS up for while I think it is a great idea to start fresh.. it is a pain but worth it in the end..

reinstall is the best way to do it

but, with windows 7 you don't have to. just uninstall as many drivers as you can find, use windows 7 built in image tool, install windows 7 onto new hard drive, restore to the image you created with windows 7 image tool, reboot and it will find and install the drivers for all the new hard ware.

scorp is correct. I'd recommend Acronis as well.

On a side note: if you are having trouble booting after restoring the image, make sure you have double checked your ACHI/IDE setting in the BIOS. If you don't know what this means, re-installing will be the easier option. Trust me.