BleepingComputer.com: copy from one hard drive to another

Hi

I have just added a second hard drive to my computer today, and everything went smooth without any problems! The extra hard drive I added has Windows XP on it, however I set this one up as the slave, as I thought it to difficult to copy everything from my original hard drive to the new one.

I have got windows 2000 on the master hard drive. I would like to know if it is possible to replace the windows 2000 on the master with the windows XP on the slave. Or would it be better to put the new drive as the master and copy everything else to the new one.

The 2 hard drives have the same capacity and speed about, so don't think it will matter much which one i set as the master.

~Any advice please?~

Current state: W2K on the master, the XP OS is on the slave. You don't have any intention of trying to make them dualboot or anything, correct?

Well, you won't lose anything to try switching them around; marking the 2K drive as slave and the XP as master. What should happen next is that the XP OS is going to have to plug and play itself into full awareness of its new surroundings so be prepared to have a lot of drivers ready as well as the XP disc or at least the *.cab files. Just keep notes on how the jumpers were when it worked so you can get back if it isn't going well.

Re-reading; sounds like you're adamant about getting back down to one drive when all is said and done... why not leave the extra drive in as a slave; whichever OS you decide to go with. Or is that not an option.

phoebe, on Jun 10 2005, 11:22 AM, said:

XP is prone to getting the galumphing looney fits when you give it a full-brain transplant-just my experience. you may run into licensing issues, conflicting mainboard drivers, etc. esp with an older machine. have the latest drivers for your hardware handy.

so, better to perform the data transfer as is- just copy the folders and data you want onto the new drive- copy only, do not remove the original data until you're sure XP is going to work.

Once i was sure my data was secure on the new drive, and XP is up and running, i would then use the Disk Manager and wipe out the old (Win2k) drive and use it for extra storage.

If the idea is to 'upgrade' to XP I'd start by completely disconnecting your Win2000 drive and make the XP drive a master. Then see what happens when you boot from it. Sort out all the driver license issues before you connect the Win2000 disc as a slave.

You will be able to copy documents, files and folders but you cannot copy applications. You would need to install all your current applications anew on the XP drive.