Imaging XP Pro IDE to SATA

[papagym]

A few months back I build a new Intel DZ68BC System. I installed Windows 7 Ultimate on it. Then I find out that in order to use XP Pro on the new system it had to be installed before Win-7. Now I need to do a clean install of Win-7 so I figured this is a good time to setup XP Pro on one of my new drives.

XP Pro is on an IDE drive on my old computer. The new PC is currently configured with Win-7 on 128GB SSD, a HHD WD Green 1-TB w/ a backuo and system reserved partitions and a HHD Seagate 1-TB which is empty.

I bought a bidirectional IDE to SATA Converter just in caae I need it. I want to make a system mage of the IDE (XP Pro) to a SATA drive. The IDE has CAD programs on it so I don't want to loose them.

What is the best way to make the system image? Should I put it on the SSD first or onto an HDD? What progam should I use? Is there anything else I need to consider?

Thanks

 

[Hawkeye22]

I would think that a 128gig SSD would fill up fast if you dual boot two OS's off of it. You may need to put whichever OS you use the most on a SSD and the other on a hard drive.

 

[WyomingKnott]

If I understand correctly, the OP isn't proposing to put XP on the SSD, but dual-boot to Win7 on an SSD and XP on the HDD.

papagym, I have a suggestion for something to try first. You can download XP mode for Win7, basically a virtual XP machine that runs within 7, and run your CAD programs under that. If they work, that is probably a more supported solution.

In regard to what you propose to do, you only have to install Win7 first if you are going to do a fresh XP install. And even then there is a way around it, if you are going to install on a separate drive. You can, in theory, clone the XP to a new HDD with almost any clone tool. Problem is that it won't boot, as it has the wrong drivers for the HDD and the motherboard.

There are solutions for that. One is to use a clone utility, actually backup and restore, that has the option to restore to dissimilar hardware. EASEUS ToDo Backup is free and claims to do this, Acronis True Image is not free and is very popular. The other is to do a straight clone, detach your Win7 drive, boot from the XP CD, and do a Repair Installation. Then you put the Win7 drive back.

In either of those cases, booting from the SSD will give you Win7, and booting from the HDD will give you XP. You will have to choose the boot in BIOS at first, but you could use something like EasyBCD to add the XP as an option on the Win7 boot menu.

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Do you still have installation disks for XP and for the CAD programs? Reinstalling them might be simpler. Who knows, the CAD apps might even run under 7.

 

[papagym]

Hockeye22 and WyomingKnott,
Thank you for your replies. Both of you say to put XP Pro on a HDD, that's what I was thinking too. Can you please give me your input n what follows.

My problem is what do I need to do to be able to transfer XP Pro from the IDE to SATA Drive,---THEN MAKE IT WORK. (can't find power adapter for my bidirectional dongle)

I figure that dual boot will work, but I don't want to boot from Bios all the time. Are there any (Free) program to multiboot from. Should I copy,clone or, image one drive to the other to use XP Pro? I have both EASY BCD and PWHE that I can use if needed, is there any other program that I might need? (Have not used either yet)

I have a lot of 32 bit progams on the old IDE drive that I will more than likely need to delete.(like MS Office 2003) If I make a "Shared" programs partition does it matter if it is 32 or 64 bit? I have not installed MS Office 2010 and Norton 360 2012 where should I install them?

When I do the clean install of windows to my SSD I'm planning to unplug the other drives so SR partitions is insatalled on SSD. Do I need to worry about adding anything else there?

FYI. I want to dabble in Linus OS in the future too. I hope you can hep me with any or all of this..I've read some tutorials but most are not detailed.

PS I have all the disks for CAD, XP Pro, etc. but I don't think I can just install them on the sata drive because I don't think I can get pgm keys since programs are 2006 or earler

Thanks

 

[WyomingKnott]

My problem is what do I need to do to be able to transfer XP Pro from the IDE to SATA Drive,---THEN MAKE IT WORK. (can't find power adapter for my bidirectional dongle)

Well, aside from the dongle power, I meant to answer that in my first reply: There are solutions for that. One is to use a clone utility, actually backup and restore, that has the option to restore to dissimilar hardware. EASEUS ToDo Backup is free and claims to do this, Acronis True Image is not free and is very popular. The other is to do a straight clone, detach your Win7 drive, boot from the XP CD, and do a Repair Installation. Then you put the Win7 drive back.

I figure that dual boot will work, but I don't want to boot from Bios all the time. Are there any (Free) program to multiboot from. Should I copy,clone or, image one drive to the other to use XP Pro? I have both EASY BCD and PWHE that I can use if needed, is there any other program that I might need? (Have not used either yet)

I wrote in my first post that EasyBCD will let you add the XP boot into your Win7 boot menu.

I have a lot of 32 bit progams on the old IDE drive that I will more than likely need to delete.(like MS Office 2003) If I make a "Shared" programs partition does it matter if it is 32 or 64 bit? I have not installed MS Office 2010 and Norton 360 2012 where should I install them?

What's installed in one OS won't run in the other. You can't have a shared install between the two, because one of the OSes will be missing the registry entries and so forth.

When I do the clean install of windows to my SSD I'm planning to unplug the other drives so SR partitions is insatalled on SSD. Do I need to worry about adding anything else there?

There are a group of recommended tweaks for installations on an SSD, but the only critical things are to disconnect the other drives and set the controller to AHCI mode before installing Win7.

Oh, dear. If you set the controller to AHCI mode for Win7, then XP won't boot because it will have the IDE mode drivers. Changing this in XP is a pain; I've done it once and did not enjoy it. Perhaps you have a secondary Marvell controller that could be set to IDE mode and booted from? (NOTE: IDE mode is not an IDE drive; it's a compatibility mode with an SATA drive.)

PS I have all the disks for CAD, XP Pro, etc. but I don't think I can just install them on the sata drive because I don't think I can get pgm keys since programs are 2006 or earler

Look for the keys with the CDs. If they came retail, it will be in the packaging. If not, you probably downloaded the keys or got them in Email. I really think that, if you can find them, the simplest thing for you would be to reinstall them in the XP virtual machine. Or, and this is really out there, boot from your old IDE drive using a motherboard that supports IDE drives.