possibly moving to a SATA, XP MCE--what to do???

Discussion in 'Windows XP / Older OS' started by stayboogy, Jun 8, 2011.

  1. stayboogy

    stayboogy MDL Addicted

    May 1, 2011
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    #1 stayboogy, Jun 8, 2011
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2011
    so i'm probably going to be purchasing a SATA hdd in the near future. my MOBO supports SATA, so no having to install a controller or anything. ideally, i'm going to be using my new SATA to run a dual boot with 7 and XP, and my IDE for data and backups.

    i'm currently boot from an IDE hdd, and i have an up to date backup image of my boot partition.

    here's the question:

    (1) will i just be able to restore my backup image of my system as it is now to my SATA hdd and be good to go (i'm assuming not, though i'm not sure since i have native SATA support on my MOBO),

    or (2) will i have to mount the SATA hdd and boot XP and let it install the drivers for the new hardware, and then make a new image of the system with the proper drivers installed and restore that newer image to the drive of my choice, the SATA,

    or (3) will i have to do a whole clean install to the SATA with slipstreamed SATA drivers into my install DVD (which from what i understand does not work correctly most all of the time) or use a floppy (which is not supported on my machine) or CD with proper SATA drivers (which i have no idea where they would be found--see below) @ SCSI Raid prompt before install, then install and then go through the process of updating and all that?


    *my educated guess is number 2, though not sure

    why i ask is there are no drivers @ my machine manufacturer's website for SATA, which i'm assuming is because it's supported natively, and even their upgrade videos and directions say nothing of having to add these drivers although they do mention recovering using recovery media to the new drive which i'm not going to do since i don't need hp/compaq crapware and the discs are worn and take a long time.

    any ideas??? planning on doing this really soon, and really need to get an idea of what i'm going to have to go through to use SATA, otherwise on to the hard task of finding another reasonably priced IDE to use...
     
  2. Oz

    Oz MDL Expert

    Sep 1, 2009
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    If your BIOS has an ATA/AHCI option for the SATA channels, you can just set it to ATA, then clone IDE to SATA and you wont have any problems.

    After you have gotten system up and running, you can Google "change from ATA to AHCI" and you will find a solution to shift to AHCI mode.

    Of course you will get people here telling you that AHCI is much better and bla bla bla... In real world bugger all difference, not worth spending a day reinstalling for the few advantages, which you will probably never have any use of.
     
  3. stayboogy

    stayboogy MDL Addicted

    May 1, 2011
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    well thanks Oz, but my BIOS has no such setting. it's outdated and there is no update for it.

    anyone got any other ideas, answers to the three questions i posted???
     
  4. stayboogy

    stayboogy MDL Addicted

    May 1, 2011
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    a good friend hooked me up with an IDE drive yesterday of decent capacity and i've got my dual boot set up with XP MCE and 7 on the same drive and got the other drive for storage. seems to be working pretty well.

    have to say, i'm not too pleased with all the hoops i have to jump through to get 7 set like i've got my XP...