Move XP install to old hard drive

hydroponik

Senior member
Oct 2, 2006
530
0
0
Here's the deal, I have two physical hard drives in my system. The newer (faster) HD has Windows XP, and the older (slower) HD has Windows 7 beta which I am going to format now that RC1 is out.

I was planning on wiping my current Windows 7 beta to install the new RC, however I want to install this on the newer and faster HD. The problem is I still want to keep my old XP install, and move it to the older HD for dual boot incase I need it later.

Is there an easy and free way to accomplish this?
 

hydroponik

Senior member
Oct 2, 2006
530
0
0
Bump, can anyone help?

I tried acronis clone, but after slecting the source drive, the destination drive is now greyed out.
 

Bill Kunert

Senior member
Oct 9, 1999
793
0
0
Seagate and Western Digital both have programs that will transfer files from one hard drive to another.
 

RebateMonger

Elite Member
Dec 24, 2005
11,586
0
0
My usual methods include Acronis, Windows Home Server, and the various disk cloning utilities by the hard drive manufacturers. You aren't trying to go from a bigger hard drive to a smaller one, are you?
 

hydroponik

Senior member
Oct 2, 2006
530
0
0
Yes, the source partition is bigger than the destination, however data-wise, it's enough to copy over (20gb to go into 25gb partition).

I found a new program called Easeus which is able to copy the partition which I will try later.

Hopefully it can clone it, then I'll just boot up with the Windows 7 dvd and install over one of the Xp partitions. I think it should fix the MBR also if it detects another OS.

Does this sound like a bad idea?
 

hydroponik

Senior member
Oct 2, 2006
530
0
0
Well I was able to copy the XP install from HD1 to HD2. I went to install windows 7 on HD1, but unfortunately it did not detect the XP install on HD2.

Is there anyway I can get the bootloader to detect the XP install on HD2 so I can see options on which OS to select upon boot?