SATA question

[bigboxes]

Alright, I am fairly knowledgable when it comes to PCs, but my situation is new to me. I have asked my other tech buddies about this but no one is sure. Here's the background... I recently upgraded my cpu by just removing the old cpu (A64 3200+ skt 939) and dropping in the new cpu (X2 4400+ skt 939), uninstalling the old A64 driver, installing the new X2 driver, installing the Windows XP hotfix, modifying the registy to enable the hotfix, install AMD optimizer. Everything worked flawlessly. Been enjoying dual-core goodness since last Friday.

Now, onward to my problem. I currently have only PATA hdds in my pc. I have formatted my OS hdd only 2-3 months ago and have everything configured and tweaked just the way I like them. Runs smooth with no problems. So, what's the issue you ask? Well, I just received my new 74gb WD Raptor via FedEx. The problem... it's SATA! Now, as a pc tech I have installed SATA hdds before. Just press F6 to install the SATA drivers before Windows loads. My dilemna is that I want to image my perfectly working OS drive and copy it to the Raptor. Is it possible to install the SATA driver onto my current PATA drive and then image it onto the Raptor and have Windows recognize it? If not, is there a work around that will make this possible or am I doomed for yet another nuke and reload?

 

[imported_Tick]

I'm not sure I understand, but in my experience XP with SP2 recognizes sata drives without drivers.

 

[bigboxes]

Originally posted by: Tick
I'm not sure I understand, but in my experience XP with SP2 recognizes sata drives without drivers.

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I have SP2 installed. If I image the OS drive (PATA) onto an external drive (using Acronis True Image) and then use Acronis to image that backup image onto the Raptor drive will it boot up and into Windows?

 

[boomerang]

Yes it should.

As long as Acronis can see the external drive when creating the image, you should be fine.

Your mobo should support SATA drives natively without the need for drivers depending on the controller you utilize. Make sure the BIOS can see the drive and make sure Windows can see the drive in Disk Management beforehand.

You really have nothing to lose by trying, you will still be able to boot off your PATA drive if it doesn't work.

 

[bigboxes]

Originally posted by: boomerangYou really have nothing to lose by trying, you will still be able to boot off your PATA drive if it doesn't work.

Yup. Just want to know if there is anything I can do to assist in making the operation a success.

 

[Texun]

I completed a project this evening almost exactly like you described and it worked perfectly. I installed a 320g SATA on channel 0 and booted normally with my existing PATA drive. Win XP-SP2 found it with no problem. Maybe it wasn't necessary but I let it initialize the drive.

I then used Acronis and selected the Clone option. An hour later all data and existing partitions were copied over the the new SATA drive without a hint of trouble. I changed the boot order in the BIOS to SATA as my first and that was it. The only thing I would take a closer look at was the way it automatically sized the new partitions. Since I had 4 partitions on my 160 PATA it resized them accordingly when cloning to the 320. My partitions are there and twice as large as before since I have twice the space. It's not a problem but I probably could have given it more thought.

 

[bigboxes]

Originally posted by: TexunI then used Acronis and selected the Clone option.

That option worked without a hitch! Thanks for all your guys help. I just wanted to make sure before I attempted an operation that was so vital. I made an archive last night after I defragged the drive one more time. This morning I hooked up the Raptor and my mobo (Abit AV8) recognized it no problem. I opened up Acronis and ran the clone disk wizard and it was done within 30 minutes. I am formatting my "old" OS drive that will now become a second thrash drive in my main rig. Very nice! I am a happy boxes indeed!