Help with file transfer from second HDD

[larry38]

I need some information about how to transfer files from one hard drive to a new one. Specifically, the motherboard in my daughter's computer (identical to mine described below except she has a Lian Li case and only the 74 Gb WD Raptor hdd) failed recently. We will be rebuilding a new one over Christmas vacation with a new black WD 750 Gb HDD. As near as I can tell the Raptor drive in her old computer is in good shape so recovering the files shouldn't be a problem. My question is, can I just connect the Raptor to the new mobo using the SATA connector and drop and drag the files to the new hard drive? The Raptor is formatted in four partitions with the C drive used for all of the programs including the XP OS. The new computer will use Windows 7 as the OS. What I would like to do is transfer from the Raptor to the new HDD and then use it as a backup drive. Can I do this, how do I do this and are there any pitfalls I should look out for? Hopefully someone out there can point me in the right direction. Thanks for your help

[mazz72]

Since you're installing a new OS on the new drive, your programs will have to be reinstalled on the new drive; but as far as documents/music/pictures/etc, yes...you can just put the old drive in along with the new drive, and move the files over.

[larry38]

Thanks for the reply, mazz72. Yes I know that we will have to install all of the programs again on the new hdd, but I didn't know if the XP in the C partition on the Raptor would be a problem. I would guess from your comments that it wouldn't.

[systempat]

Suggested procedure. You are assembling with a new motherboard and installing the new OS, on the bigger drive. Oh are you using the same CPU - assuming it's OK - or are you buying a new one.

Leave the old hard drive uninstalled initially. Install the Win 7 on that new drive. You need to make decisions as to partitioning at this point. You had 4 partitiions on the 74 GB drive. I'd say that's too many. There is not much to be gained by that many partitions. I don't see any point in keeping more than 2 partitions on a drive. The C drive has the OS and all the necessary stuff like drivers. Most of the programs go to the default Program Files directory. You will have to reinstall all programs. Hope they all work with the new Windows. The D: drive gets all the media files, video photos audio, and other data files that are not in My Documents. This is good for doing backups too. Anyway, after installing the OS, reconnect the older drive and then identify what has to go back on the primary drive. Look at what's in the My Documents, where you might be saving Word and Excel files, data saves, game saves. You will have to reinstall all programs. Hope they all work with the new Windows.
After reorganizing the data from the old drive, I would drop the old drive back to one partition for simpler operation. Since the new drive is 10 times bigger than the old, you could copy everything from the old drive that you need to a folder on the new drive, then format it back to 1 partition ( or use partitioning tools like in Disk Management), and copy back to the drive.

Good luck with this and ask more questions that arise when it is time to do this.

[mazz72]

If you boot to the new drive with Windows 7 on it, then you should be able to access anything on the other drive with no problems.

[larry38]

Thanks for the reply systempat. We will be building a completely new system at Christmas. We haven't decided just what that will be (I plan to propose two, one ~$500 and one ~$800) letting her decide just how much she wants to spend. We will use some of the existing components (case, psu, perhaps same optical drives etc.) but I will keep the Raptor for potential use in the future (in case mine fails.) I will be posting a new thread relative to the proposed builds to get comments from others.