Installation question for rebuild

[DocZ]

I am about to rebuild an XP machine with new power, mobo, cpu, memory (a new GPU will have to wait) and a second SATA GD. I will be upgrading to Win 7 with a clean install. Would it be better to leave the XP on the older, smaller hard drive until the rebuild is finished and then wipe it clean and install Win 7 or do it before the rebuild or doesn't it make any difference? Thanks

[glc]

What drive do you want Win 7 on? Whatever drive you want it on, install JUST that drive to do the install, then you can add the second drive.

[DocZ]

I want OS and programs on the drive that is already in the machine. So I presume cleaning it out before the rebuild is best. Then I can install the new hardware and just install Win 7 on the smaller drive.

[glc]

Copy the data you want to save to the second drive BEFORE you do the hardware upgrade then DISCONNECT it. After the new hardware is installed, wipe the old drive and install Windows on it. Reconnect the second drive.

[DocZ]

Is there any data beyond the Documents folder that should be moved? I don't save email on this machine and I am upgrading from XP to Win 7. Should I move the user folders?

[David M]

The way glc described it, you don't have to worry about forgetting anything. All your old folders will be preserved on your old C: drive because it's your new C: drive that gets the OS installed onto it. You will have to install your software into your new OS on your new drive. Then it's a matter of clicking and dragging your old files into your newly installed software on your new C: drive. After a while when you are certain you have transferred over all your old files that you want to keep, you could wipe it and then use it for more storage space. Or you could use it as a backup drive.

Other than Documents, the other things you may want to transfer over are photos, music and other media. You may also want to transfer over your old bookmarks.

I would start fresh with the User folders. The nice thing about a new OS install is you get to start with a clean slate.

[DocZ]

The folders won't be left on the old C: drive because that is going to be wiped before I install the new OS. I suppose the more I move to the new storage drive the better, I can always delete what I don't need.

I use Xmarks to sync bookmarks and Roboform to sync passwords between networked machines. Makes life a lot easier.

[glc]

What you could do, if you have a Western Digital or Seagate drive, is download their version of Acronis. You can use that to clone your hard drive to the new drive. That way, you don't have to worry whether you have copied all the files you need, you will have a complete copy of the whole drive.