Member Avatar for RingmasterTJ

Hey Guys,

Not sure if this should go here or in the OS forum, so sorry if I picked wrong!

So, I'm building a new pc (specs below if needed), & I have a question about moving my HDD over before I do the upgrade. Currently on my old machine, my HDD is an old PATA running on XP 32bit, I would, however, like to be able to move this HDD over to my new build.

On my new build, I'm planning to install Vista 64bit (on a new SATA HDD I'm buying). I'm wondering, is it possible to install Vista 64bit on the new HDD plug it in to the SATA cable & then simply plug my old HDD into the PATA cable? I've done some perusing about the internet to see if I could find an answer, but nothing specific to my problem, so I figured I'd ask here. Thanks in advance for your help!

Motherboard (if it helps):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131359

NEW HDD (if it helps):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148294

CPU (if it helps):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by handslice

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Short answer: yes — you can keep the old XP PATA drive as a data disk on the new system, but do a few things first so you don’t lose data or accidentally break the new install.

Before installing Vista: make a full backup of anything important on the old drive. Disconnect the PATA drive while you install Vista on the new SATA disk so the Vista installer creates its boot files on the SATA disk. Also set the SATA controller mode (IDE vs AHCI/RAID) in the BIOS to the mode you want before installing Vista — changing it afterward can stop Windows from booting. (As noted, PATA support is what enables the physical connection; the installer/BIOS behavior is the part to watch.)

After Vista is installed: reconnect the old PATA drive, set BIOS boot order so the new SATA disk is first, then boot Vista. The XP filesystem (NTFS) will be readable by Vista x64, but you may hit NTFS permission restrictions. You do not need to remove user account passwords first; instead take ownership and grant yourself permissions if needed. From an elevated command prompt run:

takeown /f "D:\Documents and Settings\OldUser" /r /d y
icacls "D:\Documents and Settings\OldUser" /grant "%USERNAME%":F /t

Run those only after confirming the drive letter (here D: is the old disk) and run the prompt as Administrator.

Caveats and extras: if any files were encrypted with EFS on XP you will need the original EFS certificate/private key to decrypt them — export that from XP before moving the drive. Installed XP programs on the old drive will not magically run under Vista x64; reinstall or use virtualization if you need legacy apps. Keep the old drive untouched until you verify everything works and you have backups.

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Member Avatar for cguan_77

if your new mobo supports PATA then it should not be a problem... i check the link you post above but unable to find the specs.. just verify if it supports go ahead...

check out this link

Member Avatar for RingmasterTJ

Ya, the motherboard supports PATA. And you think I'll still be able to access all my files as normal & such? And again, thanks for taking the time to respond.

Member Avatar for caperjack

Ya, the motherboard supports PATA. And you think I'll still be able to access all my files as normal & such? And again, thanks for taking the time to respond.

hi, if you have password protection on your computer remove it now before the move ,to avoid problems retrieving files

Member Avatar for handslice

Yes, absolutely... remove all the password it saves you from further troubles...

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