Member Avatar for RingmasterTJ

Hey everyone,

So, my question is as follows. I'm planning on building a new rig, & I'd like to put Vistax64 on it. However, I would also like to keep my old (XPx86) PATA HDD so I can have all my music, games, files, & such. My question is, what is my best option for accomplishing this task?

Should I install Vista on my new SATA HDD, plug in my PATA HDD to the system & expect to have access to everything?

Should I install Vista on my current XP PATA HDD, & just run that HDD as the master with the new SATA HDD as the slave?

Or, are there any other options for me, or is this even possible? Thanks in advance for all your help everyone.

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A few practical notes and gotchas to add to what and started — this keeps the XP PATA drive as a straight data disk and avoids surprises.

Disconnect the old PATA disk while installing Vista to the new SATA drive so the Vista boot files and BCD go only on the SATA disk. If both drives are attached during setup Windows can place boot files on the other disk and create a hidden dependency. After the install, reconnect the PATA drive and set the BIOS/boot order so the SATA drive is first.

Physical and post‑install checks: set the PATA jumpers correctly (master/slave or cable‑select per the cable), verify power connectors, and open Computer Management -> Disk Management in Vista to bring the PATA disk online and assign a drive letter if needed. Run chkdsk on the old drive if the filesystem looks suspicious. If Windows marks the disk Offline because of a duplicate signature (rare), Disk Management or diskpart can bring it Online.

If the install was already done with both drives attached and the system now depends on the PATA boot partition, repair the Vista boot on the SATA disk from the Vista DVD/Recovery Environment. Typical repair commands are:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd

Programs installed under XP usually need reinstalling on Vista (registry and drivers are not carried by merely copying folders); some portable 32‑bit executables will run directly under Vista x64, but kernel drivers and many older apps will not. If file access is denied, take ownership via the Security tab or with takeown/icacls from an elevated prompt.

A full backup before any change prevents loss. If keeping a legacy XP environment is required long‑term, consider running it in a VM rather than trying to boot the physical XP install on new hardware.

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Member Avatar for hughv

"Should I install Vista on my new SATA HDD, plug in my PATA HDD to the system & expect to have access to everything?"
In a word, yes. XP Programs won't work of course, and you need to be sure the Vista HD is set as the boot drive.
You'll probably need to take ownership of the XP files.

Member Avatar for Xlphos

I would install vista on the SATA drive though, its supposed to be faster than PATA.

Member Avatar for RingmasterTJ

Wow, that simple huh? I guess I'm still used to trying to figure out upgrading from like the Windows 95 era. Thanks for all the help guys!

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