XP Clone IDE SATA - Install Help Needed

[nedjinski]

This is no doubt a subject that has been dealt with before but I didn't find an exact reference to my situation so here's my dilemma.

I am about to do a major upgrade to an existing computer - new hard drive, CPU / motherboard, video card, etc. The old machine is a P3 with ATA IDE hard drive. The new machine will be an AMD 64x2 with a SATA hard drive.

What I want to accomplish is: move the entire contents of the old IDE :C drive, XP and all, to the new SATA drive making the new SATA drive the new :C drive in the new machine. The dilemma is - How do I clone the old IDE drive to the new SATA? Do I build the new machine, keep the IDE drive as the :C drive, do a rebuild install of XP, get the new machine up and running, and then clone the IDE to the SATA in the new machine, and then remove the IDE drive and hope that the new machine will recognize the SATA as the :C drive?

There must be a way to do this without too much pain (hah!).

Any and all help greatly appreciated!

[InTheWayBoy]

If the other machine is still working and you have the run, just build up the new one and then network the two. Transfer your data, shutdown, done. Of course, you'll need multiple keyboard, mouse, monitor, and the right network setup.

Otherwise I would normally build the new machine, install software, and then hook up the old IDE HD to the system. Copy files over, shutdown, remove IDE HD.

[cluberti]

Consider Sysprep 2.0 (probably on your XP CD in the /Support folder, in deploy.cab) and a cloning tool such as Symantec Ghost.