Newbie here, old hard drive to new hard drive

I have a new Dell computer arriving today. I am going to pop my current hard drive in the new computer but as a slave. I would clone the old drive to the new drive, but there are some programs coming on the new system that I want to keep. Can someone please explain how I can get my old hard drive data/programs etc over to the new one. I was just trying this out with a D drive I have in my old system. I backed it up and I tried to recover it to the C drive, only to be told "Cannot restore partition because the image file is on the same partion you are going to restore". I would really appreciate anyone's insight, I am sure this isnt as hard as I am making it out to be.

 

In a situation like yours, it will be better to reinstall the programs on the new Dell. The data that you already have from those programs can just be copied with Windows Explorer to the new drive in whatever location you desire. A few reasons for doing this: Since it is new hardware, trying to use True Image to Restore the image of the old drive to the new Dell drive involves jumping through a few hoops. Also the Registry in your old drive probably has accummulated a lot of unnecessary items over time. Starting off with the new Dell will avoid this.
But on that new Dell, you would probably want to remove all the Trialware, crapware, and other bloatware that all new systems have on them. After you do this, make a backup Image of it so that you can Restore it to this state if you have to. Remember the Dell Recovery CDs will put back all the Bloatware items you just took off. After you make this first Image with TI, install all your programs and data then make another Image.
Hope this isn't too confusing. Oh another thing, you can do all of the Backup, Recovery, or Cloning procedures with the bootable TI Rescue CD. I prefer this way so that background items running in Windows do not interfere with the True Image process.

 

Thanks for the advice, the new Dell just arrived, I will start with removing all the bloatware and work from there. Thanks!

 

Back to square one. I popped open the new Dell to install the old drive. Seems the connections have changed. My old Maxtor 40GB drive doesnt have the same cables! What options do I have know to transfer my old data to the new drive

 

Probably the simplest way is to put the drive back into the old computer and if it has a CD burner use it to make copies of your data and load to the new computer.

Xpilot

 

Whats the best way to do that? I have never backed up files to a CD before....I wanted to save my email (outlook express), Internet Favorites, etc.

 

Basically what I mean is, how many CD's should I anticipate using, and should I run True Image for this?

 

Included in Programs,Accessories,System tools is the Windows Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.
In general terms it sets up the new computer to receive the data from the old compuer and is the means for gathering all the data together from the old computer.

The actual transfer media can be Floppies,Cds or you can use a direct cable connection. Here is a descriptive link :-
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/deploy/mgrtfset.mspx#top

If you have somewhere to store an image of your new system in it's virgin state you will have the confidence to proceed in the knowledge that you can always step back and begin again if you have problems.

Anyway have a look at this method and see if it will do what you want.

Xpilot

 

New is probably SATA while the old is PATA/IDE. If you want to still make use of your old drive, I suggest an external HD enclosure.

 

Thanks again, the Files and Settings Wizard is buzzing away. I think this should move hopefully all of what I need over to the new CPU (which I have yet to turnon). FTW has been running for about 30 minutes, so I am wondering how many CD's its going to want to move all this data!

 

Any help here? I sat through an hour of it going through the motions only to have it tell me that no disc was in the drive. It seems like its looking for an A: drive, but I told it to look for an F: drive....am I missing something here?

 

Have a read of the article. Each computer needs to tell the other one what to expect and this is usually done by means of a floppy disk.

Xpilot

 

Would an external hard drive work? I dont have a floppy drive on the new CPU

 

Connect your old drive to this enclosure. It works very well.

http://206.128.27.142/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/9/t/000143.html