Hi: I plan to set up a new computer to run Vista and would like to establish a dual-bootup system with either a large drive partitioned or two hard drives. I have an Acronis backup of my current XP Pro system. Considering the different video and audio cards etc., between my current PC and the new one, is there any way I can restore the Acronis backup or will I have to do a fresh reinstall of XP? If I simply restore the backup, how likely is it that I will be able to locate all the necessary drivers for a satisfactory installation? Thanks.
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Restoring backup to a new computer 2
- Thread starter Jeep7955
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- #2
You can restore the backup, but its unlikely it will boot and if it does Windows is going to complain about to much hardware change and require re-activation. Which means it won't actually let you into the OS until you do.
Windows XP does not like hardware changes that massive.
Now if you get it to boot and then manage to re-activate it (you'll have to call Microsoft to work it out with them), you'll still need to find drivers for all your new hardware, which depending on the machine may be a pain to get for XP.
I think its less of a strain to just create a new installation.
If you want a Dual boot, make sure you install XP before you install Vista.
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
Windows XP does not like hardware changes that massive.
Now if you get it to boot and then manage to re-activate it (you'll have to call Microsoft to work it out with them), you'll still need to find drivers for all your new hardware, which depending on the machine may be a pain to get for XP.
I think its less of a strain to just create a new installation.
If you want a Dual boot, make sure you install XP before you install Vista.
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
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I would offer an alternative to dual booting...put the Vista installation on a separate drive. Most modern mainboards have a "boot select" key or key-combo that you press during POST to choose your boot device. This is cleaner than using Windows' bootloader.
As for the Win XP hard drive, install it then boot to the Windows CD. Bypass the Recovery Console and get to the "Repair an existing Installation" option. You are effectively running XP over itself, and you can supply RAID drivers etc. during install. Afterwards you will need to supply the new hardware drivers, so have a driver ready to go for your NIC so you can hit the 'Net and get them all.
Still, best choice would be a clean install from scratch. Best of luck.
Tony
Users helping Users...
As for the Win XP hard drive, install it then boot to the Windows CD. Bypass the Recovery Console and get to the "Repair an existing Installation" option. You are effectively running XP over itself, and you can supply RAID drivers etc. during install. Afterwards you will need to supply the new hardware drivers, so have a driver ready to go for your NIC so you can hit the 'Net and get them all.
Still, best choice would be a clean install from scratch. Best of luck.
Tony
Users helping Users...
- Thread starter
- #4
Many thanks, Vacunita and Tony. Appreciate your comment and especially the concluding recommendation from both of you. Guess I'll just get the new PC with Vista and forget about XP. Certainly no point in going through the reinstalling process twice.
In a related area, I have two questions: (1) Are you both Vista users? (2) What is your opinion regarding separate partitions for Windows, Applications, Data, etc.? My total Used space occupies about 35GB, so don't see a real advantage but would appreciate your comment on this subject. At this time my thought is to get a 350GB hard drive and establish a single partition of about 100GB for my use, leaving the remainder as Unallocated space for whatever need might develop.
In a related area, I have two questions: (1) Are you both Vista users? (2) What is your opinion regarding separate partitions for Windows, Applications, Data, etc.? My total Used space occupies about 35GB, so don't see a real advantage but would appreciate your comment on this subject. At this time my thought is to get a 350GB hard drive and establish a single partition of about 100GB for my use, leaving the remainder as Unallocated space for whatever need might develop.
1. I am currently not Using Vista, too many things I don't like about it, and many problems with drivers have prevented me from actually changing over.
So I stick with XP for now.
2. Its always good to keep your data away from your OS. It prevents unwanted loss when something happens to Windows.
I prefer to keep my data on a separate drive all together but a separate partition is good enough.
I'm also not a big fan of huge drives like 500GB drives, mainly because recovering data from such huge drives can be a pain. My larger drive is a 120 GB drive which has about
40 GB of my data and I backup about 10GB regularly to DVD's.
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
Same here. While I have a separate HDD with Vista on it since it came out, I choose to use XP as I have problems with the way Vista renders text. It's just not clear enough for me, and I've tried everything.
As for partitioning, on my RAID 1 array, I have ~50GB for OS & apps, and the remainder for data. This keeps the OS on the fastest part of the disk, the outer sectors, and keeps Windows problems from affecting the data array. I have C: as XP, D: as Data and V: as Vista on a separate drive.
Tony
Users helping Users...
As for partitioning, on my RAID 1 array, I have ~50GB for OS & apps, and the remainder for data. This keeps the OS on the fastest part of the disk, the outer sectors, and keeps Windows problems from affecting the data array. I have C: as XP, D: as Data and V: as Vista on a separate drive.
Tony
Users helping Users...
- Thread starter
- #7
Not your fault, the post was hastily composed and not very specific.
When I built my new rig, I bought (3) 320GB Seagate 7200.9 (I think) drives. Two were placed in a RAID 1 array, and the third was placed in an external enclosure for backups. Do not overlook this important piece, as ALL HDDs will eventually crash and burn, it's just a matter of when.
The array was partitioned into ~50GB for OS & apps and the rest for data. When booted into XP, the setup shows the OS partition as C:, and the data partition as D:. I used My Documents redirection to place that folder on the D: array.
A fourth drive, a 36 GB WD Raptor, was used for the Vista installation. It appears as V: when I'm booted into XP, but changes to C: when booted into Vista. D: remains as the Data array. This took a little drive renaming in Vista but once set it remembers the drive letter.
I set up a sub-directory of XP's now-redirected My Documents folder (on D
called VDocuments and redirected Vista's My Documents to that folder.
So, whether booted into XP or Vista, the D: array is always the data array. This setup works nicely for backups, as I don't need to backup the entire C: drive, just the D: partition. I also redirected my Outlook Express store to the D: drive, and if I used Outlook I would have the .PST files there as well.
I always name my backup drive B:, as it is almost always available. I leave my backup drive OFF when I'm not using it, when turned on it always shows up on both XP and Vista as B:. Hope this is more clear.
Tony
Users helping Users...
When I built my new rig, I bought (3) 320GB Seagate 7200.9 (I think) drives. Two were placed in a RAID 1 array, and the third was placed in an external enclosure for backups. Do not overlook this important piece, as ALL HDDs will eventually crash and burn, it's just a matter of when.
The array was partitioned into ~50GB for OS & apps and the rest for data. When booted into XP, the setup shows the OS partition as C:, and the data partition as D:. I used My Documents redirection to place that folder on the D: array.
A fourth drive, a 36 GB WD Raptor, was used for the Vista installation. It appears as V: when I'm booted into XP, but changes to C: when booted into Vista. D: remains as the Data array. This took a little drive renaming in Vista but once set it remembers the drive letter.
I set up a sub-directory of XP's now-redirected My Documents folder (on D
called VDocuments and redirected Vista's My Documents to that folder. So, whether booted into XP or Vista, the D: array is always the data array. This setup works nicely for backups, as I don't need to backup the entire C: drive, just the D: partition. I also redirected my Outlook Express store to the D: drive, and if I used Outlook I would have the .PST files there as well.
I always name my backup drive B:, as it is almost always available. I leave my backup drive OFF when I'm not using it, when turned on it always shows up on both XP and Vista as B:. Hope this is more clear.
Tony
Users helping Users...
- Thread starter
- #9
Walt...you're welcome, thanks for the star.
Remember you don't need to do it exactly as I or vacunita recommended, but note the common points:
1. Separate data drive/partition from OS
2. Backup, backup, backup! It's this second item that people seem to overlook when laying out their new systems. RAID 1, while offering redundancy and preventing loss if one drive crashes, is never a substitute for regular backups.
You can have an internal backup drive, an external backup drive, or spool off DVDs as vacunita does. I am in a hurricane zone and it is convenient to grab an external drive when evacuating. I also spool off DVDs from time to time and keep them at my office for offsite storage.
Best of luck to you.
Tony
Users helping Users...
Remember you don't need to do it exactly as I or vacunita recommended, but note the common points:
1. Separate data drive/partition from OS
2. Backup, backup, backup! It's this second item that people seem to overlook when laying out their new systems. RAID 1, while offering redundancy and preventing loss if one drive crashes, is never a substitute for regular backups.
You can have an internal backup drive, an external backup drive, or spool off DVDs as vacunita does. I am in a hurricane zone and it is convenient to grab an external drive when evacuating. I also spool off DVDs from time to time and keep them at my office for offsite storage.
Best of luck to you.
Tony
Users helping Users...
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