Hi Scott,
genuinebeing said:
I was doing a clone because I was going to upgrade it to Win7 to make better use of the SSD and see how well it would performed on my older machine It's mobo is sata based but has one IDE slot which I needed several years ago to migrate from an even older HDD. I wanted to gently ease it into Win7 and if I had snags could easly boot to old XP. Over the years, since (Dos 6.0) I've learned that MS new releases aren't always the greatest. Best let other test new OS's first.
![:) :)]()
BTW my 1st computer was a Commador64 (basic) and I used was a PET in high school. My 1st build was 286 based. Did I just give away my age... lol.
Vic 20, Black and White TV, cassette drive and 300 baud modem with a paperclip shoved in to short it to force it to work.
And yes I started on a PET as well as a TTY. My first 'PC' was a 386dx-40 and always was doing the 'alternative' ways of PCs, like Windows 3.1 on DR DOS 6.0, loading my mouse, keyboard, soundcard, and CD drive, and still having 730K of RAM left (think about it for a moment... heh
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:> ) .
I been through it all myself as well, and honestly, seriously honestly, with the changes implemented as of Vista, there is a mountain of difference between Vista-7-8 and XP, just as much as there was difference between 95/98 and NT 4.0 (if your getting my drift). While I abhor Vista, and think some serious mistakes were made in 8, 7 proved the best OS since XP or 98C, there is some changes, but it isn't that bad from XP to 7, what IS significant is, YOU (as I had to) have to let go CONTROL, you can't tweak the bejeebers out of it and all the 'tricks' we did, 7 is truly 'Use and Forget'. So I would tell, no... WARN you, while you may have done a nice HTPC, I will say 7 you need to FORGET EVERYTHING you know about XP and just take 7 as is. No tweaks, no fixes, no nothing, because you will (as I have before) break the OS even with the most 'simple' of things, because it is totally different and you are NOT the Admin over the PC anymore.
genuinebeing said:
I've been using XPpro on my office machine since upgrading from 3.11.... I had it trimmed and tweaked nicely and only had issues or BSOD when hardware failed. I didn't feel the need to switch it to Win7. It never had issues with any Win7 machine networked to it. Why mess with a good thing. It basically it ran Office, Chrome and a few other light programs. It's a little older, AMD64 based machine.
Yeah, Win7 been tested on ancient (aka legacy) systems and they work surprisingly snappy and such, but sooner or later when you compare the performance, expectations, and just over 'PC' with your i5 system, you just have to finally let the old thing die. First I found that the new '3 years and no more' hardware support warranty on all the parts does really mean after 3 years on ANY part, will just 'die' and you can't just grab a new 'part' to shove in as the tech changed too much that those parts are only on EBay and used. Second to that, the COST of parting a system is MUCH more then the cost of buying one, aka, PC are like cellphones and now 'disposable' ever 2 or 3 years to get the 'new model'. Case in point, Walmart $249 i3 laptop with 8GB RAM, W8, DVD, 1TB is a much better bargain and performance then trying to cludge working parts for your AMD64 machine.
So there is a point here, that is you need to let the old stuff go, and in the case of XP, there is some serious reasons why. First, no updates, no driver fixes, no patches. Which means you install a new Java update for Chrome and boom, conflict, and the solution: Oh we dont' support XP you need a current OS. Further any protection (aka patching the ports so no more Nimda Worm infects your computer simply because you 'connected' online) is no longer done by Microsoft, so if something crops up out there, it has free reign on XP systems. Lastly, as I noted, compatibility and demands on current systems are 1000 folder higher then older legacy systems, specifically the way many people now have 10 or more 'tabs open' on their viewer, running a streaming audio as background music, IMs popping up, Tweeting and FBing updates as well as constantly showing new content, running constant AV/AntiMalware protection, etc. etc. etc. all add up to alot of MULTITASKING current systems (like your i5) can handle but old little beasties like your updating, can't. They choke, the lag, they take forever to do what the modern system can do.
genuinebeing said:
Anyhow enough babbling... I like your suggestion and leaving MBR alone, it was my 1st thought. I gather WET has the ability to sort through the cross links in the registry. So to review:
1. Install and Run WET > backup all current data and settings to
USB ext HD. Will the capacity of ext HD make a difference?
Well depends on how much data we are talking. If for example your talking your entire pr0n collection that is 200GB alone, and that has nothing to do with your Outlook PST file, Favorites, etc. then yeah you will need some hefty space. As it is only saving data and settings (not programs) usually under 100GB is enough, normally seen around 50-75Gb for most people.
genuinebeing said:
2. Completely wipe SSD and HDD naked with DBAN > never used it but will give it a go.
3. Install Win XPsp2 from original CD to SSD > should I step up the clean sp2 install to sp3 final release prior to using restore? Also, I gather no partitions on either wiped drives and both should be connected at this time. Correct?
When you do the XP install you should apply all updates and patches to it BEFORE anything else. Once the OS is completely updated (last I checked that was some 300 or so fixes after SP3, requiring a dozen reboots and Windows Update scans) then proceed on to anything else. Personally I install OS + Office so it forces both sets of updates to install at the same time. There shouldn't be any partitioning, as it is not needed. Since Vista, security and other elements tie up the files pretty harshly, so having them across multiple partitions actually causes impacts then the old legacy method used to resolve. You need to remember, coded apps for Vista going forward all rely on Windows to provide many files automatically, and thus the 'program' doesn't reside in just one directory, but in hundreds over the entire drive.
genuinebeing said:
4. Make HDD for file / programs install >
Not sure what you mean? My 'Programs Files' current reside on same drive as 'Windows' Don't recall XP setup giving the choice of where to place the Program Files... Clarity please?
What I mean is, when you start a program install, you get prompted always, with multiple screens. Most people got trained to just 'click through' the prompts. With a SSD/HDD built you need to stop that activity and actually look through the screens then when you get to the point that says Program will INSTALL to path.... C:\Program Files\ This program you would change the path to D: instead of C: and that would put the program to install to the HDD. The problem is you need to pay attention even during updates, saves in your programs (SAVE AS > path... ) and so on. So this is a long term dedicated change to how you 'utilize' the computer, though it isn't a bad tough thing, just something to pay attention to.
genuinebeing said:
5. Install WET and run restore >
Manually, checking each prompt carefully! no the manual part is above, WET is pretty straight forward and a reboot later your 'desktop' looks just like it did before.