Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (
More info?)
Hi, Alan.
Upgrading the hard drive is one of the most natural upgrades we can make to
our computers. And MS provides no good way to handle it! You may be in for
a bumpy ride. :>(
You have two basic problems. The first is that your WinXP license is OEM.
That is, it was licensed to the Original Equipment Manufacturer for
installation on just one computer and it cannot be installed on any other
computer. How much hardware is allowed to be changed before your machine is
no longer "the same computer" is open to debate. You'll have to ask your
computer's manufacturer - the same people who did not furnish you a full
WinXP CD-ROM when you bought their machine. Most likely, you are going to
have to buy a full retail copy of WinXP to install on your newly-upgraded
computer.
The second problem is that when Setup installs WinXP, one of the first
things it does is detect your hardware environment, then it customizes your
copy of WinXP to fit that configuration. When there is a significant
change - and a new HD and SATA controller certainly count as significant -
then Setup must be run again to detect the new environment and re-configure
your copy of WinXP to fit that. Even if you could successfully "move" your
old OS to your new drive, it would still know how to boot from IDE, but not
from SATA.
In your case, you will have to start over. Physically install your new SATA
controller and drive. Make sure you have at hand the floppy diskette that
came with your new hardware; it contains drivers you will need. Then boot
from your shiny new WinXP CD-ROM and let Setup partition and format it.
Very early in the Setup process, there will be a message on the bottom of
your screen to Press F6 if you need to install SCSI or other mass storage
drivers. Press F6 and wait while Setup seems not to notice and continues to
copy files to the HD. When it finally stops, there will be instructions
onscreen for installing drivers from the floppy. After this, Setup should
reboot your computer - from the new SATA HD this time - and run to
completion.
Installing SATA or other drives as secondary devices is no more complicated
than installing a computer or other peripheral, but to install it as the
boot device requires this F6/floppy shuffle. Newer computers have SATA
support on the motherboard, but since yours came with "the tiny IDE drive",
you will no doubt have to add the SATA controller (probably on a PCI card)
and its drivers.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@corridor.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
"Alan G McWhan" <ThisStr@ngeEngine.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:d9s8c4$kdg$1@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Hi
>
> I have a new SATA hard drive and wish to make it my primary drive (so that
> I can dispose of the tiny IDE drive I originally had) but my PC did not
> come with installation discs for XP.
>
> I've tried searching the net to find out how to move the operating system
> from one drive to another but without any luck (all I can find are
> articles which tell you to boot from the installation disc - which I don't
> have!!!) - can anyone help? Is there any way I can create my OWN boot
> disc?
>
> Thanks for any help you can offer