Upgrade tomorrow: Athlon 3000+ to E6400, need pro advice

[racerboywonder]

To start off, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Here's the deal. I'm posting this thread because there are people here who have done a lot more system builds and installations than I have, and I want to make sure I don't forget anything, or do anything incorrectly...so thanks in advance.

Okay...tomorrow afternoon, I'll be going from this:

S754 Athlon 3000+
Soyo SK8USA Dragon Ultra
ATI 9600 XT
1 GB Kingston DDR 400
1 X 60 GB PATA Maxtor (OS, Games, documents), 1 X 120 GB SATA Seagate (everything else)

To this:

E6400
Asus P5B Deluxe
Leadtek 7900 GS
1 GB Patriot DDR2800

1) Now I hope to buy a couple 160 GB SATA Seagates (on the cheap...love Thanksgiving/Black Friday!) this evening, and I want to transfer the image of my 60 GB Maxtor over to one of them and make it the primary drive. I was planning on using Acronis True Image 10 to do so...can I go directly from one drive to the other, or do I need to make DVDs?

2) I'm running XP Pro (SP1, had to install SP2 update), and I'm obviously going to have to make some software updates, driver changes, etc. Here are my questions:

-I can reinstall XP Pro without losing my programs, right?
-I'll need to download the dual-core patch, correct?
-Are there any programs, things I should do before I make the motherboard switch?
-Anything I should worry about afterwards?

Thanks again for your input...I really appreciate it!

 

[Chainzsaw]

1) I'm not sure if you can actually image your 60GB HD to a 160GB drive, if it was identical then I think it would be possible. If I were you I would just re-install XP. Maybe someone has a better idea? Not to mention your going from ATI drivers to Nvidia, so it's best to rebuild your entire machine from scratch so you don't get any hiccups. Download all the drivers/programs you need, burn them to a CD and reinstall your OS on your 160GB drive. (I reccomend using your 60GB as a slave if you're using it)

2) If i'm correct and you can't image your 60GB to the 160GB, then yes you WILL have to re-install your programs.

You don't explicitly NEED the duel-core patch, unless your system is crashing and it's NOT attributed to any hardware-related problems.

You should Download Memtest www.memtest86.com/ , so once you get your computer set it run it for a few hours to make sure your RAM is OK.

You might want to just use your 60GB as a slave and transfer all your important data to your main 160GB drive and format the 60GB, and transfer them back, it sounds...like a lot of work but at least you will have your information.

Other than that it looks all good!

Hope this helps.

 

[shadowduck]

Ghost will support imaging to a partition.. you will need to partition the 160GB drive first and make a 60GB partition (use windows setup, but don't actually install Windows, or use something like Partition Magic) Then it should work just fine.

 

[racerboywonder]

Thanks guys...I've been thinking about it for a while...I think I might just start fresh on one of the new drives I got this evening. I've saved pretty much all of my important stuff to my current SATA, so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle. There's only one problem...I really want to make a slipstream CD for the installation, but I can't download SP2 just by itself...I already have it on my system, and it seems I can't download again from Windows Update. Can I use the IT Pros and Developer's version without any problem?

 

[shadowduck]

Yeah no problem.. the full version is on MS's website.. look for SP2 Network install or something similar for the full thing.

 

[racerboywonder]

Thanks sd...I actually just found the SP2 disc that I picked up at the store when it first came out. I think I'm good!