What to do with old HDD on new system?

Old System:
Motherboard: Acer FC51GM
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 2.21 GHz
Storage: 180 GB, two equal partitions, 5200rpm
Memory: 1 GB DDR RAM
Video Card: NVidia 9500GT
OS: Windows XP Home SP 3

New System:
Motherboard: Asus M3A76-CM, Socket AM2+, AM3 ready
CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 250 dual-core 3.0GHz
Storage: Samsung HD502HI 500GB 7200rpm
Memory: 4GB PNY DDR2 800Mhz PC6400
Video: has onboard ATI Radeon 3000, but I will be installing my NVidia 9500GT

Components are bought for a total of $265, which makes me happy. Tomorrow I will pick up Vista with my student discount. Tomorrow or Sunday I am hoping to build the new system. I will be using the same case and PSU from the old system.

Questions:

1) Can I install my old HDD as a second physical drive and boot from it when I'd like? This would save me some trouble and time, since I have several older games (Fallout, Planescape: Torment, Arcanum) installed. It would be great if I didn't have to worry about installing them in Vista, transferring saves, etc., etc.

2) Could I instead clone my old drive with OS and apps intact onto a partition of the new drive? Would I then be building a dual-boot system, XP and Vista? I have been reading up on Arconis, and it seems that if I went this route it might be best to install this XP clone BEFORE installing Vista on another partition. If I went this route, I can just keep my old drive as backup (not a restore-backup, but something to use in an interim if and when the new drive dies).

I've been gleaning useful information on these forums for a long time now. This is the first time I've had questions I couldn't quite answer just by lurking. So, hello all you wonderful techies!

gothemasticator

i'd keep it as an emergency backup in case the new HDD fries, only because there's no reason to throw it away, you can either install it to the case and just leave it unplugged, or put it in storage for better airflow in your case.

You can also use it as a 2nd storage drive, effectively giving you a 3-partition 640gb instead of a 2-partition 500gb, just be sure to wipe it clean before doing so to avoid the boot problems cmichael was referring to

Thanks for the answers. Once I have the new rig up and running and have transferred everything I care about from the old drive, I will wipe it and install it as a second physical drive.

So, I'm going to go ahead and sound stupid, but I've never installed a downloaded OS on a new system. I've only ever used an install disc. How would I go about booting the new system with a downloaded OS?

gothemasticator

You can always get Acronis True Image and create a bootable image of your new system. Comes in handy if you have a drive failure.

Start by going to: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/w [...] fault.aspx Then look on the right hand side for

"Download the Release Candidate or retrieve your product key"

Click on "Start here".

The download will be a .iso file. If you are not familiar with burning iso files to DVDs this is a little tricky and it varies with different programs. With Nero look for "Bootable Data Disk" or "Burn Image to Disk" . If you do a copy, when you look at the DVD, you will actually see your .iso file. If you do, you didn't do it right.

If you burn a bootable image, you will see that it has unpacked a number of folders and files, and that none of them end in iso. That is what youy want to see.

Then you have to go into your bios and make sure that your DVD is first in the boot order. Then restart your computer, and when it says something like Press enter to boot from the CD or DVD, do it.

The Windows 7 RC is as reliable as Windows Vista, and in most ways is better.

So, I decided to go the dual-boot route: Windows 7 and Ubuntu. By the time next April rolls around I should be able to decide whether to pay for 7. Right now, this gives me two free OSs.

And, I've been busy today burning cds and dvds of many isos, mostly old games for which I no longer have the discs, or they are too damaged too trust anymore.

Tomorrow will be a busy day building and then installing much software. Fun!

gothemasticator