Dell dillema...

[qrs321]

So I have an old Dell 8400 Pentium 4 HT 3.0GHz/2GB DDR2 RAM/160GB SATA HD. I also have a 40GB SATA drive lying around collecting dust and would like o put it to good use. My plan is to add it to the Dell and put the OS (Windows XP SP3 32bit) and a few commonly used programs (Firefox, Thunderbird, Word, etc.) on that drive while storing the rest of my data and programs on the 160.

I have the original restore discs, quite a bit of patience, and hopefully enough know-how. I can't wrap my head around the logical aspect of this ...Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[KarmaKiller]

Ok I'm

What's the problem here?

[qrs321]

it's more of just asking a how-to...
basically, i want to add another hard drive and move the operating system onto that drive. I just don't know how to install the OS on that particular HD, or whether it will let me. So, how would I do this?

[Aaron_8015]

It would be easier to clone the drive (as long as there is less than 40gb's worth on the 160gb). A program like Acronis true image (I believe) will work, I have used it once in the past.

[KarmaKiller]

Ohhhhh... ok
Your wanting to move the dell OS onto the other drive.
I would agree with Aaron then. Best way would be to image the install, then reinstall it on the other drive.
There are lots of programs you can use to do that.

[qrs321]

ok, is there any way to clone just the OS, or am I going to have to clone the whole drive? Also, are there any free programs you could recommend, or am i just going to have to spend some moey on this?

[Aaron_8015]

I used the trial for this,

Acronis backup software and recovery services in UK. Backup software for data backup and disaster recovery in Windows and Linux - Acronis

Although it was version 6 or 7, not sure if its changed.

AFAIK it clones everything on the drive, may be some new features though......

[KarmaKiller]

Paragon Adaptive Imaging Tools - Get Free Version

Miray Software - HDClone - Hard disk copy, hard disk backup, hard disk rescue!

DriveImage XML Backup Software

Macrium Reflect Backup and Hard Disk Image software for Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003/2008

Backup software for data backup and disaster recovery in Windows and Linux - Acronis

Any of those should work. I've used paragon and acronis before.

In my experience with them, they'll give you the option of just the OS install, whole partition, or whole drive.

[qrs321]

thanks for your help! I'm going to get on this tomorrow...

[EXreaction]

Clonezilla will easily clone the drive, it's free and open source too.