Hi all.

I just got my first SATA drive and will be installing it soon. I've used IDE drives for years. When I would get a new/ replacement drive - and after partitioning and formatting the new drive - I would do a slave/ master thing with the two drives and copy all the files I wanted from the old drive to the new drive.

You don't do that with an IDE to SATA, do you? The SATA drive has different connection cables, right? And yes, my motherboard is capable of supporting SATA connections.

So after I've set up the new SATA drive in my system, and it's been formatted and had the operating system of Windows XP Pro on it, do just connect the old IDE drive to the proper slot on the motherboard with the ribbon cable, boot the system back up, and then will I "see" it in My Computer?

Am I right in guessing that this is not a slave/ master thing like two IDE drives hooked together on the same flat ribbon cable?

Thanks for any info, tips, or suggestions.
Pez

That is correct. One thing though, if you don't want to start over by reinstalling windows o nthe new drive try this: connect the new SATA drive to your computer and boot it. Windows will load from your old hard drive and Will detect and install drivers for the new SATA drive. Once that is done, use partition magic or some sort of disk copying tool to copy everything from your old drive to the new drive. Then reboot your computer. Enter the BIOS setup and configure the SATA to be the first boot device. Once that is complete, you will be using the new SATA drive, and everything will be just the same as before you made the change.

-Ryan Adams
http://members.cox.net/rtadams89/

Except the drive letter will remain the same as it WAS assigned. This means your programs won't work. Instead, use the drive utility from the manufacturer for the brand drive you will be cloning to. THEN everything will be as it was.