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Planned upgrades

bluep
bluep Posts: 1,302 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
Recently I have bought a new PSU, new graphics card, new case and some extra ram. I know swopping over the case and PSU shouldn't make any difference, but I want to plan effectively the best way to upgrade the rest without really messing up windows XP.

I also have a new 200GB HD that I want to transfer my entire ops systema and C: contents to (basically nothing other than program installs and Win XP and drivers as all my other stuff is on other HDs).

So, I'm planning to use Norton Ghost to boot off of and swop over the HDs but what order am I best to do everything in? I have my original Win XP cd and install code (I'm pretty sure I do!), so what happens with hardware upgrades?

Am I best to replace all the hardware, get it all working then transfer over the hard drives? or swop the hard drives over, get it all stable and working and then upgrade the hardware piece by piece (to identify if anything isn't working separately).

Other thing is too - I have a new artic pro cooling fan for my CPU that comes pre-thermal pasted (Arctic Freezer Pro 64) and already have a socket 939 64 mount for a heatsink and fan. Anything I need to bear in mind when replacing the heatsink on the CPU? I.e. does it need cleaning or do I need to be particularly careful of anything?

Comments

  • bluep wrote:
    Other thing is too - I have a new artic pro cooling fan for my CPU that comes pre-thermal pasted (Arctic Freezer Pro 64) and already have a socket 939 64 mount for a heatsink and fan. Anything I need to bear in mind when replacing the heatsink on the CPU? I.e. does it need cleaning or do I need to be particularly careful of anything?

    A lot of people replace the stock thermal goop with a better compound such as Arctic Silver 5. From the reviews I've read the OEM TIM pads from Arctic Freezer are really effective so not worth it in this case. When you take off the old heatsink you'll need to clean any old goop off the top of the CPU IHS before fitting the new one. Best to do this with cotton buds and proprietary TIM cleaner, e.g. Akasa TIM Clean. Then remove the excess fluid using cotton buds and rubbing/wood alcohol. Go to your pharmacy and ask for Iso-Propyl Alcohol B.P.

    :cool:

    TOG
    604!
  • Omertron
    Omertron Posts: 574 Forumite
    bluep wrote:
    Recently I have bought a new PSU, new graphics card, new case and some extra ram. I know swopping over the case and PSU shouldn't make any difference, but I want to plan effectively the best way to upgrade the rest without really messing up windows XP.
    No chance... you are swapping too many components for XP not to notice and have a fit!
    bluep wrote:
    I also have a new 200GB HD that I want to transfer my entire ops systema and C: contents to (basically nothing other than program installs and Win XP and drivers as all my other stuff is on other HDs).
    I'd suggest a complete reinstall of XP, thus ensuring that you don't pollute your new PC with old drivers and the like.
    bluep wrote:
    So, I'm planning to use Norton Ghost to boot off of and swop over the HDs but what order am I best to do everything in? I have my original Win XP cd and install code (I'm pretty sure I do!), so what happens with hardware upgrades?
    I always build the whole PC in one go and press the power button with one hand while keeping fingers crossed in the other. If it doesn't work then I start removing items to troubleshoot.
    Just to save you the time, I'm fairly sure that windows WILL NOT BOOT if you move the image to another hard drive, you'll need to reinstall the OS. At least it wouldn't when I tried.
    - = I also recognise the Robins and beep for them = -
  • BillScarab
    BillScarab Posts: 6,027 Forumite
    I've successfully moved windows from a Maxtor drive to a seagate one using DriveImage without problems. You do have to remember to change the flag on the new drive to make it bootable though.
    It's my problem, it's my problem
    If I feel the need to hide
    And it's my problem if I have no friends
    And feel I want to die


  • crox
    crox Posts: 371 Forumite
    I'd be tempted to go for a rebuild, put the new harddrive in first, get xp installed then add the old one, copy the files I wanted to keep to a temp folder on the new drive, format the old drive then copy the files back.
    It's always good to have a clean build, especially as your installing a new graphics card.
    That's my 2p anyway.
    If you want to point my documents etc to directories on the secondary drive you can download powertoys that lets you change special folders.
  • bluep
    bluep Posts: 1,302 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I've got far too many programs installed to do a clean reinstall to be honest. I'd rather keep it on the old HD!
    I'm not worried about my docs or any stuff like that!

    If windows has a fit re hardware replacement, is it just matter of re-validating? Because that's not really too much of a problem to be honest. As for the old drivers...the only thing I am replacing that needs drivers is the graphics card. I'm going to delay on the extra ram for a while until I decide to go to 1gb sticks.
  • bluep
    bluep Posts: 1,302 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Just to let you all know.
    I used the free version of XXClone to copy my C: including the master boot record and volume id to my new hard drive - it booted up first time (unlike the attempt with Norton Ghost which froze halfway through windows loading) and has been running stable now for 2 days. Only thing I had to do was reregister Norton Internet Security over the internet.

    I uninstalled my old graphics drivers, plugged the new card in and loaded the new drivers when XP booted up. No problems at all.

    Can't see what difference transferring to a new case is going to make. All in all, good.
  • Omertron wrote:
    No chance... you are swapping too many components for XP not to notice and have a fit!


    shouldn't have a fit. The only component that'll matter is the video card. PSu and case won't have any effect at all on XP. The memory will be picked up by the BIOS as soon as it's switched on.
    when the video card is put in Windows will spot it and want the new drivers.
  • Badly worded by me, I meant that XP would probably require a re-validation (WGA).
    However, the OP seems to have found a good program to move windows across hard drives, as I had the same problem with Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image.
    - = I also recognise the Robins and beep for them = -
  • bluep
    bluep Posts: 1,302 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    After fiddling around with Ghost, True Image and Maxblaster, I couldn't recommend XXClone more - its a great little program, very clear to use, clearly worded help on their website and did exactly the job in a very short space of time compared to the other image progs. Moreover, its free!
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