I recently picked up a Seagate Barracuda ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATAll hard drive to replace my old two IDE hard drives.

I have a Norton ghost image of Windows XP that I have been updating for several years on one of my IDE hard drives. I plan on testing the Seagate hard drive and then partitioning it. I want to eventually mount my ghost image from the old IDE hard drive onto the new SATA hard drive.

I found the following useful HWA thread:
-Norton Ghost IDE to SATA drive clone XP reboot issue !!!!!!!
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/19438/

Apparently I have to use a Microsoft program called "Sysprep" which sets XP back to factory settings & rebuilds the drivers after the first reboot on the new drive.

Does anybody have experience with Sysprep? Has anyone here done this before? Microsoft's instructions for using Sysprep are a bit confusing.

Actually I have done this, but with Acronis TrueImage and it should not be that much different with Norton. The only problem that I got was a "Limited Virtual memory" error after the image was transferred from one HD to another. After research, I found a fix which was to load a Windows 98 Disk, and use fdisk to repair the MBR with the following command: FDISK /MBR

Rebooted, worked fine.

Give it a shot without sysprep and see how it goes. It has worked fine for me. But here are some articles with Ghost/Sysprep:

This is a really good one: http://blog.hishamrana.com/2006/02/22/how-to-image-windows-xp-...nd-sysprep

http://prowiki.isc-csg.upenn.edu/index.php/How_to_Use_MS_Syspr...ntec_Ghost

http://www.techimo.com/forum/storage-related/80137-usage-norto...sprep.html

Thanks for your help Josh. I will try it either later today or tomorrow.

UPDATE:
-installed the new SATA hardrive and it is working properly (no bad sectors etc.)
-partitioned the SATA (drive letter I)
-used Norton Ghost to mount the image from my old IDE to the new SATA
-shutdown computer
-unplugged BOTH IDE hard drives (leaving just the SATA plugged in)
-went into the BIOS and changed boot priority so that SATA is the primary boot device
-booted up computer
-gets past POST but after that just a black screen. Therefore the clone attempt failed.
-plugged in IDE hard drives, changed boot sequence back and currently running off the old IDE

I did NOT use Sysprep or Acronis True Image.

I am currently downloading Acronis True Image Home 15 days trial. Hopefully it will help me clone my IDE hard drive to SATA.

I am determined to get this working! Any suggestions?

Thanks for the help thus far.

You may have to read those articles I gave you regarding Norton + Sysprep. This worked for me using Acronis TrueImage Home 10.0. You may also want to check out Universal Restore: http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATICW/universal-restore.html

I have actually done this many times. Sometimes I order a new hard drive for a customer and in the days I am wating for it to arrive, I'll start the installation of Windows/Programs/Drivers etc on some old drive. When the new hard drive arrives, i just make an image and pass it onto the new one with TrueImage, works beautifully even if the drives are completely different.

Thanks for the help Joshua.

Today (at about 2am lol) I installed Acronis True Image trial version. I created a backup of the IDE, and then I mounted the backup on the the new SATA. I shut down the computer, unplugged all IDE hard drives and my computer succesfully booted off the SATA! I did not even have to use SysPrep.

The only problem is after cloning the IDE to the SATA drive my old version of Norton Ghost doesn't work anymore. It is not a big deal. I plan on purchasing either Norton Ghost 14 OR Acronis True Image 11. I will research the two when I get home.

Once again thanks for all the help! I saved a significant amount of time by being able to clone my IDE to SATA drive.

Awesome! Enjoy!

Also, once in TrueImage, checkout Acronis Secure Zone. It allows you to create a hidden partition where you can save an image. When the computer starts, before Windows loads you get a prompt: "Press F11 for Acronis Startup Recovery Manager", which allows you to restore your image. This is basically how manufacturers such as Dell, HP, etc. allow you to perform a recovery on your computer. It's a wonderful tool.