Data transfer

[Bahumat]

Hard Drive A = SSD (new)
Hard Drive B = Sata 2 (new)
Hard Drive C = IDE (currently being used & has Vista installed)

My new hard drives come this week (A & B). I would like to copy some of the data from my current hard drive (C), onto the newer hard drive. These are my options.

1) Boot pc with only hard drive C attached (current setup). Plug in external drive and back up my bookmarks, pictures, films, games etc etc. Remove C, plug in A & B, format, install windows etc, then copy data off the external drive.

2) Boot pc with all 3 hard drives (Order would be SSD, Sata 2, IDE). Install Windows 7 on SSD, then once up and running, copy and paste the data off IDE onto the SSD and Sata 2.

Option 2 sounds the easiest, but would I have a higher chance of transferring a virus from the Vista IDE drive onto one of the new ones?

 

[Zenith.UK]

Best bet is this IMO...

Install the SSD drive alone and install Win7 on it.
Tweak the OS to taste and install applications and programs, most importantly some sort of AV (I use Avast! myself).
Once you've got a system that you're happy with, shut it down and install the two remaining drives.
Boot once again, allow the BIOS to autodetect the new drives, then allow Windows to autodetect them. You might need to restart one more time.

Copy and paste to your hearts content. Use copy instead of move as it'll save you a lot of time when it come to GB's and GB's of files.

Once you're all done, shut down and unplug the IDE drive. Get yourself an enclosure or dock and you could use it as an external drive. I've got a Sharkoon Quickport Combo which allows you to read SATA or IDE drives (not both at the same time unfortunately) which only cost £30-£35. It's good for backing up those old drives IDE drives onto newer SATA ones.

 

[Bahumat]

Best bet is this IMO...

Install the SSD drive alone and install Win7 on it.
Tweak the OS to taste and install applications and programs, most importantly some sort of AV (I use Avast! myself).
Once you've got a system that you're happy with, shut it down and install the two remaining drives.
Boot once again, allow the BIOS to autodetect the new drives, then allow Windows to autodetect them. You might need to restart one more time.

Copy and paste to your hearts content. Use copy instead of move as it'll save you a lot of time when it come to GB's and GB's of files.

Once you're all done, shut down and unplug the IDE drive. Get yourself an enclosure or dock and you could use it as an external drive. I've got a Sharkoon Quickport Combo which allows you to read SATA or IDE drives (not both at the same time unfortunately) which only cost £30-£35. It's good for backing up those old drives IDE drives onto newer SATA ones.

ahh good plan. Also thanks for the Copy tip

 

[MYstIC G]

Teracopy ftw

 

[Yaka]

Teracopy ftw

MYstIC meG is not only mystic but wise