So I am thinking of picking up a new computer, as my current fastest Desktop is a pIII 500, and I run audio (professionally) and would love to take advantage of the screamin’ fast new processors available now… but the thing is…
I have spent a long time very carefeully tweaking and customizing my installation (Win2K) to work really well for multitrack audio. I have next to no software insalled, but a ton of patches and upgrades and plug ins, and a few peripherals that would take a ton of time to reinstall and tweak to get the thing back to where i want it.
I have no interest in WinXP yet, as 2K is working great, so basically the only reason I want to upgrade is to get a p4 1.8 Gig processor and a motherboard that can handle more RAM.
The question is… can i just buy a new P4 box and before even turning it on, switch out the internal hard drive with my current one? If so, what trouble might I run into this way? If not… what other way might I go to avoid having to completely start over.
I like Dells and have been purchasing them for years, and the new models look pretty sharp, so i think unless anybody has a better suggestion I’ll stay with them. I think thats most fo the pertinent information.
It won’t really matter if you turn the new computer on or not. It will store everything on the hard drive that comes with it.
I’ve swapped Win9x hard drives into completely new systems and had it work. The PC will have to churn through several reboots and configuration questions, but it usually works.
I’ve never tried it with Win2K however. I would guess that it should handle it even better than Win9x being a much more stable OS.
One thing: Back up your old hard drive before attempting this!!! I cannot overemphasize that. You could easily mess it up to the point where its unbootable and/or inaccessible.
I know that 98 does it with little problem. You may have to reboot a couple times, but it should work (just connecting the old W2K HD onto the new motherboard).
By the by, I would heavily suggest against buying any name-brand such as Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq, etc… They often use sub-standard parts, particularly motherboards, that can cause headaches/uncurable problems if you alter or expand your hardware later. (It worls fine with what software and hardware they sold it with, and anything else isn’t their problem…) -Go to someplace online that lets you choose all of the components, and then look up reviews on the net of all the components to prevent your own future headaches. - DougC
I’ve swapped drives as described above with Win95, Win98SE, and Win2K with no problems.
Another option you might want to consider if you want to take adavantage of today’s huge hard drives is to make a hard drive image and copy it to the new hard drive. Programs such as Symantec’s Norton Ghost or Powerquest’s Drive Image make this process relatively painless.
so to consilidate the info I’ve gotten from yall so far:
I should
BACK UP current HD to disc or ext drive.
buy a new box, not a ready made big name, but essentailly just the Mobo and processor…
pull the hard drive from the new comp and ghost the image of my current drive onto it. (Using my current comp).
Put new HD back in new comp
transfer my peripherals: firewire card, SCSI card, PCI Sound Card, USB MIDI controler, the graphics card from current comp, and my 128 Mb RAM card (plus maybe a bit of extra RAM if I can afford it) to new computer.
Boot the new comp w/ the new hard drive (which theoretically now looks just like my old drive 'cept bigger and faster)
and after a few reboots I will be reaping the rewards of the faster processor, with the conveinience of having my installation of Win2k Largely in tact? and my programs and drivers already installed?
Sounds good to me,
I won’t be doing this for a couple of months, now just in the research phase, so pray for me.
CJ
Bad Hat , if you’re going to be putting all your periferals and a new HD in this new machine, you should just buy a new mobo and processor that match your case (usually they’re AT or ATX). In fact, you might even be able to upgrade your current mobo to a hot new processor (but i doubt it).
If you’re not too great at computers, you should take your machine up to a local best Buy or CompUSA or anywhere that you feel is a reputible computer upgrading place (ie has guarantees) and see if they can help you for a resaonable price.
If not, this is a pretty simple procedure and you should be able to research it in books and online. And you might have fun doing it!
I agree with all the other folks about making a change to a larger HDD. I also suggest finding how much RAM your new motherboard will hold and go for it. It’s VERY cheap right now and very worth it. Especially if you’re doing music processing, get the highest speed CPU you can afford and as much RAM as your mobo will hold, and a 7200 RPM hard drive. You will be very happy.
I would give myself about a 7.5 or 8 for hardware noodling proficiency. I replace PCI cards, power supplies, add RAM, etc pretty regularly and confidently. Lay people find me generally pretty impressive in my comfort w computer innards.
I bow humbly before people who actually know what they are doing however, and usually defer to SDMB or other on line resources for info if I don’t know something.
Between posting my OP and now, I found a computer company called Carillon Systems, who are the first (to my knowledge) computer company to custome build boxes for audio. (the have extrememey quiet and schock insulated bodies, as well as being rack mountable, and a number of other gimmicks that sound pretty good.
Cheap too, with a 2 gig P4, with 512 of RAM, and a couple of Hard drives and a CDRW drive all for about 2 grand even. No monitor or peripherals, but my monitor works fine and I really don’t want the peripherals anyway…
I still intend to take the same steps I outlined earlier, provided that carillon things its a good plan. Take the new hard drive, ghost my current hard drive on to it, and then boot up the new computer with the ghost image from the current comp. All this of course AFTER backing up the current hard drive.
thanks again folks
CJ
He’s better off with a new case/power supply as he’s moving to the P4.
I agree with the above though on staying away from brand names. You are building a DAW, Dell is not an option
As for transfering the old drive to new drive with W2k, most times it works. I would recommend doing a copy to a new drive though instead of using your old drive. If it doesn’t work you might end up with a big mess trying to get it going.
I would suggest getting all your patches in order and just biting the bullet and doing a nice clean install. I know it’s a pain -I just did it on my DAW not a few weeks ago.
Another thought: if you’re putting a system together and it’s possible, buy the motherboard and processor and then have them test the combination before they ship it. It’s tough to argue that it was already screwed up if it’s obvious to them that you aren’t real familiar with what you’re doing. - DougC
