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If I were to intall a copy of Vista on a new hard disk, i.e. a completely clean install, how hard would it be to transfer my existing settings and software from an XP install on another hard drive?
Or is worth just reinstalling everything from scratch?
I've succesfully used the documents & settings transfer wizard to export from XP & import to vista. Software tho will have to be reinstalled from scratch.
And back up everything of importance first, just in case :)
So can I have a clean install of Vista running and transfer an old XP install from a connected disk, or does it have to be transfered from a running copy of windows?
You boot into XP, run the files and settings transfer wizard and let it back the data up to somewhere that will be accessible in Vista. Then you boot into Vista and run the same wizard to restore the settings to your new install.
Do you want to do a clean install because you want to do a clean install, or are you moving it because you have got a bigger disk?
Pretty much because I'll probably be moving to a bigger disk. And because if I do it I'll be going to a 64 bit version from a 32 bit one.
Make sure you only have your new hard disk connected to the mobo when you install Vista as otherwise who knows where the system partition will end up.
If you XP disk is at SATA 0 it will go there...
The system partition will sit on whichever disk the BIOS looks at first
Cheers all. Sounds like the best idea would be to unplug the old drives before I start installing it.
If you were only moving to a bigger disk, I'd have suggested just cloning the disk (which you could still do - then upgrade to 64 bit) but a clean install is probably a safer (if tedious) option.