I have two PATA hard drives and am thinking about installing a new and larger SATA drive to consolidate storage and remove some of the clutter and cables from my computer case. I use Acronis to back up my system.So, my question is, can I restore a backup to my new SATA drive and have all configurations recognized, including the several partitions I created on my two current PATA drives? Basically, I think this is like restoring programs and registery to a new computer, tho it is really the same box...just a new drive and configuration. Thanks for any help.Sherm

ANYONE????

Easy, killer! Just seeing your message now...You run the risk of hitting driver issues. Are you changing motherboards, or simply going over to SATA on the same motherboard?If you are keeping the same motherboard, go into the BIOS (with your old drives installed) and turn on the SATA controllers if you have to. If SATA is already turned on, the drivers may already be installed - if not, let Windows put the drivers in. Once that's done, make your Acronis image and give it a shot - you can always revert back to the old drives if it doesn't work.If you are changing the motherboard entirely, I would strongly recommend a complete re-install of the operating system - this is to prevent any HAL (hardware abstraction layer) problems from cropping up - and they tend to be ugly affairs. -Greg

hi Greg...thanks for the info...it is the same mobo...just thinking about adding some new hardware to give me more storage space. If I understand you correctly, my plan should be no prob. Of course, i could read the acronis docs, but that would be too easy wouldn't it..again, thanks...sherm

Sherm,I am all for using acronis or any other backup software. But I find that using a simple COPYING of PARTIAL or TOTAL drive content is more reliable and efficient. I have five Sata drives, 4 internal, 1 external. I use simple FOLDERS to copy my backups into. Never had a problem.Abe

Sounds like you might want to boot from the new drive and use the older PATAs for storage? Yes? If so, be aware some mobos do NoT like having 2 bootable HDs available at boot time. The poor mobo can get all confused and can wreck the installs on Both the primary AND the backup. It can be a real gut twistin' moment! I've had that Hard experience with an old 865 I still have running. Just selecting the boot drive in the bios is not enough. If you cloned in a CD (DOS) boot session to create an identical drive, you (might) have to physically unplug the original drive and just leave it hanging in the bay. Will this be necessary? You'll never know 'til it's too late. There's gotta be a better way. I use the Image method these days. That method constructs a single file in a backup directory where ever you want (like on your backup drive). Software (Acronis, for instance) will restore a drive from that file bit for bit. You can boot from the restored drive. The method has been bulletproof so far. I'm liking Norton Ghost 14 right now. Better imaging features than Acronis, imHo.