Migration to a new desktop.

Pardon me for saying so, but is this a gag? Good heavens, here's your chance for a fresh start and you want to throw it away???

Imo, you should bag XP and use W7 or some flavor of linux or even get an Apple and use Snowleopard. The newer OSes are much safer, more robust, and even look much nicer than XP. Plus your current installation is over 10 years old and the registry is probably full of all kinds of software detritus that collects over time.

But if you want to move your system disk image to your new PC you can backup your curent system disk and then restore it to the new PC. Check out the stickies and read up Grover's guide before you do. HOWEVER, your current system has drivers for your current hardware and that won't be the same as your new hardware. So you are going to have to work around this. The more expensive version of ATI has a module to help with this. HOWEVER, and this is a big one, some of the new hardware might not have drivers that work under XP--be sure to check that out before you bag the OS that comes on the machine or take any steps that you can't reverse.

Imo, if there is some legacy program that you want to run, you can probably run it under a virtual DOS or other virtual environment within one of the newer OSes or just keep your old machine around to run that one program when you need to -- that will be easier than trying to kludge ten-year old setup onto a new machine. Even if you were going form a two- year old machine back in the days of XP, I'd still recommend going fresh on the new machine.

A ten year old PC setup is like driving a 30 year old car or buying a new car and trying to make it just like the 30 year old car. Some folks do it, sure. But for most folks there comes a time to step into the future, which is already in progress.

Just my opinion

Thanks Scott,
your answer is OK, but is not tuned for my normal use and , more, of course you have very little info about my staff.
My old PC is VERY WELL updated and clean, so is the registry etc. I worked for many years in the electronic field and I care these products. I want to change only because the MTBF is at last and may happen any moment some serious failure. (Not on the several HD I have on, as they have been frequently upgraded).
For my PC use it's very very important not to have trouble using what I am using (Hardware and Software wise) So I like to change very little about OS, specially when it's so consolidated as XP Pro.
I was looking for opinions about migration workout, as generally it takes a lot of time for people, like me, with a lot of software to reinstall. Frankly I don't trust too much on dedicated software to help transfer. I mentioned the cloning work as it's the easiest work to do.. but it's brute ...
Thanks for you hint about drivers.. but I am optimistic about...

Hi Manlio,
In order to transfer the contents of your actual HD to a new machine ,you have to use Acronis True Image Home 2011 to which a special add-on has to be included, called Plus Pack ,formerly known as Universal Restore. I already used it a few times in a situation like yours and may tell you that it works well, most of the time....
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/plus-pack.html

Just to confuse you even more - with XP, so long as you have an XP install CD with all the service packs and updates on it, this should be quite easy to accomplish.

If your XP CD doesn't have all the updates or service packs, you can download them from Microsoft and slipstream them onto an install CD of your own making.

1. As already suggested make a complete disk image of your system.

2. Make a recovery CD and ensure it will boot your PC as it is.

2a. Make sure that the new disk can be seen by the recovery environment as well.

3. Recover the image.

4. If XP boots OK add in new video drivers etc, if XP BSOD's then boot from the XP install CD, select Install, then hopefully the installer will tell you it has already found an instance of XP on the disk. You should now see an option to Repair your installation. Select this. All the XP system files will be deleted including their entries in registry, and then replaced by the generic ones that you get at first installation time. The advantage here is that all your installed programs are in tact. You will need your XP key number.

5. Reboot, add drivers as needs.

Another option is to clone your drive, but if you've got any hidden partitions or the old machine was a brand name one, it can be more difficult to get the system to boot.

If you prefer the clone route then make sure you do not delete the old drive whilst cloning. Also make sure that you give all your drives meaningful labels in Windows, as the Linux environment will not always show drive letters in the same order as Windows, but the names will stay the same.

Even with cloning, you will still need to get around the drivers problem as stated above.

If you don't have the XP install CD, then as also mentioned above you will need to use TIH in conjunction with the PlusPack.

If you have any electroncis CAD programs or compilers that use 'site' dongle type licences, be ready for them all to fail no matter which of the above routes you take - you will need to get new site keys - ask me how I know :) .

thanks to all for comments. Just to answer, I have all the original CD and the system is updated.
Frankly I have not yet a clear opinion, despite a know technically what to do. The Scott words continue to sound on the background ... "Good heavens, here's your chance for a fresh start and you want to throw it away??? "
Again thanks to all of you
Manlio

I moved from XP to Win7, and had basically the same desktop layout when finished, all my programs still work the same, no problems except 2 newer programs that I had to re-activate.

I used PC Mover Professional, simple and uncomplicated.

http://www.laplink.com/pcmover