PATA and SATA drives both store data the same way.
Transfer programs from a PATA to a SATA drive by cloning the entire contents of the PATA drive onto the SATA drive, including the OS. This allows a hard drive upgrade in a machine without any requirements for installing an operating system or software. The computer will boot up to the SATA drive and look the same as it did when it booted up to the PATA drive -- except there will be more free space on the hard drive.
Instructions
1. Back up any important files or settings on the computer.
2. Download and install one of the hard drive cloning software packages.
3. Attach the USB hard drive adapter to an available USB port and allow the operating system to install the necessary drivers automatically. Insert the hardware driver disc that came with the adapter if prompted.
4. Power down the computer and attach the SATA hard drive to the USB hard drive adapter. Attach a power source to the drive and power on the computer. Allow the operating system to load and to recognize the drive. Cancel the operating system prompt if it asks what to do with the drive.
5. Launch the hard drive cloning software package. Click "Tools & Utilities" from the drop-down menu, and click "Clone Disk."
6. Click "Automatic (recommended)" and click "Next" to continue. This performs the operation with minimal user input and is sufficient for basic cloning. Advanced mode allows various custom configurations to the drive partition layout that usually do not need to be accessed.
7. Click on the source disk, typically drive "C," and click "Next" to continue.
8. Click the destination disk, typically the only other choice available after choosing the source disk. Click "Next" to continue. If more than one destination disk is available, choose the one that matches the label on the SATA hard drive that is being copied to.
9. Click "Accept" if the warning appears about overwriting data on the destination drive.
10. Allow the operation to complete and then power down the computer and disconnect the SATA drive from the power source and from the USB hard drive controller. The SATA drive now contains an exact duplicate of all the information on the PATA drive and may be installed into the computer as a replacement or used in a different computer if desired.
Tags: hard drive, SATA drive, operating system, drive cloning, Next continue, PATA drive