How to move files to a new hard drive.

[copas]

Mine is a desktop running Vista ultimate I have been working with a 40 gig drive. I have added another 500 gig drive. There are two SATA ports on the Intel main board. So far so good.
It occurred to me that if I did a clean install of Windows on the new 500 drive I could avoid swapping any malware to the new drive. So:
I did a clean install of Windows on the 500 drive with the 40 drive unplugged. Then:
I reconnected the 40 drive and copied the files I wanted (documents) to CD drive. Looking good so far as I check the files on the CD.
I booted from the 500 drive and, alas: I can't see anything on the CD...
I unplug the 500 drive and boot from the 40...The files are there where I left them on the CD.
I know that there is a flaw in my understanding, but it seems this should work.
Any Ideas?
Ivan Copas

[patio]

Easiest solution if they are both SATA drives would be to DLoad and use the Free utilities from the 500G manuf site and "clone" the 40G to the 600.

Then you completely remove the 40G and setup the 500 as the boot drive and walla ! !...you're good to go.

The 40 can then be hooked up as a slave...formatted and used for storage.

PS: This will work even if the 40 is an IDE...post back if you need more info.

[copas]

Thanks for your response.
Everything seems to be working. I'm not sure just how.
Keep up the good work.
Ivan Copas