[dba-Tech] Really and for true, how can I...

...take a perfectly good, bootable IDE hard disk from one PC that's
seen better days and mount it in a new PC with a new hard disk, and
make the old drive boot the new PC?  I mean, really.  Are we forever
doomed to having to re-install every bleeping bit of software on a new
PC?

I ask because it can become very problematical to re-install some
software if there never was a CD for it.  Besides the fact that it
could take hours and hours to go through the routine and download all
the farging upgrades to get everything on the new system to the point
that it's as usable as the old PC.

Any way at all?  I've seen our network admin do very interesting
things with external SATA drives to switch which drive is the bootable
one after making a clone copy with Future Systems' Casper.  But what
about plain Jane IDE drives?

Anybody?

Regards,

Steve Erbach
Neenah, WI