Re: upgrading to a new hard drive

From: Arny Krueger (arnyk_at_hotpop.com)
Date: 02/25/04 

Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:43:22 -0500

"jch" <JCH@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:Fz4%b.19231$GA5.45@bignews5.bellsouth.net
> What is the proper procedure to install a new HD without having to do
> a repair/install and reactivation? On the surface you'd think Ron
> did the right things. IS there a link which outlines the procedure?

AFAIK, there's no way to avoid reactivation if you're running a version of
XP that has to be activated. The activation code detects the new hard drive,
and you will be obliged to reactivate the XP system. This is often not a
hassle.

As far as copying the system goes, there's a few gotchas.

One of them is the fact that a particular copy of XP may have to first
recognize the new hard drive as a supported piece of hardware in order to
boot it. You can usually accomplish this by booting XP with the new hard
drive connected, and then simply shutting XP down.

If you format and mark a hard drive and partition as being active with XP,
you can copy all of the files for an XP partition that is not currently
booted to that preformatted drive, and it should boot the next time you try
to boot it. The trick is getting the copy to be complete.

Products like Ghost will copy an entire XP boot drive to a new hard drive,
if the XP system is prepared for residence on the new drive as previously
described.

Relevant Pages

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