Reinstalling XP after changing a Hard Disk Drive

D

Domi

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I have just purchased a new bigger (40 Gb.) HDD, I would like to copy the whole bootable primary partition where I have XP system files and settings in the old hard disk ( 9gb partition out of a 20 Gb in total) I tried using the "copy a partition" option of Power Quest Partition Magic 7.0, but when I changed the disk drives and rebooted XP would not start displaying the message "Windows XP is having a problem authetincating the license of this machine". Then I installed XP from scratch in the new hard disk's primary partition, and used the "transfer files and settings" option of XP from the old partition of the old disk to the new one, and after hours of work all I could achieve was to have my documents and desktop settings transferred but not my programmes, drivers and menu structure. I have quite a lot of software in my PC and it would take me a huge time to get me back to the previous status using the new HDD. Anyone can help me on this? any software similat to partition magic capable of copying all the settings of XP to a new HDD?
Any tip would be HIGHLY appreciated!




;)
 
You might try putting your disk image on the 40gig. This will make it a 9gig drive, but you should be able to go back after and reclaim the lost space with partion magic. This is assuming you have a copy of Disk Image and can make an image of your old drive.
 
PowerQuest Drive Copy 3.0
is exactly what you want
its 29 quid
 
Thanks for your help. Can anybody tell me how to make a disc image? (Apart from using the Powerquest Disc Copy 3.0, which I do not cuurrently have ) Thanks again!
 
I believe Norton Ghost is another imaging application. Other then those two, i'm not aware of other imaging software.
 
Use Norton Ghost

Use Norton Ghost, it will do everything you need, drop me a PM and I will zip the files you need for a Bootable Floppy Disk. It works every time.

Mike Tasker
 
I have yet another problem: I myself have the norton ghost integrated in Norton Systemworks 2002 (the latest version that supports XP) the problem is I do not have currently a floppy drive in my PC, because my MOBO has the Floopy switch broken ( a pin is missing it got broken) so I haven't used a floppy disk for one and a half years, because almost everything comes in CD-s or can be downloaded from the web, I have not missed too much either, but Norton Ghost insists on creating bootable floppy disks before doing the images) Thanks anyway but it seems I am a difficult case :(
So what now? :confused:
 
Bite the bullet, start from scratch. Any disk imager will do the same thing. I don't know if it will run from a CD or not, i don't think so (assuming you have a CD burner).
 
I do have a CD-burner, I wonder why the disk image softwares insists on floppy disks when you can abckup and boot from CD in practically any PC nowadays.
:mad:
 
Have you thought about making a bootable CD, I know it is possible, but I can't quite remember what software supports it.

Failing that you could always rip the bootable files from the XP CD, as long as you can get the thing to boot all you need is the ghost.exe file.

Mike Tasker
 
here's what i did to move existing xp onto a new hdd.
try to follow:

1. use sysprep.exe tool on the old hd to prepare migration
(you'll find it on a xp cd: support\tools\deploy.cab)
there's a help file which explains in details what to do

2. now don't restart to xp but to dos with floppy and run norton ghost; make images of all partitions; place them on separate hd.

3. replace old hd with a new one, then recover the partitions from the ghost image files.

4. restart and you'll be prompted to set again your admin privilages and all data concerning network etc.

5. you should logon normally to xp.

if for some reason you get an error message saying that hal.dll is missing or corrupt (like i did) do this:

boot with xp cd and go to "repair" option with R
- while at the repair console run bootcfg /rebuild command
- prompted for a name of profile type something like "xp"
- for bootoptions type "return-key"
- then type "exit" to leave the repair console
- restart

(type all commands without quotas)

you should be sent to boot menu with 2 entries:
xp (your new entrie)
Windows Xp Proffessional (an old one)

go for xp

now you can get rid of the old entry by editing boot.ini

i figured this out after two days of struggle, and believe me it worked.
:)
 
First of all thanks for all of you who have given me tips. I finally solved it! :)
I got a bootable CD with Norton Ghost 6.0 from a friend and made a copy of the old disk and , except for some problems with my Nvidia geforce2 MX drivers (now it will only work with the old microsoft drivers, does not admit neither the 21.81 nor the 21.83 Nvidia drivers) the rest is as good as ever and I have managed to keep all the previous applications, and setting.
 

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