how to copy system to a new hard drive?

[pDik66]

I want to upgrade to a new hard drive. Can I just copy every thing to the
new drive and than use it. Will I have to Re-validate Xp. I'm running XP
home on a Soyo dragon kt-600 v2 with a Amd athalon 2200.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Visit the support web site of the manufacturer of your
new hard drive and search for a free utility program that
permits copying your old hard drive to the new hard drive.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.mspx

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"pDik66"wrote:

| I want to upgrade to a new hard drive. Can I just copy every thing to the
| new drive and than use it. Will I have to Re-validate Xp. I'm running XP
| home on a Soyo dragon kt-600 v2 with a Amd athalon 2200.

 

[Rock]

I want to upgrade to a new hard drive. Can I just copy every thing to the
new drive and than use it. Will I have to Re-validate Xp. I'm running XP
home on a Soyo dragon kt-600 v2 with a Amd athalon 2200.

If it's a retail hard drive kit, it should come with a setup floppy or
CD with a utility to copy the data from the old hard drive to the new
one. Otherwise go to the drive manufacturer's web site and download the
utility. Follow the directions for copying the drive. Then disconnect
the old hard drive and any other peripherals such as zip drives, USB
drives, etc., install the new drive as the Master drive, cable it and
set the jumper on the drive correctly, then boot up. It should
recognize the drive. After that first successful boot if you want use
the old drive for storage, connect it properly and set the jumper as
slave, and reboot. Format as needed. After that reconnect any zip
drives or other peripheral drives.

 

[Guest]

If it's a retail hard drive kit, it should come with a setup floppy or
CD with a utility to copy the data from the old hard drive to the new
one. Otherwise go to the drive manufacturer's web site and download the
utility. Follow the directions for copying the drive. Then disconnect
the old hard drive and any other peripherals such as zip drives, USB
drives, etc., install the new drive as the Master drive, cable it and
set the jumper on the drive correctly, then boot up. It should
recognize the drive. After that first successful boot if you want use
the old drive for storage, connect it properly and set the jumper as
slave, and reboot. Format as needed. After that reconnect any zip
drives or other peripheral drives.

Download Casper XP. It makes a working backup of windows XP Home And Pro while you're working in windows. Just remember to make your new hard drive bootable.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I want to upgrade to a new hard drive. Can I just copy every thing to the
new drive and than use it. Will I have to Re-validate Xp.

You cant just copy files. Make a true clone copy. What I use is BootIT
NG, from http://www.BootitNG.com ($35 shareware - 30 day full functional
trial)

Download, to its own folder, extract from the zip, run the bootitng to
make a boot floppy.

With the new drive plugged in as slave/secondary, boot the floppy,
Cancel Install, entering maintenance, then click on Partition work.
Highlight your C:,Copy, then on left select the new drive (HD1),
highlight the Free Space in it, and Paste.

You might then consider a resize up a bit. But leave some free space
so as later to make a new separate partition it

Now click on 'View MBR' and in it highlight the entry for this new C
partition and click the 'Set Active' Click 'Write Standard MBR' and
Apply.

Close out, swap the disks to make the new one the one that boots, and
reboot into XP.

 

[Curmudgeon]

I want to upgrade to a new hard drive. Can I just copy every thing to the
new drive and than use it. Will I have to Re-validate Xp. I'm running XP
home on a Soyo dragon kt-600 v2 with a Amd athalon 2200.

Carey answered a question you weren't asking (which is typical of him).

Yes, you can do that, and if you do it correctly (using a utility for
cloning one disk to another), you'll be fine and won't have to
re-validate.

It sounds as if your system is home-built, and not "name brand", so you
shouldn't have any OEM issues.