-----Original Message-----
I have XP Family installed on a 40 GB drive and I now want to move it,
together with all the prorams installed to an 80 GB drive. After that I want
to remove the 40 GB and replace it with the 80 GB and then boot up again as
if nothing was changed (only a lot more free space).
BTW I want to keep my D: drive as it is as that is a 160GB drive.
So basically I just want to move the system from one drive to another. How
do I proceed? any hints?
Ok, if I understand correctly, you have a 40, an 80, and
a 160 hard drive and you want to do away with the 40
after duplicating it on the 80? Then you want the 160
slaved to the 80. First of all, don't just try "copying
40 to 80 somehow. It doesn't work that way. with xp, you
can back up many of your settings using "file and
settings transfer wizard" under accessories, system
tools, on the program menu. save the rather large file
to the 40. Then format, partition (if you wish), and
install a fresh new windows (and don't change the file
type -- ntsf or 32 bit from what the 40 was -- remember,
ntsf can recognise 32 bit, but 32 bit doesn't recognise
ntsf) onto the 80. Then "slave" the 40 to the eighty and
you should be able to "import" the file made by the
transfer wizard to update many of your settings in xp.
However, you WILL have to reinstall most of your programs
(actually everything that's not microsoft - media player,
etc.) take the time to customize and check out all the
options when making the transfer file in the wizzard; you
can back up emails, sound schemes, user configuration,
etc or if not checked, you'll miss them. If you leave
the 40 as a slave to the 80 (or to the 160), you'll
preserve all your "data" although some programs won't
work from that drive because you'll have a different
registry, but you'll at least lesson the chance of
important data loss. I don't know what probs you were
having on your 40 gig so I don't have much more advice.
Whenever I "upgrade" harddrives like that, I just slave
the old to the new, maybe for a few weeks until I'm sure
i've copied everything I need, then eventually I format
the old and use it as "storage". It can cause problems
if both drives have windows installed on them as if they
were both the primary hard drive. Don't forget, some
important folders to backup (on cd or copy to the 80) are
windows/system and system32 and windows/inf. This will
make configuring your new hard drive with your existing
hardware easier as the drivers were already in place on
the 40. Well, good luck, I hope I've been of some help.
