New hard drive but no XP cd

  • Thread starter Thread starter Martin Lambert
  • Start date Start date
M

Martin Lambert

What if I want to change my hard drive for a bigger one but I have an IBM
machine and the XP is on a partition on the old one?
Is there a way I can transfer it to the new hard drive or will I have to buy
a new XP CD ?

Thanks
 
i think i understand what you saying, look for norton ghost i think it is
its on a flopy hook both drives to the computer and boot from the flopy and
theres one called acronis or somthing like that drive to drive i think its
called
or ask google for harddrive backup or go to www.download.com and do some
searches
sorry if you have trouble reading my writing i have a LD
 
Martin said:
What if I want to change my hard drive for a bigger one but I have an
IBM machine and the XP is on a partition on the old one?
Is there a way I can transfer it to the new hard drive or will I have
to buy a new XP CD ?

Thanks
Click to expand...


No way whatsoever. You will need to repurchase XP. You never had an XP CD to
begin with - merely a disc that 'unlocked' the hidden partition.

You could, theoretically, burn the contents of the hidden partition to CD,
but I've never found that to be too successful. Why don't you just attach
the new drive as a slave? That would be a helluva lot easier - and would
save you the expense of purchasing a new disc.
 
| What if I want to change my hard drive for a bigger one but I have an IBM
| machine and the XP is on a partition on the old one?
| Is there a way I can transfer it to the new hard drive or will I have to buy
| a new XP CD ?

You can use one of a number of programs to "clone" everything except
the hidden partition to a new hard drive. Unfortunately, the nature
of a hidden partition prevents XP from seeing it as a normal partition
and assigning a drive letter. Programs such as Partition Magic can
unhide some partitions, particularly those it creates. But computer
manufacturers that are cheap enough to use hidden partitions rather
than supplying physical discs tend to hide those partitions in such a
way that you can't unhide them.

Not only did IBM not give you an extrernal method of re-installing,
they stole space on a hard drive you paid for!

Larc



§§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§
 
What if I want to change my hard drive for a bigger one but I have an IBM
machine and the XP is on a partition on the old one?
Is there a way I can transfer it to the new hard drive or will I have to buy
a new XP CD ?

Thanks
Click to expand...


your new drive should have a utility to do this. check the box or the
website.
 
The main reason is that it's a laptop computer.

Can we see the hidden partition with Ghost ?
 
What if I want to change my hard drive for a bigger one but I have an IBM
machine and the XP is on a partition on the old one?
Is there a way I can transfer it to the new hard drive or will I have to buy
a new XP CD ?
Click to expand...

Try to download MaxBlast software from the Maxtor site
http://www.maxtor.com.

It capable to clone your present HD content to the the new drive.
 
WebWalker said:
Try to download MaxBlast software from the Maxtor site
http://www.maxtor.com.

It capable to clone your present HD content to the the new drive.
Click to expand...


But you have to have both drives hooked up simultaneously for it to work - a
little hard to do with a laptop! ;o)
 
Why not call IBM and Ask Them?

They put it on there so ask them.

Another option would be to get one of those external drive kits you
can put the drive in and connect via USB and use it to install the OS.
I think the entire concept of putting the OS Disk on a drive image is
a flawed concept. Often it does not even work when you have to
reinstall the OS. It is just a stupid Idea. You get what you pay
for. It is fine to copy the disk to the hard drive if you the disk as
a backup, but if you dont even have a disk then you are up creek
without a paddle. It should be illegal to sell someone an OS without
a copy on a disk.

Now if you are using XP without a license that is another story.
 
Heres a question.. (and this is all assuming you have a legit copy of XP on
your system, seeing as how its a hidden partion I'm willing to bet yes)

Do you have the cd key for XP? Its usualy on the bottom of the laptop. If you
do, then all you have to is get a hold of an XP cd (match it to your version,
ex. home or pro) and install from that. When you bought the computer you bought
a license for the OS, so it'd still be legal to do.

If you have lost the cd key (or the sticker went bye bye) you can use a key
finder to get your cd key. The one I use for retreaving is from
magicaljellybean.com. Its a free lil prog and quite useful.

Hope this helps
~A
 
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