moving windows from old hdd to a new one?

XPCportables · Post by **XPCportables** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 5:02 pm

project_failure wrote:Well you did pay for the programs and games (you did pay right?) so ?
(whispers)
why don't you get other cd keys off the internet?

I DID pay for some of it

but I don't want to get the CD keys off the internet because I want to be able to play online.

@Sparkfist I have SP1 and am not upgrading, I looked in the disc utilities and I couldn't find the backup utility

could somebody who has SP1 tell me, for sure, if it has the backup utility or not.

olderthanyouthink · Post by **olderthanyouthink** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:39 am

I've done this before using the Backup utility in windows using the "Automated System Recovery" wizard. It creates a backup of the hard drive and makes a floppy that has some essential stuff on it.

You then boot the computer using the Windows XP cd with only the new hard drive presetnt and hit F2 while it's starting up (just google for "Automated System Recovery").

Works like a charm, and you always have your old hard drive around if anything goes wrong.

olderthanyouthink · Post by **olderthanyouthink** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:40 am

Opps forgot to mention, the backup utility is only present in "Pro" versions of XP, so if you got the home version or MCE, never mind :)

Post by **Sparkfist** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:17 pm

It's not the best why to go but you can do this. Use a Linux live-CD and use the "dd" command to copy the whole hard drive. The down side to doing this is that if you want to use the image on a larger hard drive you should partition the disk so that you have one for the image to go in, then once windows in there you should be able to delete the other partion and make it part of the primary partion.

the command is; dd if=[hard drive partion] of=[external hard drive]