I have a laptop with XP w/SP3. One application, that is absolutely critical
for me, is only on this computer. I no longer have the install CD. The
company won't support my 6 year old version, and wants me to upgrade to
their current version for over $4,000. Is there a way I can make an exact
copy of the hard drive, so if it crashes, or the laptop dies, I can put the
new hard drive into a newer laptop and continue to work? Could the new
back-up disk be larger the the one I'm copying?

Having the cloned operating system from an old laptop working in a new
laptop would likely never fly. Perhaps get a couple of spare identical
ones to what you now have and then your plan would work.

Paul H wrote:

> I have a laptop with XP w/SP3. One application, that is absolutely critical
> for me, is only on this computer. I no longer have the install CD. The
> company won't support my 6 year old version, and wants me to upgrade to
> their current version for over $4,000. Is there a way I can make an exact
> copy of the hard drive, so if it crashes, or the laptop dies, I can put the
> new hard drive into a newer laptop and continue to work? Could the new
> back-up disk be larger the the one I'm copying?
>

"Paul H" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:17985ACF-103B-4EF0-A060-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a laptop with XP w/SP3. One application, that is absolutely
>critical
> for me, is only on this computer. I no longer have the install CD.
> The
> company won't support my 6 year old version, and wants me to upgrade
> to
> their current version for over $4,000. Is there a way I can make an
> exact
> copy of the hard drive, so if it crashes, or the laptop dies, I can
> put the
> new hard drive into a newer laptop and continue to work? Could the
> new
> back-up disk be larger the the one I'm copying?
>
There are a couple of decent options here...
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/

Either Home or Migrate would do the job.
And $30 - $40 dollars is cheap, for $4,000 dollars
worth of software.
Yes to your second question.

--
bw..

Paul H said this on 1/22/2009 11:53 AM:
> I have a laptop with XP w/SP3. One application, that is absolutely critical
> for me, is only on this computer. I no longer have the install CD. The
> company won't support my 6 year old version, and wants me to upgrade to
> their current version for over $4,000. Is there a way I can make an exact
> copy of the hard drive, so if it crashes, or the laptop dies, I can put the
> new hard drive into a newer laptop and continue to work? Could the new
> back-up disk be larger the the one I'm copying?
>

Imaging software like Acronis True Image Home or Norton Ghost will do
what you want. There are others of course, google for 'imaging
software'. It makes an exact copy of everything on any HD or partition
of an HD and then you can later extract not only single files/folders
but you can restore the whole drive/partition. Its great for
replacement drives too since it will adjust for the size changes if you
do upgrade the size.

I personally use Acronis. But both have been mentioned in these
groups. Normally you save the image to an external USB drive (or 2nd
internal drive), and it just makes a file, so you can save several
copies like monthlies/weeklies. And yes, its saves everything, so
when you restore, XP is licensed and runs without reactivation etc etc.
But remember, it also saves viruses and malware etc. It just takes a
snapshot of your drive. So make sure its clean before you do any
backups and make several so that if one is infected you have an earlier
one to fall back on. (this is just good ole backup logic).

Bob, I wouldn't want another of my old loud heavy Acer laptop - would
another laptop capable of running XP work? Maybe a Dell that came with XP?

"Bob I" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
Having the cloned operating system from an old laptop working in a new
laptop would likely never fly. Perhaps get a couple of spare identical
ones to what you now have and then your plan would work.

Paul H wrote:

> I have a laptop with XP w/SP3. One application, that is absolutely
> critical
> for me, is only on this computer. I no longer have the install CD. The
> company won't support my 6 year old version, and wants me to upgrade to
> their current version for over $4,000. Is there a way I can make an exact
> copy of the hard drive, so if it crashes, or the laptop dies, I can put
> the
> new hard drive into a newer laptop and continue to work? Could the new
> back-up disk be larger the the one I'm copying?
>

Thanks, Big Al - Can I use Acronis 8 as a good backup program, onto a 500
gig USB drive? Probably weekly? Can I back up another laptop with Vista
Home Premium as well? I'm very careful about virus software (Avast) and
spy-ware (Ad-Aware and Spybot). I understand that I won't have to buy a
replacement drive until I have a disaster with my current laptop. Will I
have trouble putting the new drive into a newer laptop? Replacing it's
operating system. Maybe even one that's cheaper because it comes with
something other than Windows?

"Big_Al" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:eK%(E-Mail Removed)...
Paul H said this on 1/22/2009 11:53 AM:
> I have a laptop with XP w/SP3. One application, that is absolutely
> critical
> for me, is only on this computer. I no longer have the install CD. The
> company won't support my 6 year old version, and wants me to upgrade to
> their current version for over $4,000. Is there a way I can make an exact
> copy of the hard drive, so if it crashes, or the laptop dies, I can put
> the
> new hard drive into a newer laptop and continue to work? Could the new
> back-up disk be larger the the one I'm copying?
>

Imaging software like Acronis True Image Home or Norton Ghost will do
what you want. There are others of course, google for 'imaging
software'. It makes an exact copy of everything on any HD or partition
of an HD and then you can later extract not only single files/folders
but you can restore the whole drive/partition. Its great for
replacement drives too since it will adjust for the size changes if you
do upgrade the size.

I personally use Acronis. But both have been mentioned in these
groups. Normally you save the image to an external USB drive (or 2nd
internal drive), and it just makes a file, so you can save several
copies like monthlies/weeklies. And yes, its saves everything, so
when you restore, XP is licensed and runs without reactivation etc etc.
But remember, it also saves viruses and malware etc. It just takes a
snapshot of your drive. So make sure its clean before you do any
backups and make several so that if one is infected you have an earlier
one to fall back on. (this is just good ole backup logic).

> Bob, I wouldn't want another of my old loud
> heavy Acer
> laptop - would another laptop capable of running
> XP work?
> Maybe a Dell that came with XP?

No, it would not work on any other computer but
the one you currently have, Paul. XP per sae isn't
the problem.
The problem is that the registry is never the
same from computer to computer, especially with
laptops, and whether the machine would even boot
up using another's registry is very unlikely.
It's not your program, it's the registry issues.
AFAIK there is no way, 3rd party or otherwise that
can accomplish what you are trying to do
automacitally.
You need to relocate the original CD the
application came on, or a copy of it, or upgrade;
those are about your only options.
Since you don't even have a copy of that/those
CD/CDs I suspect you have no backup process in
place either. The program could be the least of
your worries.
I have to wonder how one would not backup a $4000
program.

Twayne




>
> "Bob I" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Having the cloned operating system from an old
> laptop
> working in a new laptop would likely never fly.
> Perhaps
> get a couple of spare identical ones to what you
> now have
> and then your plan would work.
>
> Paul H wrote:
>
>> I have a laptop with XP w/SP3. One
>> application, that is
>> absolutely critical
>> for me, is only on this computer. I no longer
>> have the
>> install CD. The company won't support my 6
>> year old
>> version, and wants me to upgrade to their
>> current
>> version for over $4,000. Is there a way I can
>> make an
>> exact copy of the hard drive, so if it crashes,
>> or the
>> laptop dies, I can put the
>> new hard drive into a newer laptop and continue
>> to work?
>> Could the new back-up disk be larger the the
>> one I'm
>> copying?

> "Paul H" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> message
> news:17985ACF-103B-4EF0-A060-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I have a laptop with XP w/SP3. One
>> application, that is
>> absolutely critical
>> for me, is only on this computer. I no longer
>> have the
>> install CD. The
>> company won't support my 6 year old version,
>> and wants
>> me to upgrade to
>> their current version for over $4,000. Is
>> there a way I
>> can make an exact
>> copy of the hard drive, so if it crashes, or
>> the laptop
>> dies, I can put the
>> new hard drive into a newer laptop and continue
>> to work?
>> Could the new
>> back-up disk be larger the the one I'm copying?
>>
> There are a couple of decent options here...
> http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/
>
> Either Home or Migrate would do the job.
> And $30 - $40 dollars is cheap, for $4,000
> dollars
> worth of software.
> Yes to your second question.

Won't work for taking an os image and installing
it into a different computer.

> Paul H said this on 1/22/2009 11:53 AM:
>> I have a laptop with XP w/SP3. One
>> application, that is
>> absolutely critical for me, is only on this
>> computer. I
>> no longer have the install CD. The company
>> won't
>> support my 6 year old version, and wants me to
>> upgrade
>> to their current version for over $4,000. Is
>> there a
>> way I can make an exact copy of the hard drive,
>> so if it
>> crashes, or the laptop dies, I can put the new
>> hard
>> drive into a newer laptop and continue to work?
>> Could
>> the new back-up disk be larger the the one I'm
>> copying?
>
> Imaging software like Acronis True Image Home or
> Norton
> Ghost will do what you want. There are others
> of course,
> google for 'imaging software'. It makes an
> exact copy
> of everything on any HD or partition of an HD
> and then
> you can later extract not only single
> files/folders but
> you can restore the whole drive/partition. Its
> great
> for replacement drives too since it will adjust
> for the
> size changes if you do upgrade the size.
> I personally use Acronis. But both have been
> mentioned
> in these groups. Normally you save the image
> to an
> external USB drive (or 2nd internal drive), and
> it just
> makes a file, so you can save several copies
> like
> monthlies/weeklies. And yes, its saves
> everything, so
> when you restore, XP is licensed and runs
> without
> reactivation etc etc. But remember, it also
> saves viruses
> and malware etc. It just takes a snapshot of
> your drive.
> So make sure its clean before you do any backups
> and make
> several so that if one is infected you have an
> earlier
> one to fall back on. (this is just good ole
> backup
> logic).

All true, but ... it is NOT going to address the
differences between machines and since the
registry of the old machine will follow along to
the new machine. You're trying to sell the OP
somethign that isn't going to help him with his
stated issue.

When you restore an OS it to a different
machine, for which the registry will be looking
for all the hardware in the original machine, and
when one is expecting an application to also
transfer with it, simply isn't going to work.
Also, the first time an update access or whatever
happens, it's going to notice that the OS is
installed on a machine than it was originally
activated on, and in the overall things are going
to start failing, if the new machine ever actually
managed to get booted.
Acronis cannot "fix" all the bad registry calls
of a move from one machine to another. I am
assuming of courese that this so far un-named
$4000 application actually needs/uses the
registry, which is about 99.99% surely the case
with that sort of app.
These things only work when you Restore things,
make a new disk, whatever, and place it back into
the SAME machine it originated from! You backup
THAT OS and its installs, NOT every install for
every machine/drive that exists.

> Thanks, Big Al - Can I use Acronis 8 as a good
> backup
> program, onto a 500 gig USB drive? Probably
> weekly? Can
> I back up another laptop with Vista Home Premium
> as well?
> I'm very careful about virus software (Avast)
> and
> spy-ware (Ad-Aware and Spybot). I understand
> that I
> won't have to buy a replacement drive until I
> have a
> disaster with my current laptop. Will I have
> trouble
> putting the new drive into a newer laptop?
> Replacing
> it's operating system. Maybe even one that's
> cheaper
> because it comes with something other than
> Windows?

Yes, you will have problems; it won't work.
Acronis et al are only for backing up data for the
SAME machine it will be restored to. If your
unnamed program uses any system files/hardware at
all, it's going to fail. It amazes me that people
are indicating that you can move your OS from one
piece of hardware to a different set of hardware
and expect it to just start working. Acronis,
Ghost, etc., are great at what they do, but they
are not for the $4,000 issue you have. Any
application must be INSTALLED on the computer it
is going to work on. It can't be simply copied
with a file or imaging process.

HTH,

Twayne


>
> "Big_Al" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:eK%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Paul H said this on 1/22/2009 11:53 AM:
>> I have a laptop with XP w/SP3. One
>> application, that is
>> absolutely critical
>> for me, is only on this computer. I no longer
>> have the
>> install CD. The company won't support my 6
>> year old
>> version, and wants me to upgrade to their
>> current
>> version for over $4,000. Is there a way I can
>> make an
>> exact copy of the hard drive, so if it crashes,
>> or the
>> laptop dies, I can put the
>> new hard drive into a newer laptop and continue
>> to work?
>> Could the new back-up disk be larger the the
>> one I'm
>> copying?
>>
>
> Imaging software like Acronis True Image Home or
> Norton
> Ghost will do what you want. There are others
> of course,
> google for 'imaging software'. It makes an
> exact copy
> of everything on any HD or partition of an HD
> and then
> you can later extract not only single
> files/folders but
> you can restore the whole drive/partition. Its
> great
> for replacement drives too since it will adjust
> for the
> size changes if you do upgrade the size.
>
> I personally use Acronis. But both have been
> mentioned
> in these groups. Normally you save the image
> to an
> external USB drive (or 2nd internal drive), and
> it just
> makes a file, so you can save several copies
> like
> monthlies/weeklies. And yes, its saves
> everything, so
> when you restore, XP is licensed and runs
> without
> reactivation etc etc. But remember, it also
> saves viruses
> and malware etc. It just takes a snapshot of
> your drive.
> So make sure its clean before you do any backups
> and make
> several so that if one is infected you have an
> earlier
> one to fall back on. (this is just good ole
> backup
> logic).