Hello,

I would like to change my very old PC but without reinstalling all my
softwares.
Is it possible to copy my actual primary partition with windows XP to
another PC?

Thank you for your help

--
Rmanal

rmanal wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I would like to change my very old PC but without reinstalling all my
> softwares.
> Is it possible to copy my actual primary partition with windows XP to
> another PC?

You could image the drive/partition to the new hard drive in the new
computer. Usually when you do this and the hardware is different you must
do a Repair Install of XP. Often if the hardware is very different the
Repair Install won't work and you must do a Clean Install. After a Clean
Install, you must install all the drivers for the new hardware, install all
your programs, and restore your data from backup.

One way to deal with this is to use Acronis True Image with the Universal
Restore add-on. Universal Restore allows you to image to different
hardware. This is a True Image Echo enterprise function and I don't know if
Universal Restore is available to the home editions. You must have the
correct drivers for the new computer's hardware and there is quite a bit of
tinkering afterwards but it works. This does require a fair amount of
computer skills and only you know your level of that.

One problem that must be addressed is whether or not the old computer was a
branded OEM - HP, Dell, etc. If this is the case, activation will fail on
the new computer since the original XP installation is tied to the old
computer. If the new computer is the same branded OEM (HP to HP for
example), this problem might not arise although of course you would be in
violation of the EULA. If the original computer was installed with a retail
copy of XP, this issue will not arise although you will have to activate
the new install.

So bottom line, it can be done with the above caveats in mind.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

It's not dirty, you just need to re-install device drivers.
A repair install doesn't take all that much time or effort.

If you mean Viruses no none detected and
one of the computers was never connected
to the internet or used to share files between
other computers.

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com


"Howard Kaikow" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "JS" <@> wrote in message news:emV$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I was able to use the trial version of Acronis True Image Home 2009
>> to first create an Image backup of the older computer and restore the
>> image to an new PC. Of the three times it tried this it worked 2 out of
>> 3 times. A "Repair Install" was required for each of three attempts.
>
> But, how "dirty" is a Repair Install?
>
>

MS Office never asked for reactivation on the
two computers I migrated.

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com


"Bob Harris" <rharris270[SPAM]@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> In addition to the previous reply I would add that you may need to inject
> drivers during a repair, if you have an SATA hard drive. You will see a
> note flash briefly near the bottom of the screen saying something like
> press f6 for SCSI and/or other third party drives. Hit F6, then much
> later during the repair, it will pause and ask you to insert a floppy with
> the drivers. Note that the XP installer is too old/stupid to offer to
> search for drivers, which are usually shipped on a CD. They must be
> transferred to a floppy, and of course, the PC must have a floppy reader,
> at least temporarily. The drivers come for the maker of the motherboard
> and are associated with the disk controller. (They could also come form
> the maker of a PCI or PCIX add-in card, if you are attaching a disk to one
> of those.) They are not associated with the brand of hard drive.
>
> Further, XP is not the only software with some activation mechanism. If
> you have Microsoft Office (XP or later), that will probably fails its
> activation. If it is a full retail copy (i.e., you own the CD),
> re-activation will probably work. If it came pre-installed, without a CD,
> activation will probably fail. However, MS Office can be replaced with a
> free product call Open Office, with little loss of functionality. Some
> other software limits the number of installations, for example some
> Norton/Symantec products.
>
> Thus, while cloning an image of a computer is technically fairly easy. (I
> have used Acronis True Image with good results.) The post-cloning
> problems can be quite large, unless you have the right license, original
> CDs, etc.
>
> If you decide to do a clean install, you will need either a retail copy of
> the XP CD (allows multiple activations, but one at a time) or a new OEM CD
> (allows activation only on one set of hardware). You will still need to
> have drivers for all sorts of things, but they usually come with the
> motherboard. And, the motherboard manual should tell you how/when to
> install them. As for other software, be sure that you have the CDs, or if
> obtained via downloads, the installer files. If freeware, get a copy of
> the latest version (e.g., Acrobat Reader, Flash, Shockwave, Firefox, etc).
> In any case, be preapred to spend some time updating software, since many
> programs have built-in "check for update" features. Of course, the first
> software to update would be XP itself. Then, any security doftware, such
> as antivirus, firewalls, adblockers, then other programs.
>
> As for personal data, that can usually be copied form the old hard drive
> by temporarily mounting it on the new PC, either in a USB enclosure or via
> a direct connection to the disk controller. The one exception would be is
> some "overlay" software was used on the old PC to allow a larger disk to
> be used on a motherboard that would not otherwise support that disk. In
> such a case you might have to attach a separate disk to the old PC, copy
> files to it, then move that disk to the new OC and copy files from it.
> External USB disks are very handy for this sort of thing.
>
> Good luck.
>
> "rmanal" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:333C2A72-2BC9-447E-9E4A-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Hello,
>>
>> I would like to change my very old PC but without reinstalling all my
>> softwares.
>> Is it possible to copy my actual primary partition with windows XP to
>> another PC?
>>
>> Thank you for your help
>>
>> --
>> Rmanal
>
>

"rmanal" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:333C2A72-2BC9-447E-9E4A-(E-Mail Removed)...

> I would like to change my very old PC but without reinstalling all my
> softwares.
> Is it possible to copy my actual primary partition with windows XP to
> another PC?

Best way to do this seems to be:
1. Clone the C: drive to another drive using a reliable
special purpose tool. Western Digital Data Lifeguard
worked for me with no problems.
2. Then make the new cloned drive your boot drive in
the new PC.
3. Then reinstal WinXP onto the cloned drive so as to
get the correct hardware drivers.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

"JS" <@> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> It's not dirty, you just need to re-install device drivers.
> A repair install doesn't take all that much time or effort.
>
> If you mean Viruses no none detected and
> one of the computers was never connected
> to the internet or used to share files between
> other computers.

I was not referring to viri.

I did not think so but it's still a factor
as anything on the old PC now ends
up on the newer PC free of charge.

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com


"Howard Kaikow" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> "JS" <@> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> It's not dirty, you just need to re-install device drivers.
>> A repair install doesn't take all that much time or effort.
>>
>> If you mean Viruses no none detected and
>> one of the computers was never connected
>> to the internet or used to share files between
>> other computers.
>
> I was not referring to viri.
>
>

"Bob Harris" <rharris270[SPAM]@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> activation will probably fail. However, MS Office can be replaced with a
> free product call Open Office, with little loss of functionality.

If you are a Windows Office user, you may find that Open Office is
inadequate:
a. Third party apps that hook into Windows Office apps may very well not
hook into Open Office apps.
b. The cost of converting VBA code will likely be high.
c. Calc could not properly import the name space used in Excel workbooks
that used the same name for cells on different worksheets. This would break
a lot of Excel formulas and code. I found this in Open Office 2.3, but I
believe that problem still exists in Open Office 3. If one qualifies, the
Office Home and Student edition, or whatever it is called these daze, is
rather inexpensive.

Don Phillipson wrote:

> "rmanal" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:333C2A72-2BC9-447E-9E4A-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>
>>I would like to change my very old PC but without reinstalling all my
>>softwares.
>>Is it possible to copy my actual primary partition with windows XP to
>>another PC?
>
>
> Best way to do this seems to be:
> 1. Clone the C: drive to another drive using a reliable
> special purpose tool. Western Digital Data Lifeguard
> worked for me with no problems.
> 2. Then make the new cloned drive your boot drive in
> the new PC.
> 3. Then reinstal WinXP onto the cloned drive so as to
> get the correct hardware drivers.
>

I believe you meant to say
3. Then do a Repair Install of WinXP on the cloned drive so as to get
the correct hardware drivers.

A REinstall will wipe the registry thus requiring a REinstall of all the
programs.