XP reload - new harddrive

[Guest]

I have a hardware error that announces everytime I restart my Sony VAIO. It
warns that I have a critical harddrive failure that is imminent and I should
backup all of my data and replace the harddrive. Sounds simple.

I purchased a replacement 80 GB harddrive and I'm confident that I can make
the physical equipment swap with no problem. My issue is the backup. When I
purchased the VAIO, it just came with the XP license and agreement, no
startup CD. Everything was pre-loaded, including some custom VAIO backup
software. Well, prior to the awesome hardware error that I get now, every
time I reboot my laptop, I had a hard-drive failure that caused an automatic
re-load of XP. I lost all of the data that I hadn't backed up, and I lost the
VAIO backup software.

What are the steps that I can take to migrate my operating system onto the
new harddrive without having to purchase an expensive "ghosting" program that
I am in all likelihood only going to use once, since before another year
passes, I'll probably upgrade laptops and switch operating system platforms?

I have XP Home edition, SP2. Thanks in advance!

 

[Shel]

I have a hardware error that announces everytime I restart my Sony VAIO. It
warns that I have a critical harddrive failure that is imminent and I should
backup all of my data and replace the harddrive. Sounds simple.

I purchased a replacement 80 GB harddrive and I'm confident that I can make
the physical equipment swap with no problem. My issue is the backup. When I
purchased the VAIO, it just came with the XP license and agreement, no
startup CD. Everything was pre-loaded, including some custom VAIO backup
software. Well, prior to the awesome hardware error that I get now, every
time I reboot my laptop, I had a hard-drive failure that caused an automatic
re-load of XP. I lost all of the data that I hadn't backed up, and I lost the
VAIO backup software.

What are the steps that I can take to migrate my operating system onto the
new harddrive without having to purchase an expensive "ghosting" program that
I am in all likelihood only going to use once, since before another year
passes, I'll probably upgrade laptops and switch operating system platforms?

I have XP Home edition, SP2. Thanks in advance!

Only going to use once? Don't you regularly backup your drive?

 

[Guest]

Only going to use once? Don't you regularly backup your drive?

I doubt that I'm going to be able to use the same ghost software to backup a
session of Vista. I regularly save my personal documents and important
files, but I don't need special software to accomplish that.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I doubt that I'm going to be able to use the same ghost software to
backup a session of Vista. I regularly save my personal documents
and important files, but I don't need special software to accomplish
that.

Why not? The latest versions of Acronis True Image work in both XP and
Vista. I recommend True Image highly.

 

[Thomas Wendell]

Why not? The latest versions of Acronis True Image work in both XP and
Vista. I recommend True Image highly.

And Acronis has a trial (time limited 15days, otherwise fully functional)
version available...
http://eu.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/trueimage/


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Tumppi
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Helsinki, FINLAND
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