Cloning a WinXP system

[Angus]

Later this week I'm going to be getting a new hdd, and I'd like to
transfer my system, settings and all, including all those bits of data
stored God-knows-where. Is this just a matter of using the Files
Settings and Xfer wizard? Sorry if the question seems obtuse, but I'd
like to make sure I have this all down before I get into it.

Also, a little while after that I'm going to upgrade my CPU, and
mboard I should think. If I have SP1 and all the updates recommended,
will my system be able to handle it? I vividly remember one time I
upgraded my CPU, and the Windows of the day died from the shock.

 

[cimex]

"Also, a little while after that I'm going to upgrade my CPU, and
mboard I should think."
How long is a little while? You will have a more pleasant experience if you
upgrade your whole machine, and then go with XP, IMO. Of course, if a little
while is six months, that would be a bit long to wait. Tell us, in any case,
what is your processor speed, and RAM size?

 

[Brian]

Later this week I'm going to be getting a new hdd, and I'd like to
transfer my system, settings and all, including all those bits of data
stored God-knows-where. Is this just a matter of using the Files
Settings and Xfer wizard? Sorry if the question seems obtuse, but I'd
like to make sure I have this all down before I get into it.

Also, a little while after that I'm going to upgrade my CPU, and
mboard I should think. If I have SP1 and all the updates recommended,
will my system be able to handle it? I vividly remember one time I
upgraded my CPU, and the Windows of the day died from the shock.

To clone the existing HD to the new one, you need a cloning package such as
Drive Image or Norton Ghost. While you are about it, why not take advantage
of the new software to run the/a second HD as a permanent back-up and
re-clone it on a regular basis. The main rule is that the back-up drive
should be the same or larger than the primary drive.

I have a 15GB primary (60 percent occupied) and 20GB back-up and Ghost takes
about 20 mins to complete the cloning task.

Brian

 

[Michael Stevens]

Also, a little while after that I'm going to upgrade my CPU, and
mboard I should think. If I have SP1 and all the updates recommended,
will my system be able to handle it? I vividly remember one time I
upgraded my CPU, and the Windows of the day died from the shock.

Click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into the address box
if using the web based newsgroup.
Move XP to new hardware.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Angus]

"Also, a little while after that I'm going to upgrade my CPU, and
mboard I should think."
How long is a little while? You will have a more pleasant experience if you
upgrade your whole machine, and then go with XP, IMO. Of course, if a little
while is six months, that would be a bit long to wait. Tell us, in any case,
what is your processor speed, and RAM size?

Well, if you really wanna know, I think it could be a month or so
before I upgrade the board. The wait is unacceptable, though. I'm
going to do the hdd first. My processor and RAM are 950MHz and 640Mb
respectively.

The last time I asked this question, I was using W98. The copying
process involved running something like xcopy32, with a bunch of
options, from a Dos box. It worked rather well. Now I'm wanting to do
the same basic thing w/XP, and I was hoping there was a similar
solution just as clean.

I also tried looking up
http://michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html, but it seemed to give
advice for a variety of combinations of situations, except mine. It
talks about moving an hdd w/XP to another computer, but it doesn't
talk about moving the contents of an hdd w/XP to another hdd.