Copy an existing prilmary partition on another PC

  • Thread starter Thread starter rmanal
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rmanal

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 said:
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?
Click to expand...

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
 
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 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?
Click to expand...

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.
 
JS said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Bob Harris said:
activation will probably fail. However, MS Office can be replaced with a
free product call Open Office, with little loss of functionality.
Click to expand...

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 said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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