Hard disk upgrade?

[google-groups.20.petkan]

Hello everyone,

I have a laptop with OEM Windows XP installed. I have detected some
faults in the hard drive, so I decided to buy a new one. I was
wondering if I could transfer the HDD image to the new disk and boot
Windows from it, without running into any license issues. Will Windows
complain if the system hard drive gets changed? Will I have to go
through activation again? Do I need anything other than the product
key?

Thanks in advance for any input!
Petko

 

[M.I.5¾]

Hello everyone,

I have a laptop with OEM Windows XP installed. I have detected some
faults in the hard drive, so I decided to buy a new one. I was
wondering if I could transfer the HDD image to the new disk and boot
Windows from it, without running into any license issues. Will Windows
complain if the system hard drive gets changed? Will I have to go
through activation again? Do I need anything other than the product
key?

There are 10 features* that are used in considering whether the hardware has
changed enough to trigger re-activation. 7 of those features must remain
unchanged (or missing) for reactivation not to occur (The network card MAC
address counts as 3, so if fitted only 4 other features need to remain
unchanged). If the laptop is dockable (or has a PCMCIA, Cardbus or PCI-E
port) more changes are permissible (as most qualifying hardware can
disappear).

The primary Hard disk type is one qualifying parameter.

The volume serial number (VSN) is another.

That would be two changes, but if you can clone the hard disc installation
onto another disc the VSN won't change and that makes it one change. As
most other qualifying hardware is likely to be unchanged on a laptop, you
are unlikely to have to reactivate your Windows XP.

*For the curious: they are:

MAC Address of network card (counts 3)
Primary CD-ROM type
Type of SCSI adapter
Primary hard disc type
Primary Volume Serial Number
Graphics card type
Memory size (in ranges)
Processor Type
Processor Serial Number
Primary ATA or SATA adaptor type

 

[R. McCarty]

The way activation ( Changes ) works is that certain devices hold a
vote in the overall hardware hash of the computer. Changes over time
are cumulative. The hard drive's unique Hardware ID does hold a
vote. Whether the change forces a re-activation depends on what
other hardware vote holders has changed recently.

Your post is unclear about how you intend to move to the new drive.
Using an image will preserve the XP volume's VSN, doing a fresh
install will create a new one. Either way you still need to document &
save your product key.