Hdd Partition

[Dodger]

Is it possible to make a copy of the partiton section on my hdd that holds
the os and programs installed by the manufacturer of my laptop (iqon), the
reason I am asking is because the company has gone into liquidation, so if I
get any future problems with my hdd I'll lose my os, as the laptop came
preloaded with all programs, I know there is a system recovery option by
pressing f11, but I've had a new hdd under warranty a couple of months ago
but if it ever had the same problem was hoping to just replace a hdd and not
the os as well, thanks in advance for any help........

 

[DL]

Use imaging software, eg Acronis True Image

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I also recommend Acronis True Image.

 

[PD43]

I also recommend Acronis True Image.

Acronis TI has climbed to #1 here in a relatively short time. I've
been using it for about 3 years now and when I first started touting
it here, folks hardly knew about it.

It really IS a very good product.

 

[philo]

Is it possible to make a copy of the partiton section on my hdd that holds
the os and programs installed by the manufacturer of my laptop (iqon), the
reason I am asking is because the company has gone into liquidation, so if I
get any future problems with my hdd I'll lose my os, as the laptop came
preloaded with all programs, I know there is a system recovery option by
pressing f11, but I've had a new hdd under warranty a couple of months ago
but if it ever had the same problem was hoping to just replace a hdd and not
the os as well, thanks in advance for any help........

You can use Acronis True Image
and clone your system to another harddrive...

then after testing the clone by installing that drive in place of your
present drive...
you can put the cloned drive aside in case of an emergency

 

[HEMI-Powered]

=?Utf-8?B?RG9kZ2Vy?= added these comments in the current discussion
du jour ...

Is it possible to make a copy of the partiton section on my hdd
that holds the os and programs installed by the manufacturer of my
laptop (iqon), the reason I am asking is because the company has
gone into liquidation, so if I get any future problems with my hdd
I'll lose my os, as the laptop came preloaded with all programs, I
know there is a system recovery option by pressing f11, but I've
had a new hdd under warranty a couple of months ago but if it ever
had the same problem was hoping to just replace a hdd and not the
os as well, thanks in advance for any help........

use an imaging program such as Acronis True Image, Casper, or Norton
Ghost

 

[HEMI-Powered]

philo added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

You can use Acronis True Image
and clone your system to another harddrive...

then after testing the clone by installing that drive in place of
your present drive...
you can put the cloned drive aside in case of an emergency

That's what I said, then I thought about the problems that are likely
to arise, e.g., different video, different BIOS, etc. But, I think
those could be overcome. What will be really HARD to overcome is that
it is now technically an illegal/bootleg version of Windows and would
eventually refuse to update itself unless the Iqon company provided a
restore CD.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

The trick with any backup program is to take care of the computer so as not
to need it. But stuff happens.

Getting a lot of users to just use something is a challenge. It might as
well be a straightforward imaging program like ATIH. Give them choices and
they don't make any.

Even when warned with red-letter, 14pt text by MS these dummies were
installing Vista beta 2 right on top of XP with no backups whatsoever. Then
they would get in the new Vista newsgroups and cry the blues for someone to
tell them how to get their XP and their files back. Naturally we all knew
they hadn't heeded any warnings and hadn't ever backed up a computer in
their lives, but we played the game telling them to just restore from their
Acronis or Ghost image backup. No prob, right Bub?

Half the time they never even posted again. Those were the days.... :/

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

It is neither illegal nor bootleg. You are merely out of compliance with
the EULA. It will not morph into pirated software by itself. However, you
should cure the licensing by obtaining a Windows license for it yourself.

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

based on my understanding
each time windows starts it
"always" check for hardware.

if more than six of the ten
component identification
checks are different, then
the o.s. will require/demand
re-activation.

so if a laptop was cloned
onto a hd and that hd was
then installed on a pc, that
o.s. would try to reactive
and fail and vice versa.

further, if a single computer
had more than six of its
components replaced, the
o.s. on it would then want
to re-activate due to the
new hardware changes.

 

[Dodger]

Hi all thanks for the quick replies looks like I should buy acronis then, I
got the feeling that some people thought my intentions were illegal, my point
I was trying to make is that the manufacturer of my laptop has gone into
liquidation so I no longer get tech support on it, I do regular backups of
data but if I have a hdd failure again the backups don't include the
operating system, I do have the product key on a sticker on the laptop for a
copy of xp, so surely I can make a copy legally, I can no longer get a
restore cd from the manufacturer nor did they supply one. My understanding is
manufacturers don't supply restore cds or the os on disk any longer to keep
costs down to the end user , then they could charge high prices for out of
warranty service, because they had all the software and drivers to get you up
and running again unfortunately if the company goes bust you end up in my
situation, just thought I'd cover myself for any future problems......thx
again

 

[DL]

Manufactureres are obliged under the MS licence to provide a means of
restoring your PC, this may be via a hidden recovery partition or recovery
cd, some recovery partitions have the option to create recovery cd/dvd's

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

you can still try the
methods provided
because microsoft
implemented a security
feature into the software.

so if you happened to
make a clone and it
worked ok on another
pc, then it was because
the o.s. allowed it.

if you happened to make
a clone and the o.s. found
that the hardware change
was major and no longer
within the spec's then
it would simply try to
re-activate.

and if it did reactive then all
is o.k.

however, if it would not activate,
then the copy would simply
become unusable, except for
the system where is came from
or another system that has
similar hardware.

incidentally, there is an alternative
to acronis called "driveimage xml"
and its' free.

perhaps, instead of
cloning the o.s., you
should clone those
personal files instead
or maybe export them.

also, if the company is being
liquidated, then you might
want to buy or acquire that
proprietary software you are
fond of so that you can install
it on your own pc.

otherwise the issue at hand
with cloning, pirating, etc
involves only windows and
you may not need a clone of
windows.

 

[HEMI-Powered]

Colin Barnhorst added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...

It is neither illegal nor bootleg. You are merely out of
compliance with the EULA. It will not morph into pirated software
by itself. However, you should cure the licensing by obtaining a
Windows license for it yourself.

I'm not a defender of MS in any way, but by definition, if one is
running a SW O/W or app that bypassed the EULA it is illegal. And,
Windows activation scheme would catch the new computer anyway. The
way around this, it seems to me, is to reactivate it by calling MS
and giving them the necessary info off the original CD, but since
that is an OEM version of Windows, it may be problematical. I don't
care personally, but the OP might ...

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

The term Microsoft uses is "out of compliance" (with the End User License
Agreement). He has to read the EULA to see what the type of license is and
whether the software is transferrable with the computer. It probably is.

 

[windmap]

try this http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm
Free HDD Imaging Program.

 

[Dave Cohen]

Is it possible to make a copy of the partiton section on my hdd that holds
the os and programs installed by the manufacturer of my laptop (iqon), the
reason I am asking is because the company has gone into liquidation, so if I
get any future problems with my hdd I'll lose my os, as the laptop came
preloaded with all programs, I know there is a system recovery option by
pressing f11, but I've had a new hdd under warranty a couple of months ago
but if it ever had the same problem was hoping to just replace a hdd and not
the os as well, thanks in advance for any help........

Quite a few people have recommended using an imaging program. I think
readers (and yourself) should note that once one has been running a
system for any length of time, the recovery cd's supplied by the name
brand suppliers are pretty useless. Does one really want a machine
restored to what it was when purchased, minus everything you have
installed since then plus the gratuitous junk you laboriously removed. I
don't think so. You need a backup strategy for any number of reasons for
both system/installed programs/settings and data. For the first item
imaging is by far the best. Acronis, Ghost, etc or my preference which
is products from www.terabyteunlimited.com which have an excellent
support forum. Personally I separate my os and data using partitioning.
As far as I know, imaging programs don't touch the mbr. This doesn't
seem to be a problem, but terabyte have a number of free utility
programs and one called mbrwork.exe will permit backup/restore of the
mbr plus other options. Use this with care. It's a good idea to keep a
backup of the mbr (it actually backs up the whole 32k first track). Can
use a floppy or flash drive to save this.
Dave Cohen