Hot swap hard drives - Can I install OEM Windows XP on two Hard Drives?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Darrell Pringle
  • Start date Start date
D

Darrell Pringle

Hi there, can anyone tell me if it is possible/legal to
install my OEM version of Windows XP on two seperate hot
swap hard drives within the same machine.

I just built a new 64-bit machine for video editing.
I want to use one 80Gb (master) hard drive for video
editing applications with a second 160Gb (slave) drive for
video files. But then I want to be able to swap my 1st
Master drive and replace it with a second 80Gb (master)
drive for general computing. All of my drives are in hot
swap caddies so I can swap between them!

Thanks, If you have any idea, can you please email me at:
(e-mail address removed).

Thanks again
Darrell
 
Greetings --

It's certainly possible technically, although you may have a
little trouble with the activation (if it is required for your
specific type of OEM CD - it may not be) of the second installation if
the person on the other end of the telephone is of a "doctrinaire"
nature. If worst came to worst, you'd have to wait to allow 120 days
to elapse between the two installations to allow automatic Internet
activation.

"Legally," I think you're on safe ground, but I'm not 100% sure of
this. The WinXP OEM EULA specifies "Except as otherwise expressly
provided in this EULA, you may install, use, access, display and run
only one (1) copy of the SOFTWARE on the COMPUTER." What you suggest
may be interpreted as some as having two copies, even though only one
disk will be installed in the computer at any given time, and only one
copy of WinXP will be running at a time.

It seems clear to me that you're intending to comply with the
"spirit" of the EULA, even if there is some question as to the
"letter" of the agreement. You may want to sample a few more opinions
before proceeding.

One point I'd like to clarify. To date, and to the best of my
knowledge, no court has ruled on the validity or invalidity of
Microsoft's OS EULA, and current copyright law, at least in the US, is
sufficiently ambiguous to allow vastly different interpretations. I
personally believe that US copyright law supports the EULA, but I'm
not a lawyer, and I've not seen any legal opinions, one way or
another, from any qualified lawyer or judge. So my opinion remains
just that. Until such time as a court does, if ever, settle the
matter, compliance with the EULA is, to my mind, more an issue of
ethics, rather than law. The EULA _is_ an agreement into which one
enters voluntarily, and with fore-knowledge of the general
restrictions. So the issue resolves to a matter of one's ethics and
personal integrity: Is one's promise to abide by an agreement,
whether via given word, sworn oath, signature on a contract, or even
clicking on a button, any good, or not? To me, the choice is clear.


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
I have done just that for an attorney's computer in his office. If he has no
problem with it, neither do I. Yes, he had a print out of the EULA on his
desk when I arrived. I suppose he read it!

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)
 
Greetings --

I'm not entirely comfortable relying upon a lawyer as a good
example of _ethical_ behavior, but I suppose we can trust him,
assuming he's reasonably competent, to understand the law. ;-}

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
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