How to Clone a Vista HD and retain the Activation information

[Lew]

I have 2 400G SATA drives in my computer, I want to clone "C" to my "D"
drive as a back-up.
How do I clone the drive and retain all the Activation information for Vista
and Office 2007.

So far I have not found a clone software that will perform this task

Thank you
Lew

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Lew, I have an 80GB drive which contains Windows Vista, Office 2007,
Photoshop and a host of other apps. All that I have ever done is 'imaged'
the drive to a partition on my second hard drive using Acronis True Image.
So far this last ten days I have re-imaged the drive from my backup
partition to my Vista drive 3 times. In each case activation has been
intact. The imaged copy keeps all activation details along with all your
applications. Acronis True Image will also 'clone' a drive and, although I
have never used the clone option, this too should keep activation intact.
Most PC manufacturers clone the drives with Norton Ghost but personally I've
never been a great fan of Norton.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
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[Lew]

John:
If you boot off your back-up 80G drive and look at SYSTEM under the control
panel does it show that
Windows is ACTIVATED?

Lew

 

[dearhunter]

I have 2 400G SATA drives in my computer, I want to clone "C" to my
"D" drive as a back-up.
How do I clone the drive and retain all the Activation information for
Vista and Office 2007.

So far I have not found a clone software that will perform this task

Thank you
Lew

Lew, clone it with Casper, worked great for me!

 

[John Barnes]

You don't usually boot off of a backup, clone maybe. It would be activated,
but as soon as it contacts Microsoft servers, it will know it is on a new
drive and will request to be activated again.

 

[Terry R.]

On 8/30/2007 1:39 PM On a whim, dearhunter pounded out on the keyboard

Lew, clone it with Casper, worked great for me!

Or if Lew purchased and installed either of the drives himself, he could
use the image software that came with the drive.


--
Terry R.

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[Synapse Syndrome]

Or if Lew purchased and installed either of the drives himself, he could
use the image software that came with the drive.

Nothing comes with a hard-drive, if you are smart and buy an OEM brown-box.
Retail boxes come with screws and CDs etc, but cost a lot more. You can
always download the same software from the manufacturer's website.

ss.

 

[Terry R.]

On 8/30/2007 3:39 PM On a whim, Synapse Syndrome pounded out on the keyboard

Nothing comes with a hard-drive, if you are smart and buy an OEM brown-box.
Retail boxes come with screws and CDs etc, but cost a lot more. You can
always download the same software from the manufacturer's website.

ss.

Sometimes boxed drives go on sale locally for less than a bare drive
online. That is why I asked. Bare drives I've purchased don't even
come with a box. But yes, if he purchased a bare drive, he could get
the software online.

--
Terry R.

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[NoStop]

Lew, I have an 80GB drive which contains Windows Vista, Office 2007,
Photoshop and a host of other apps. All that I have ever done is 'imaged'
the drive to a partition on my second hard drive using Acronis True Image.
So far this last ten days I have re-imaged the drive from my backup
partition to my Vista drive 3 times.

I'm curious why you felt the need to do this? Or do you just like wasting
time?

Cheers.

--
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[Lew]

Does anyone know of any software that will do a bit copy of the hard drive
that will copy the Drive ID and serial.
Both drives are the same WD 400G

Lew

 

[John Barnett MVP]

The need to do what exactly? If you are referring to re-imaging 3 times
within 10 days then this is simply because of updates that have gone wrong.
As an MVP and Computer Journalist I certainly am not in the habit of
'wasting time' as you put it; frankly I don't have the time to waste! My
machine is constantly having software installed and un-installed, updates
are constantly being tested/removed/installed therefore it is necessary to
have at least 'one' clean image to go back to. To be honest I wouldn't even
class 16 minutes (the time it takes to re-image the drive) a waste of time.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Lew the operating system is 'imaged' to a partition on the second hard
drive, therefore, it is not bootable. To make it bootable one would need to
image it back to the original hard drive (in this case hard drive 0)

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Terry R.]

On 8/31/2007 10:05 AM On a whim, John Barnett MVP pounded out on the
keyboard

Lew the operating system is 'imaged' to a partition on the second hard
drive, therefore, it is not bootable. To make it bootable one would need to
image it back to the original hard drive (in this case hard drive 0)

Or he could swap the drives in the case, or change the rdisk from 0 to 1
in boot.ini, couldn't he? Either is quicker than re-imaging.

--
Terry R.

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[John Barnes]

There is no boot.ini involved in Vista only installations. The activation
algorithm has the highest points for the drive Vista is installed on,
increasing the odds that reactivation will be required.

 

[John Barnett MVP]

The need to do what exactly? If you are referring to re-imaging 3 times
within 10 days then this is simply because of updates that have gone wrong.
As an MVP and Computer Journalist I certainly am not in the habit of
'wasting time' as you put it; frankly I don't have the time to waste! My
machine is constantly having software installed and un-installed, updates
are constantly being tested/removed/installed therefore it is necessary to
have at least 'one' clean image to go back to. To be honest I wouldn't even
class 16 minutes (the time it takes to re-image the drive) a waste of time.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..