How to move a notebook WinXP installation to new hard disc ?

[Eugen Austermann]

I want to change my current hard disc in my notebook to another one.

However I want to preserve my current WinXP installation.

How can I copy my C: (and D: partition) from the old to the new hard disc
so that the new hard disc can replace the old one WITHOUT having to newly install WinXP ?

In my notebook fits only 1 hard disc.

I could imagine a solutioon similar to

1.) boot by a DVD LiveCD/Toold CD
2.) copy Part C: with a 3rd party tool/utility over USB to an external hard disc
3.) shutdown
4.) replace the notebooks hard disc
5.) reboot the LiveCD/ToolCD and restore the saved partition from the external USB hard disc

Which tool is recommendable for such an operation?

Eugen

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I want to change my current hard disc in my notebook to another one.

However I want to preserve my current WinXP installation.

How can I copy my C: (and D: partition) from the old to the new hard disc
so that the new hard disc can replace the old one WITHOUT having to newly
install WinXP ?

In my notebook fits only 1 hard disc.

I could imagine a solutioon similar to

1.) boot by a DVD LiveCD/Toold CD
2.) copy Part C: with a 3rd party tool/utility over USB to an external
hard disc
3.) shutdown
4.) replace the notebooks hard disc
5.) reboot the LiveCD/ToolCD and restore the saved partition from the
external USB hard disc

Which tool is recommendable for such an operation?

Eugen

Your method works fine. Here it is again, with some refinements:
1.) Install the new disk in an external USB case.
2.) Partition & format it.
3.) Mark its primary partition as "active".
4.) Boot with a DVD LiveCD/Toold CD or with a Bart PE boot CD.
5.) Copy Part C: with robocopy.exe over USB to the new disk.
6.) shutdown
7.) replace the notebooks hard disc

You can download robocopy.exe as part of the Windows
Resource Kit.

There is one catch: The geometry access mode of the new disk
must be the same as for the old disk, i.e. it must be LBA, Auto
or Large. Most desktop BIOSs allow you to select this but
with laptops you do not usually get this option. You don't get
it with USB cases either. I suggest you try the above process.
If the machine fails to boot with the disk, come back for further
hints.

 

[Eric P.]

I want to change my current hard disc in my notebook to another one.

However I want to preserve my current WinXP installation.

How can I copy my C: (and D: partition) from the old to the new hard disc
so that the new hard disc can replace the old one WITHOUT having to newly install WinXP ?

In my notebook fits only 1 hard disc.

I could imagine a solutioon similar to

1.) boot by a DVD LiveCD/Toold CD
2.) copy Part C: with a 3rd party tool/utility over USB to an external hard disc
3.) shutdown
4.) replace the notebooks hard disc
5.) reboot the LiveCD/ToolCD and restore the saved partition from the external USB hard disc

Which tool is recommendable for such an operation?

Eugen

Never tried this myself!
But did many similar jobs.

You could buy an adapter that enables you to connect a laptop disk to a
regular computer.
(I have such adapters myself)

Make a backup of the whole laptop harddisk with an utility like HDCLONE
storing this backup on the main harddisk of your computer.
http://www.miray.de/download/sat.hdclone.html
(I use HDCLONE myself. It's a very userfriendly utility that is started
from a floppy and copies sector by sector.)

Replace old laptop harddisk by new one.
Write the backup to the new laptop harddisk.

 

[Malke]

I want to change my current hard disc in my notebook to another one.

However I want to preserve my current WinXP installation.

How can I copy my C: (and D: partition) from the old to the new hard disc
so that the new hard disc can replace the old one WITHOUT having to newly install WinXP ?

In my notebook fits only 1 hard disc.

I could imagine a solutioon similar to

1.) boot by a DVD LiveCD/Toold CD
2.) copy Part C: with a 3rd party tool/utility over USB to an external hard disc
3.) shutdown
4.) replace the notebooks hard disc
5.) reboot the LiveCD/ToolCD and restore the saved partition from the external USB hard disc

Which tool is recommendable for such an operation?

You will need:

1. Imaging software (my preference is for Acronis True Image).
2. A hard drive in a USB external enclosure (useful to have for backups
anyway).

A. Install True Image on the laptop.

B. From within True Image, create the bootable CD. I believe you'll need
third-party burning software like Nero or Roxio. If you don't have this,
use a free burning program such as CDBurnerXP Pro or DeepBurner (Google
for them).

C. Attach the external hard drive to your laptop and boot with the True
Image bootable CD. Image the laptop's hard drive and store the image on
the external drive.

D. Remove the old laptop hard drive and replace with the new one. Attach
the external hard drive to the laptop, boot with the True Image bootable
CD, restore the image to the new drive.

E. Remove the external hard drive and bootable CD and boot into Windows
on your new hard drive.


Malke

 

[duke]

I want to change my current hard disc in my notebook to another one.

However I want to preserve my current WinXP installation.

How can I copy my C: (and D: partition) from the old to the new hard disc
so that the new hard disc can replace the old one WITHOUT having to newly install WinXP ?

In my notebook fits only 1 hard disc.

I could imagine a solutioon similar to

1.) boot by a DVD LiveCD/Toold CD
2.) copy Part C: with a 3rd party tool/utility over USB to an external hard disc
3.) shutdown
4.) replace the notebooks hard disc
5.) reboot the LiveCD/ToolCD and restore the saved partition from the external USB hard disc

Which tool is recommendable for such an operation?

Eugen

I suspect that Acronis True Image will do the trick.
It is very user friendly and works great as a backup/recovery tool
after you finish installing your new drive

Good Luck

Duke

 

[peter]

Use Acronis True Image........plug the new drive in via external USB
....Clone/Image the present drive to new drive
when done shut down and change drives.
peter

 

[Ghostrider]

I want to change my current hard disc in my notebook to another one.

However I want to preserve my current WinXP installation.

How can I copy my C: (and D: partition) from the old to the new hard disc
so that the new hard disc can replace the old one WITHOUT having to newly install WinXP ?

In my notebook fits only 1 hard disc.

I could imagine a solutioon similar to

1.) boot by a DVD LiveCD/Toold CD
2.) copy Part C: with a 3rd party tool/utility over USB to an external hard disc
3.) shutdown
4.) replace the notebooks hard disc
5.) reboot the LiveCD/ToolCD and restore the saved partition from the external USB hard disc

Which tool is recommendable for such an operation?

Eugen

In generic terms, the ideal method would be to clone the existing
hard drive (Drives C and D) to create a disk image. Not knowing what
is DVD LivdCD or ToolCD, a good third-party utility would be Acronis
TrueImage. Shut down, replace the hard drive and complete the cloning
by expanding the image files to their respective partitions. As always,
read the instructions on how to proceed. And as a precaution, make an
uncompressed backups for all important data, information, text, etc.,
files.

 

[billdcat]

You might want to visit the support/download site for the maker of the new
drive and the maker of the external drive. They may have a utility to allow
you to move the OS. When I upgraded my hard drive, the new drive came with a
utiltiy to make the move.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I want to change my current hard disc in my notebook to another one.

However I want to preserve my current WinXP installation.

How can I copy my C: (and D: partition) from the old to the new hard disc
so that the new hard disc can replace the old one WITHOUT having to newly
install WinXP ?

In my notebook fits only 1 hard disc.

I could imagine a solutioon similar to

1.) boot by a DVD LiveCD/Toold CD
2.) copy Part C: with a 3rd party tool/utility over USB to an external
hard disc
3.) shutdown
4.) replace the notebooks hard disc
5.) reboot the LiveCD/ToolCD and restore the saved partition from the
external USB hard disc

Which tool is recommendable for such an operation?

Eugen

Your method works fine. Here it is again, with some refinements:
1.) Install the new disk in an external USB case.
2.) Partition & format it.
3.) Mark its primary partition as "active".
4.) Boot with a DVD LiveCD/Toold CD or with a Bart PE boot CD.
5.) Copy Part C: with robocopy.exe over USB to the new disk.
6.) shutdown
7.) replace the notebooks hard disc

 

[FrankFL]

I want to change my current hard disc in my notebook to another one.

However I want to preserve my current WinXP installation.

How can I copy my C: (and D: partition) from the old to the new hard disc
so that the new hard disc can replace the old one WITHOUT having to newly install WinXP ?

In my notebook fits only 1 hard disc.

I could imagine a solutioon similar to

1.) boot by a DVD LiveCD/Toold CD
2.) copy Part C: with a 3rd party tool/utility over USB to an external hard disc
3.) shutdown
4.) replace the notebooks hard disc
5.) reboot the LiveCD/ToolCD and restore the saved partition from the external USB hard disc

Which tool is recommendable for such an operation?

Eugen

Acronis True Image _should_ do what you wish. However the multiple partitions
may cause problems.