Instead of Reinstalling XP??

[Tonny]

My company laptop is giving me some trouble either through being improperly
shutdown or a virus, not sure myself. All of my data files are backed up on a
separate external drive. Since everyone in our company has the exact same
laptop (brand, model only difference is the serial#), would it be possible to
just format my bad hard disk and copy my coworker's drive as an exact
duplicate? I swapped his hard drive into my laptop and everything worked,
which seems logical to me. I'm just not sure if I can copy every file from
his hard drive (os system, files, registry keys and all) and have it work
again. Main reason for this is that the computer has a bit more on it than
just XP Pro and I would have to reinstall over a dozen other programs that we
all use in the office. My plan is to duplicate the hard drive in his laptop
through a data cable to my formatted hard drive in an external enclosure. Any
ideas if this will work or are there important files that can't be
duplicated? I just wanted to ask before I start and possibly screw up the the
drive even more. Thanks for the help.

 

[Ridge Runner]

NO!

 

[R. McCarty]

Can't speak for your company IT department, but most if not all
wouldn't be too happy with your plan. I'm sure that they have a
Corporate image of your notebook and could do what you want
in a much quicker/efficient way. When you say "Duplicate" are you
going to use an imaging/cloning tool ? Just copying files/folders will
not work.

Maybe you should just repost with details on the trouble, likely
someone here can offer a suggestion or plan to get it resolved.

 

[smlunatick]

My company laptop is giving me some trouble either through being improperly
shutdown or a virus, not sure myself. All of my data files are backed up on a
separate external drive. Since everyone in our company has the exact same
laptop (brand, model only difference is the serial#), would it be possibleto
just format my bad hard disk and copy my coworker's drive as an exact
duplicate? I swapped his hard drive into my laptop and everything worked,
which seems logical to me. I'm just not sure if I can copy every file from
his hard drive (os system, files, registry keys and all) and have it work
again. Main reason for this is that the computer has a bit more on it than
just XP Pro and I would have to reinstall over a dozen other programs thatwe
all use in the office. My plan is to duplicate the hard drive in his laptop
through a data cable to my formatted hard drive in an external enclosure. Any
ideas if this will work or are there important files that can't be
duplicated? I just wanted to ask before I start and possibly screw up the the
drive even more. Thanks for the help.

You can do this if:

1) The Windos XP is a Volume License key version
2) The company's IT department would allow this.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

What does your IT Department have to say? You don't own the computer, they
do (in a way).