Mirrored Hard Drives..

[JD]

I'm using XP he SP3. I have two hard drives, partitioned into five
drives. Drive 0 is C, D and E. Drive 1 is F and G. I also have two DVDr
drives, L and M. I changed those drive letters in disk management.

I'm in the process of purchasing some backup parts for my current
computer. I bought a similar motherboard, identical hard drives and DVDr
drives, identical RAM and AMD processor, and a similar video card.

I decided I needed to test all these new parts so I did a basic build
using the new parts. I couldn't think of any other way to make sure the
new motherboard, processor and RAM were working.

I used Acronis True Image Home 2009 to mirror my current hard drives
onto the new hard drives using a Vantec SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter.

When I booted the new computer, of course XP wanted to be Authenticated
but I passed on that. I don't plan to use the new computer, I'm just
checking all the parts.

Long story short, everything worked but the drive letters were wrong:

Drive 0 was still C, D and E but Drive 1 became H and I and the two DVDr
drives became F and G. I tried rebooting after disconnecting the two
DVDr drives but Drive 1 was still H and I.

I tried to change the Drive letters on Drive 1 using disk management but
it wouldn't work. I'm sorry, I didn't write down the error. It just
wouldn't load any of the drives.

Is that a restriction of not Activating XP?

I didn't want to Activate XP on this new computer because I don't plan
to continue to use it and I'm not sure what activating XP on the new
computer would do to the XP on my current computer.

I've already removed the two hard drives and will store the new computer
until I need the parts but I was just curious as to why disk management
didn't work. Yeah, I should have written down the error but it was late
and I was tired.

 

[JS]

No, it's not a restriction of XP.
Since you are using True Image,
try again this time only with one drive.

After the install, reassign the DVD drive letters
and then connecting the second drive.

 

[JD]

No, it's not a restriction of XP.
Since you are using True Image,
try again this time only with one drive.

After the install, reassign the DVD drive letters
and then connecting the second drive.

The test computer has been put up but I kept notes so I will add your
comments to my notes should I ever want to experiment again.

If I had Activated this cloned disk of XP, what would happen to the
version of XP that I cloned from? Would that version no longer work? I'm
not very familiar with Activation.

Is there any particular reason you top post with a signature deliminator
since everything after your signature is not in my reply? I have my
newsreader set that way. Everything after the space dash dash disappears
so my signature is only on here once. I think we've had this discussion
before. I'm just curious.

 

[JD]

Nothing would have happened to the version of XP you cloned from because the
Activation would have failed.

Well, now I have to ask. Why would the cloned version of XP fail to
Activate?

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Well, now I have to ask. Why would the cloned version of XP fail to
Activate?

Because on non-VL (Volume License) versions, one key can be activated on
only one hardware platform at one time.

The second machine bumps the first one off the MS activation server's list.
The next time the first system gets an update that triggers a WGA check, it
will fail.

Incidentally, the term "mirrored" is normally used in reference to a type of
RAID setup, where the mirrored drives are run concurrently, so that if one
fails at any given moment, the other can take over . What you've done is
more commonly referred to as "cloning".

HTH
-pk

 

[JS]

You can only have one PC activated using the
same license (key code) at a time for retail versions
of XP.

XP required reactivation most likely because
there is enough of a difference between the two
motherboards to trigger activation. Sometimes
the simple change/upgrade to a faster network
card is all it takes to trigger reactivation.

OEM copies of XP in general can not
be moved to another PC/Motherboard.

Instead of cloning the content of one drive to another
why not create an image backup.

 

[JD]

Because on non-VL (Volume License) versions, one key can be activated on
only one hardware platform at one time.

The second machine bumps the first one off the MS activation server's list.
The next time the first system gets an update that triggers a WGA check, it
will fail.

Incidentally, the term "mirrored" is normally used in reference to a type of
RAID setup, where the mirrored drives are run concurrently, so that if one
fails at any given moment, the other can take over . What you've done is
more commonly referred to as "cloning".

HTH
-pk

That's a big help. They are in fact cloned drives. Sorry for the confusion.

And thanks for the explanation of Activation. I know what it is but I
wasn't sure how it worked.

This newsgroup is good. I learn so much. Thanks!

 

[JD]

You can only have one PC activated using the
same license (key code) at a time for retail versions
of XP.

XP required reactivation most likely because
there is enough of a difference between the two
motherboards to trigger activation. Sometimes
the simple change/upgrade to a faster network
card is all it takes to trigger reactivation.

OEM copies of XP in general can not
be moved to another PC/Motherboard.

Instead of cloning the content of one drive to another
why not create an image backup.

I'm still learning about Acronis. I have made backups of both hard
drives onto a USB drive. Is that what you mean by an image backup?

The cloning was just an experiment. I had no intention of using the
cloned drives in the new machine. I just needed a drive to test the new
machine. The new machine has been stored for parts, should the need
arise. The hard drives have been removed.

I can tell you that the machine I use, the one the drives were cloned
from, was built with a Asus motherboard that was faulty. I activated XP
before I figured out the mobo was faulty. I returned that mobo and
replaced it with a Gigabyte mobo and I did not have to re-activate XP.
Nothing else changed but the mobo. Windows booted and has worked and
updated without a problem.

I'm not sure why the cloned drives wanted to activate XP. I changed the
mobo but only slightly(different versions of the same model), used less
RAM but the same brand of RAM, same brand and size of hard drives and
DVDr drives and the same processor. Maybe it was too many changes?

I'm not trying to be a smarty pants here, just telling you my
experiences with XP activation.

 

[JS]

I'm still learning about Acronis. I have made backups of both hard drives
onto a USB drive. Is that what you mean by an image backup?

The cloning was just an experiment. I had no intention of using the cloned
drives in the new machine. I just needed a drive to test the new machine.
The new machine has been stored for parts, should the need arise. The hard
drives have been removed.

I can tell you that the machine I use, the one the drives were cloned
from, was built with a Asus motherboard that was faulty. I activated XP
before I figured out the mobo was faulty. I returned that mobo and
replaced it with a Gigabyte mobo and I did not have to re-activate XP.
Nothing else changed but the mobo. Windows booted and has worked and
updated without a problem.

I'm not sure why the cloned drives wanted to activate XP. I changed the
mobo but only slightly(different versions of the same model), used less
RAM but the same brand of RAM, same brand and size of hard drives and DVDr
drives and the same processor. Maybe it was too many changes?

I'm not trying to be a smarty pants here, just telling you my experiences
with XP activation.

No problem.
Good luck with your new PC.