moving XP from one drive to another?

[benwa]

I have 2 drives in my PC and XP Pro is on the C drive
(FAT32) while all my personal files are on the G drive
(NTFS). I want to eliminate my C drive because it is
causing alot of noise. I know I would need to switch the
jumpers. So my question is would I essentially be able to
copy my C drive(XP Pro) and paste it onto my G drive with
XP still working. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have 2 drives in my PC and XP Pro is on the C drive
(FAT32) while all my personal files are on the G drive
(NTFS). I want to eliminate my C drive because it is
causing alot of noise. I know I would need to switch the
jumpers. So my question is would I essentially be able to
copy my C drive(XP Pro) and paste it onto my G drive with
XP still working. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

To do this without loss of data requires
a) Another machine that runs WinXP
b) Swapping disks around
c) Advanced knowledge about xcopy.exe and about
the Command Console mode

Are you prepared to go down this track?

 

[benwa]

why would i need another PC with XP?

 

[benwa]

also would you know where i could go for this type of
procedure? thanks.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

why would i need another PC with XP?

Operating systems are normally "cloned" by using an
imaging tool such as Ghost. In your case this is probably
not an option, since it would destroy your existing data
on drive G:.

The next option is to use a straight "copy" process.
However, this won't work while WinXP is active, because
numerous files are locked. It's like surgery: You cannot
perform open heart surgery on yourself. Hence the need
for another machine.

 

[scott]

The best solution would be to buy a new drive (probably
bigger than the original), put it in place of the second
drive and use Norton Ghost to clone your C drive.
Then take out the old C drive and put the new drive in its
place. It will be identical to the original but a lot
quieter (quicker, more reliable, etc). You can then put
your other drive back in place.
Keep the old C drive as it is a useful backup in case
everything goes wrong or your computer is stolen.