Upgrading Hard Disk

  • Thread starter Thread starter jc
  • Start date Start date
J

jc

Hi all,

I am upgrading hardware to replace an old hard disk with
another (bigger) one. I have used ghost to reproduce that
disk exactly as originally but with larger partitions.
Simple.

However Windows XP Pro is not happy booting once it's on
the new disk:

Windows Product Activation -
A problem is preventing Windows from accurately checking
the license for this computer. Error Code: 0x80090006

Looking this up, as this disk is new hardware, MS's anti-
piracy policy is preventing installation on it. The only
apparent solution is an "in-place upgrade", i.e. reinstall
over the top of Windows, and then spend an age patching,
re-installing software, configuring, and generally fixing
what this breaks, etc. Oh, and then "re-activate" Windows.

Does anyone have any idea of a way to fix this ridiculous
situation without such a drastic, chronic, pathetic,
obnoxious foul-up of a fix that MS want to force? Please!?!

Any ideas gratefully appreciated.

jc
 
jc,

It's been over a year since I did it so the details are vague. As I recall,
I had to go into Safe Mode, then do a telephone activation (on-line will not
work I was told). I explained that I replaced the drive, gave the product
key number, they gave me a new number to enter and all was well. Took all
of 5 minutes and was painless - they do it all the time. So call MS and
they'll walk you right thru it.

Now if somebody can jump in and give him the phone number......

Bob S.
 
All he needs to do is enter his country... the correct telephone number will
appear when he clicks on Activate by Phone.
 
Thanks but no good in this case...

1) I can't log into Safe Mode any more than normal.
2) This is the corporate edition (i.e. no activation).

Maybe the two are related?

jc
 
Could it be that Windows is remembering the SID of the old hard drive
and does not like the fact that the new hard drive does not match? Have
you tried using MaxBlast or one of those types of programs that are for
your hard drive? I would try that instead of Ghost.

----
Nathan McNulty

see how easy that was....;-)

Bob S.
Click to expand...
 
Hi all,

I am upgrading hardware to replace an old hard disk with
another (bigger) one. I have used ghost to reproduce that
disk exactly as originally but with larger partitions.
Simple.
Click to expand...

If yer doin' a clone of 1 drive with 2 partitions to the new drive,
the partitions should not have changed size.
However Windows XP Pro is not happy booting once it's on
the new disk:

Windows Product Activation -
A problem is preventing Windows from accurately checking
the license for this computer. Error Code: 0x80090006

Looking this up, as this disk is new hardware, MS's anti-
piracy policy is preventing installation on it.
Click to expand...

I've done a lot of cloning with Ghost...and I've never had the problem
that yer havin'. I'm guessing that you did something incorrectly with
Ghost. What version of Ghost are you usin'?
The only
apparent solution is an "in-place upgrade", i.e. reinstall
over the top of Windows,
Click to expand...

You might try a different program...or double-check your procedures.
Many folks have upgraded drives with no problem whatsoever.

Good luck...let us know.


Have a nice week...

Trent

What do you call a smart blonde?
A golden retriever.
 
Have tried with partitions the same size, or larger; the
result is always the same.

I've also used Ghost (2002) successfully many times.
Unfortunately, I've done so several times on the one
machine as new disks are needed (and other hardware has
changed too), and now the threshold has been reached at
with XP says "this isn't the same machine any more".

I'm pretty certain that the problem is MS's paranoia about
piracy, which has caused product activation to
deliberately (and maliciously) cripple my legitimate
system. ...or am I being paranoid?

thanks,

jc
 
I'm pretty certain it's that or something similar, yes.
And it seems to be a deliberate "anti-piracy" feature of
XP too.

Cheers for the tip. Ghost has worked before (even on the
same machine) so I'm guessing that's not related. That
said, I'm game to try MaxBlaster - I'm out of ideas
myself! Cheers for the tip - will let you know how I get
on.

jc
-----Original Message-----
Could it be that Windows is remembering the SID of the old hard drive
and does not like the fact that the new hard drive does not match? Have
you tried using MaxBlast or one of those types of programs that are for
your hard drive? I would try that instead of Ghost.
Click to expand...
 
Have tried with partitions the same size, or larger; the
result is always the same.
Click to expand...

If yer cloning PARTITIONS, that's probably your problem.

DON'T clone the partitions. Simply clone the drive. The partitions
will take care of themselves.

Once you get the clone made...and it boots okay...then simply expand
the partitions to the size that you want.

Make sure that you boot with only the one (new) drive installed...at
least until you get it working okay. You'll probably get a 'new
hardware found' notice. If you do, make sure you reboot when it asks
you to.

Good luck.


Have a nice week...

Trent

What do you call a smart blonde?
A golden retriever.
 
Cheers Trent,

Have tried it many ways, including the whole disk (else
I'll lose the MBR). Ghost automatically "scales up"
partition sizes if moving to a larger disk, but you have
the option to change the size for each one individually if
you want. I have tried letting it do its thing, or wading
in myself; it doesn't seem to affect the outcome.

I've also tried getting the MBR across that way, then
doing individual partitions to see what happens. ...And
doing the partitions, then "repairing" the (until that
point, non-existent) MBR.

In addition, I've also now tried different versions of
Ghost and next on the list is MaxBlast as suggested by
Nathan.

As far as I can tell, Windows is working but fails the WPA
hardware check (there have been other physical changes
over time too) just after/during (?) login. This happens
even in safe mode, where an ordinary (non-volume license)
version would then allow re-activation (we use the
Enterprise volume edition). Of course, it's hard to be
sure of this or anything else as I can't get into anything
to check logs, etc.

Thanks to you and others for the input. I'll keep plodding
on, and let you know if I get anywhere...

jc
 
Cheers Trent,

Have tried it many ways, including the whole disk (else
I'll lose the MBR). Ghost automatically "scales up"
partition sizes if moving to a larger disk,
Click to expand...

I've never had that happen to me...and I've done quite a few. When I
do a complete drive, it simply clones over the drive...with the same
size partitions...and leaves the rest of the drive as unallocated
space.
but you have
the option to change the size for each one individually if
you want.
Click to expand...

Yes...that's been my experience also. But, IMHE, the default has
always been to clone over the partitions exactly as they are on the
original drive.
I have tried letting it do its thing, or wading
in myself; it doesn't seem to affect the outcome.
Click to expand...

I've never seen it adjust when going to a larger drive. It WILL
adjust if going to a SMALLER drive. But I've never had it adjust
going the other way. It simply doesn't allocate the remainder of the
new space.

Anyway...good luck.


Have a nice week...

Trent

What do you call a smart blonde?
A golden retriever.
 
Hi all,

Firstly, thanks for everyones input - it's nice to get
ideas back when you've run out yourself.

I've found a way around this by using the cloning tool
sysprep.exe to (in effect) clone a machine onto itself. As
it might be useful to others out there in a similar
predicament, here's what I did:

1) I sysprep'ed the offending machine's OS on the original
disk.
2) Did the usual Ghost thing with all partitions exactly
the same size as originally.
3) Rebooted into the OS on the newer, bigger disk and ran
through the necessary bits and bobs.
4) Tidied up a few things that didn't get carried across
(drive lettering was changed back to the defaults, some
network configuration setting were lost and (oddly)
Outlook needed repairing).
5) Checked everything out, and it all seems pretty much OK
now. Cool.

Anyone who's interested in sysprep will find some useful
info at:
http://www.uea.ac.uk/itcs/software/xp/xp-sysprep.html
Our own set up is slightly diffent, but this should be
easily tweaked for most people to use. On the ball city!

This wasn't a complete success for us - we dual boot two
installations of XP, and although I tried to sysprep both,
only one survived the transition. Not sure whether that
was my fault (I did whizz through a bit quick!), or
whether its down to a limitation with the dual boot thing.
Either way, it's unlikely to affect anyone else who goes
through this.

....Now on to new things (the lost OS). A techie-geek's
work is never done.

Cheers,

jc
-----Original Message-----
Message unavailable
Click to expand...
- Wonder what happened there?
 
Thanks for the feedback - very interesting solution. I'm going to give it a
try on my test box and see how it works.

Bob S.
 
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