Using same XP Pro on Second drive

[Taffyrj]

I have two 80 GB hard drives both Masters. The primary master has Win XP pro
on it, I use the second drive mostly for backups. Can I use the same XP Pro
& serial number to put an operating system on my second drive for emergency
use and activate it or will this cause me problems (eg screw up my primary
activation).

Thanks

 

[Alias]

Good question. It *is* the same machine.

Alias, looking forward to the answer.

 

[R. McCarty]

Theoretically, all System Partition Images are "Copies" of Windows
XP, Applications & User's Data. If you restore an image of your PC
to a second hard drive, then it will already be activated. I guess what
I'm saying is it might be redundant to have a dedicated drive with an
exact copy of your XP drive. Using that schema you have to change
the BIOS boot order to have the secondary drive boot. It's easier to
just image your machine and store the image modules on the 2nd disk
drive (& Burn to CD/DVD-R disks). Then if you need recovery, just
restore the image to the original disk drive.
Anyway if you clone or restore the image to the 2nd drive, it will be
activated. You may run into issues with drive letter mapping if you
leave the original drive installed during "Switch-Over" boots. I do get
what your saying about a 2nd clean install - but my point would be
why expend so much effort & time to duplicate what you've already
got setup.

 

[kurttrail]

I have two 80 GB hard drives both Masters. The primary master has Win
XP pro on it, I use the second drive mostly for backups. Can I use
the same XP Pro & serial number to put an operating system on my
second drive for emergency use and activate it or will this cause me
problems (eg screw up my primary activation).

Yes you can install the same copy of XP on the same computer as many
times as you like, and it should NEVER cause any activation problems.
Though Activation is flawed and generates errors all on its own!

"Additionally, reinstallation of Windows XP on the same or similar
hardware and a subsequent reactivation can be accomplished an infinite
number of times." -
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...sProductActivationTechnicalMarketBulletin.doc

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
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"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"