Windows XP Function After Hard Drive Upgrade

[Oscar N. Fuentes-Guzman]

Good Afternoon,

My name is Oscar and I recently did a hard drive upgrade. I went from a 80
GB Seagate Hard Drive to a 1 TB Western Digital SATA Hard Drive. I used the
Western Digital utilities to successfully transfer existing data from old
hard drive to the new one. Transfer of data was successul without any issues
or corrupt data.

I was able to log in to Windows XP on the New Hard Drive without any issues.
This is where i noticed that many of my icons were there on the desktop but
when i clicked on the icons the program has difficulty opening properly. Most
of my applications effected are Adobe and Microsoft Office Applications. All
other applications run smoothly without any problems. I attempted to
reinstall my Adobe CS4 Master Collection and was able to reinstall programs
and use them.

Now I have Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise Edition which I have the
original CD/DVD and attempted to reinstall the program. It read's the CD but
won't let me reinstall the software. I thought it was my CD Drive but I
tested other CD's and get the same issue. If I attempt to run the CD
installation the CD takes a while to load and then nothing just freezes my
desktop. I attempt to download the Enterprise Edition from the Microsoft
Website installation screen pops up and immediately closes and I get the pop
up to send the Error report.

I have looked online to see if there have been any issues related to
something like this, noticed one thread but no solution. I will attempt to
run SFC /SCANNOW and see if it is something with the registry or installation
files, i have a feeling it could be corrupted installation files. Windows is
up to date no new updates. Reinstalled Service Pack 3. Both Drives in my
desktop are are the same before the upgrade: Local Disk (C) and Local Disk
(D) so the letters did not change. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I
hope I can find a solution otherwise I will have no choice but to reformat
and start from scratch.

Thanks again!

Desktop Information:

DELL OptiPlex 170L
Pentium 4 Processor
2.88 GHZ 2 GB RAM
Hard Drive 1.5 TB Local Disk (C)
Hard Drive 80 GB Local Disk (D)
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3

Oscar N. Fuentes-Guzman
(e-mail address removed)

 

[John John (MVP)]

Was the old drive connected when you booted the newly cloned drive for
the first time? Open a command prompt and issue this command:

set system

What does the command return?

John

 

[Oscar N. Fuentes-Guzman]

John, Thanks for your reply this is what I get when I enter "set system" in
the command prompt window:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Oscar Fuentes-Guzman>set system
SystemDrive=C:
SystemRoot=C:\WINDOWS

C:\Documents and Settings\Oscar Fuentes-Guzman>

 

[Anna]

Was the old drive connected when you booted the newly cloned drive for the
first time? Open a command prompt and issue this command:

set system

What does the command return?

John

Oscar:
I can assure you it *won't* be the first time the WD Data Lifeguard utility
didn't do the job it was supposed to do. Our experience over the years with
that disk-to-disk cloning program has been "iffy" at best. Sometimes it
works; sometimes it doesn't. As simple as that.

I'm assuming, of course, that you used the WD Data Lifeguard utility to
perform the disk-cloning operation - transferring the complete contents of
your 80 GB HDD to your new WD HDD.

You say "Transfer of data was successful without any issues or corrupt
data." Presumably your statement is based on the fact that the disk-copying
(cloning) operation apparently went smoothly with no error messages or any
untoward events. Right?

And that following the disk-to-disk cloning operation you were able to boot
to your new "destination" HDD - the 1 TB WD drive - without any problems.

But obviously something went awry, did it not, because you're experiencing
problems of one sort or another? The obvious conclusion one would draw in
this type of situation is that something *did* go wrong with the
disk-cloning operation.

I'm assuming, of course, that prior to the disk-copying (cloning) operation,
your "old" 80 GB Seagate functioned perfectly in that you didn't experience
any of the problems you now relate.

Obviously there are a number of options open to you. You could simply repeat
the disk-cloning operation with the WD utility and hope this time all goes
well in that your "destination" HDD is a true clone of the "source" HDD.

You could use another disk-cloning program to perform the operation. One
program that garners very good reviews from users is the (commercial)
Acronis True Image program. Fortunately, Acronis has a trial version
available for download at...
http://www.acronis.com
So you may want to consider that program.

The disk-cloning program that I prefer is the (commercial) Casper 5 program.
A trial version is also available, however, it's somewhat crippled in that
while it will clone the entire contents of your source HDD, it will create a
partition on the destination drive *only* as large as the size of the cloned
contents. Of course the licensed version doesn't have this restriction. It's
available at http://www.fssdev.com

You could also consider using the Seagate disk-cloning utility, the Seagate
DiscWizard. It's actually an older version of the Acronis program. It's
freely available from Seagate's website - see...
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/discwizard

BTW, a few years ago I prepared step-by-step instructions for using the WD
Data Lifeguard Tools utility for disk-to-disk cloning. I believe the
instructions are still accurate insofar as the present version of that WD
utility is concerned. So if it's of any interest to you I'll post the
instructions.

One other thing...
Assuming you're finally successful in your current endeavor, you may want to
consider using a disk-cloning program to *routinely* clone the contents of
your day-to-day working HDD (the 1 TB drive) to your 80 GB HDD so as to
maintain a reasonably up-to-date comprehensive backup of your system.
Naturally this assumes that the 80 GB disk will be large enough to hold the
data contents of your larger disk (at least for the present).
Anna

 

[Oscar N. Fuentes-Guzman]

Anna,

After reading your responce, you are absouloutly correct, In my mind I think
it cloned succesfully but truly did not. Only problem was after I cloned the
old drive to the new, like an idiot, accidently reformated the old drive.

Worst comes to worst I'll back up all my important documents and reinstall
windows from scratch and just have to reinstall all the apps. I have all my
important files stored on a seperate USB Portable External Hard Drive.

Thanks agian.

 

[Daave]

Worst comes to worst I'll back up all my important documents and
reinstall windows from scratch and just have to reinstall all the
apps.

You will also need to reinstall the drivers for the hardware.

 

[Anna]

Oscar:
I can assure you it *won't* be the first time the WD Data Lifeguard
utility
didn't do the job it was supposed to do. Our experience over the years
with
that disk-to-disk cloning program has been "iffy" at best. Sometimes it
works; sometimes it doesn't. As simple as that.

I'm assuming, of course, that you used the WD Data Lifeguard utility to
perform the disk-cloning operation - transferring the complete contents of
your 80 GB HDD to your new WD HDD.

You say "Transfer of data was successful without any issues or corrupt
data." Presumably your statement is based on the fact that the
disk-copying
(cloning) operation apparently went smoothly with no error messages or any
untoward events. Right?

And that following the disk-to-disk cloning operation you were able to
boot
to your new "destination" HDD - the 1 TB WD drive - without any problems.

But obviously something went awry, did it not, because you're experiencing
problems of one sort or another? The obvious conclusion one would draw in
this type of situation is that something *did* go wrong with the
disk-cloning operation.

I'm assuming, of course, that prior to the disk-copying (cloning)
operation,
your "old" 80 GB Seagate functioned perfectly in that you didn't
experience
any of the problems you now relate.

Obviously there are a number of options open to you. You could simply
repeat
the disk-cloning operation with the WD utility and hope this time all goes
well in that your "destination" HDD is a true clone of the "source" HDD.

You could use another disk-cloning program to perform the operation. One
program that garners very good reviews from users is the (commercial)
Acronis True Image program. Fortunately, Acronis has a trial version
available for download at...
http://www.acronis.com
So you may want to consider that program.

The disk-cloning program that I prefer is the (commercial) Casper 5
program.
A trial version is also available, however, it's somewhat crippled in that
while it will clone the entire contents of your source HDD, it will create
a
partition on the destination drive *only* as large as the size of the
cloned
contents. Of course the licensed version doesn't have this restriction.
It's
available at http://www.fssdev.com

You could also consider using the Seagate disk-cloning utility, the
Seagate
DiscWizard. It's actually an older version of the Acronis program. It's
freely available from Seagate's website - see...
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/discwizard

BTW, a few years ago I prepared step-by-step instructions for using the WD
Data Lifeguard Tools utility for disk-to-disk cloning. I believe the
instructions are still accurate insofar as the present version of that WD
utility is concerned. So if it's of any interest to you I'll post the
instructions.

One other thing...
Assuming you're finally successful in your current endeavor, you may want
to
consider using a disk-cloning program to *routinely* clone the contents of
your day-to-day working HDD (the 1 TB drive) to your 80 GB HDD so as to
maintain a reasonably up-to-date comprehensive backup of your system.
Naturally this assumes that the 80 GB disk will be large enough to hold
the
data contents of your larger disk (at least for the present).
Anna

Anna,

After reading your responce, you are absouloutly correct, In my mind I
think
it cloned succesfully but truly did not. Only problem was after I cloned
the
old drive to the new, like an idiot, accidently reformated the old drive.

Worst comes to worst I'll back up all my important documents and reinstall
windows from scratch and just have to reinstall all the apps. I have all
my
important files stored on a seperate USB Portable External Hard Drive.

Thanks agian.

Oscar:
Well, of course should you want to fresh-install the OS that's up to you.
But assuming that there are no problems with the contents of your 80 GB HDD,
i.e., the currently-installed OS is without problems in that the system
boots just fine & functions flawlessly. And you're satisfied with the
programs & personal data contained on that drive...

Would it not be desirable to simply clone the contents of that HDD to your
new HDD so that you have a fully functional working system and not be
bothered with the (usual) onerous chore of installing necessary drivers and
installing all your programs & personal data (as well as critical security
updates) onto the new drive? And as long as you currently retain backups of
your important files on an external HDD you have at hand an added security
measure should the disk-cloning operation go awry.
Anna

 

[HeyBub]

Anna,

After reading your responce, you are absouloutly correct, In my mind
I think it cloned succesfully but truly did not. Only problem was
after I cloned the old drive to the new, like an idiot, accidently
reformated the old drive.

Worst comes to worst I'll back up all my important documents and
reinstall windows from scratch and just have to reinstall all the
apps. I have all my important files stored on a seperate USB Portable
External Hard Drive.

Thanks agian.

If you haven't done anything with the old drive, it can be "un-formatted."

 

[klakh]

Anna: If one clones the "c" hard drive to the new additional hard drive will
it also clone the programs? If so, how does one clone the hard drive? My
"c" drive is full and I have copied all the data onto the new hard drive and
all that is left on the "c" is programs and lots of updates to those
programs. I would love to be able to clone everything.
Karen