Migrate (Move) Windows XP OEM To Bigger Hard Drive
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Thread: Migrate (Move) Windows XP OEM To Bigger Hard Drive

  1. #1
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    Migrate (Move) Windows XP OEM To Bigger Hard Drive

    I have a PC that came with Windows XP Home OEM already on it. I still have the recovery CD's that go with the machine.

    Now I want to upgrade to a bigger hard drive. But the recovery disks will only restore the system to what it was when new. I don't wish to clone the old hard drive since I want the entire new hard drive to be the same drive letter C: instead of two drive letters with a C: drive just as small as before.

    Numerous little Windows XP upgrades have come down the internet and installed themselves on the machine over time. Anyone have suggestions on how I can reload (re-install; restore) Windows on the new HD and apply these upgrades without waiting for them to come down the internet via dialup a few at a time all over?

    The rest of the machine (CPU, CD-ROM, BIOS, etc.) will stay the same.

    Thanks.
    Last edited by AllanJ; July 14th, 2008 at 07:31 PM.

  2. #2
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    Who makes the new hard drive? Is it OEM or retail? Did it come with any cds?

    boots

  3. #3
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    photolady is offline Lifetime Friend of Site Staff
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    Since this is a branded computer how about you tell us which one it is? Because I believe you can use that recovery disk to load the OS on the new drive. Then you can slave the other drive and be able to access all your files.

  4. #4
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    A new hdd does not stop a recovery cd from working.

    But a new motherboard will if it is not a exact factory match..

  5. #5
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    Reminder to check first,
    Some recovery CD sets do not function by themselves.
    They also require data located on the HDD, typically located in a separate partition.
    Cheers.

  6. #6
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    The machine is an HP Pavilion.

    The recovery disks do work stand-alone on a brand new drive; I have done a recover before ending up with the software complement the machine came with. No problem re-installing applications like Microsoft Word and Turbotax and Photoshop and the printer software. No problem retrieving personal data from the old drive.

    The problem is how to find and apply all the Windows updates including Service Pack 2, all of which came down over the internet in little pieces.
    Last edited by AllanJ; July 15th, 2008 at 08:26 AM.

  7. #7
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    You can get SP2 here:

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

    There will still be more updates after that you can get from Windows Update but it can't be helped.

    You could go with SP3 but I'd stick with SP2.

    boots

  8. #8
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    Allan, you can get a new drive and use the manufacturer's tools to install it. Seagate, Western Digital, they all have some sort of tool you can use from a bootable CD. It gives you the option to clone the old drive on the new drive "as is" (keeping partition size) or resizing to use the full disk, if I remember correctly.

    As a backup solution, you can use gparted bootable CD which runs linux and a graphic partition cloning/resizing tool, which gives you full power over what you can do. For example, if the brand name PC has a hidden restore partition, you can clone it as is at the end of the new drive, then copy the C: partition onto the entire remaining space.

    All this being done from a bootable CD, you'll just swap the drives in the end and the system should boot up as nothing happened.
    Hammer owner, will fix computers free of charge.

  9. #9
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    The new drive is a secondhand Quantum and I haven't found the proper manufacturers tools (Seagate's web site).

    Not sure how to create or use gparted CD's; don't have Linux.

    The old drive does have two partitions, a small NT partition and a large partition the latter of which becomes the C drive. The small partition is hidden but does not look like a restore partition because restoring is done using recovery CD's.

    If I go back to the recovery CD's, install those into the new (larger secondhand) drive, then copy the two partitions of the old drive respectively onto the new drive using Windows Explorer cut and paste, would that get everything, Windows updates and all, onto the larger drive?

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    Very Doubt full as their is files that are hidden that wouldn't copy/paste.

  11. #11
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    gparted is in itself a minimal linux-based operating system, running directly from the CD. You don't need to have linux to be able to use it.

    Download the .ISO file from here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...kage_id=271779

    Burn it on a CD ("burn CD image" option in your favorite CD burning application) and restart your computer with the CD in the drive. You'll end up with a graphic interface similar to Windows, where you can use the gparted program in an intuitive way. See screenshots here: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php


    With copy&paste you will not retain all settings. All applications would have to be reinstalled, they cannot be simply copied over. Copying the files doesn't also copy the extensive configuration of application done in the Windows Registry during its installation.
    Hammer owner, will fix computers free of charge.

  12. #12
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    Resolved

    Thanks, Puterfixer.

    Got the ISO file downloaded (took a few tries via dialup), burned onto a CD, pasted the stuff onto the unpartitioned new drive, worked like a charm.

    Both the original drive and the new drive were formatted for NTFS file system. I did not prove whether the new drive has to be formatted before we start all this.

    Turns out that the original disk had just one partition, not two.

  13. #13
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    MaxBlast will work with the Quantum. Maxtor, who bought Quantum hdds products will work with those OLD hdds.

  14. #14
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    To simply clone your old HD so that windows boots and all software works from the new HD do as follows:

    - connect new HD to computer (if you have a notebook then put the new HD in the case of an external usb HD)
    - boot Knoppix or gparted from cd
    - copy all (all you wish) partitions from old HD to new HD with gparted
    - boot windows from old HD
    - run testdisk under windows
    - set up the boot settings and partition settings on the new HD like theyre set on the old HD
    - shutdown, replace old HD with new one
    - boot from new HD

    This worked fine for my Dell Latitude D630 Laptop.
    I replaced the built in 120GB HD with a 320 GB HD using described procedure (with external usb HD)

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