Getting a new HDD soon, will the typical hard drive copy work with Win XP pro?

MadMax350 · Post by **MadMax350** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 12:22 pm

I am replacing my 15gb HDD with a WD 100gb HDD soon and have a few questions. I am running Win XP Pro and the NTFS file system.

Will the typical HDD copy (copy-a-partition) software work with XP/NTFS so I can install this new drive? If not, what do I need to do to install this new drive?

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 2:46 pm

I don't know what you mean by "typical HD copy"....but the newer versions of software such as Symantec's Ghost work great. I just imaged about 35 workstations over the past 2 days using Sysprep, and Ghost.

MadMax350 · Post by **MadMax350** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 3:38 pm

what I meant by typical was programs included with major brand HD's like Maxtor and Western Digital have a utility that will copy a drive to another drive. Most I have seen just deal with FAT and FAT32, but I have not seen any that deal with XP's NTFS files system. Will the ghost prog you mentioned do that?

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 5:26 pm

Originally posted by MadMax350
Will the ghost prog you mentioned do that?

Yes Ghost is excellent...just did 35 machines this week with it. I unbuckled a bunch of workstations for a network upgrade of a health care client of mine...all WinXPp with NTFS.

I believe Seagates Diskwizard software will copy NTFS partitions too. Haven't used Western Digitals software in a while, I forget.

richardc · Post by **richardc** » Fri Apr 04, 2003 11:06 am

If you are considering Ghost to do the job- you might want to check out this page first.
http://ghost.radified.com/

MadMax350 · Post by **MadMax350** » Fri Apr 04, 2003 9:15 pm

Got the new HD and guess what.... not easy to copy. Tried to copy using MAXTOR MAXBLAST II software and it hangs at 92% copy and I have to perform a lengthy XP recovery process which ends up renaming my drive to drive F. WINDOWS XP SUCKS!!!!

I don't want to buy software to copy an HD, is there any other way I can do this without going thru all of this bullcrap???

MadMax350 · Post by **MadMax350** » Fri Apr 04, 2003 9:57 pm

Just got off the phone with Microsoft Support. You guys are going to get a kick out of this...

First, let me start off with what they said pertaining to my issue...

According to the support rep, because microsoft has "integrated" several security and copy protection features into Win XP, it cannot be copied to any other HD. I asked about what if I upgrade my HD like I intend to do... They replied with the fact that I would have to uninstall XP from my original HD and then call Windows Activation at 888-571-2048 and have them reactivate my copy of XP from there before I could install it onto another HD. They also said that any programs or applications that I had installed on my original HD would have to be reinstalled onto the new HD from scratch. They also did mention that there could be another way to do this but I would have to pay to get "advanced" support.

Second, because I bought my XP from my college bookstore, it's serial number is listed as a "bundled version" and therefore is not covered by any warranties or support from microsoft.

I think we all need to take a hard look at what is happening with these companies today. This type of thing reminds me of the record companies that want to copy-protect their CD's because they think they are losing so much money by pirates. I have news for them. Pirates are always going to find a way to rip them off. The only people they are hurting are the end consumers.

Nonetheless, it pisses me off to the MAX that I can't even upgrade my HD without spending countless hours upgrading, reinstalling, and calling microsoft so they can make sure that I am not trying to "steal" their software. I miss my Windows Me.

Brk · Post by **Brk** » Fri Apr 04, 2003 11:26 pm

You know, you could always just backup your data, install XP fresh and eliminate the headaches.

MadMax350 · Post by **MadMax350** » Fri Apr 04, 2003 11:57 pm

yea, I know, I just felt like venting because of all this "legwork" I have to do...

Brk · Post by **Brk** » Sat Apr 05, 2003 12:07 am

Originally posted by MadMax350
yea, I know, I just felt like venting because of all this "legwork" I have to do...

No need for any of the hassle though...it's not difficult at all, and the reactivation of XP is quick and painless.

Murman · Post by **Murman** » Sun Apr 06, 2003 11:16 am

try xxcopy , it's free http://www.xxcopy.com/

monty · Post by **monty** » Wed Apr 09, 2003 1:34 am

Go to http://www.pricewatch.com and look for Norton SystemWorks PRO 2003 (which includes Ghost). I got mine for $16.