Fig

Sorry in advance for this being so long, but I 'm going to try and explain everything in one go!

Considerations:

I need to setup the new PC up to replace my old one. Both are running XP Pro, with NTFS filesystems, but hardware is (obviously) different.

My PC acts as a server for email and AV updates in a Peer-to-peer network, so I cannot afford to have it offline for too long (or I'll need to do the swap during unsociable hours!)

Once the new one is up and running, the old machine will take on a new identity and be used elsewhere, so I have no problem with fdisk/reformat etc for this. (I am presuming the fdisk works with NTFS?)

I have considered reinstalling all software etc from scratch on the new machine in order to clear all the crap that has built up on the old one, but this will take too long to achieve, so it looks like I will have to resort to cloning one to the other.

Questions:

1) What is the best/quickest/easiest way go. Do I:
a) Install the existing hard drive into the new machine and put a different drive into the old one?; or
b) Use Ghost/DriveCopy or similar to clone the existing hard-drive onto the new one, then reformat the old one?

2. If I opt for 1b, I think I need to set the source drive as slave and destination as master during the cloning, but is there anything else I need to do to the destination drive afterwards so that it becomes the active drive?

3) Can I change the XP Product Code/Serial Number to match that on the Certificate of Authenticity label?

4) Will I need to reactivate XP/Office XP?

5) Is the existing new hard drive likely to have any utilities/patches etc I may need or that may affect PC performance if not transferred?

6) What happens to hardware information held in the Device Manager following the swap (i.e. info about hardware that is no longer present)

7) Any other considerations?

I have done most of the above before with 98/ME systems, but never with XP, and never with a "critical" machine. Hence my hesitation. Will of course back up all data etc before proceeding.

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any guidance.

Ken E

I cloned a disk with XP Home on it the other day using Ghost then put the cloned disk in a different spec machine. It booted up fine, and immediately told me I had to activate windows before I could proceed. I didn't bother because I had only cloned it as a backup while I installed SP1 on the original machine.

There are instructions for changing the XP serial number on the microsoft web site relating to changing from an oem supplied one to the one on your license. Don't know if these would be appropriate or whether you would need to reactivate windows again once this number is changed.

I expect that if I had reactivated then XP may have detected the hardware changes from one machine to the other and attempted to change the drivers accordingly.

I have never gone this far with XP, but with previous versions such as 98 and ME it is always better to remove any hardware specific drivers before you change the hardware, then install what you need to for the new hardware.

If you really can't rebuild from scratch then I would try cloning the disk from the original machine then testing the cloned disk in the new machine. That way you don't mess up the original machine, disk or any of the data.

However, if you are running critical stuff then you should really do it by starting with a fresh build on the new PC. Reduce the risk of having problems as much as possible, and keep the original as contingency until you are certain everything is fine with the new one.

I know this doesn't answer all your questions, but I hope it helps.

Ken

Fig

Thanks Ken, think I've heading towards the Ghost route, but will think about it more before I finally bite the bullet and go for it. In any event will keep the old drive intact for a while as you suggested.

Thinking on it, activation of WinXP shouldn't be an issue, as both machines are DELL, therefore pre-activated. Not had to re-activate following hardware changes etc, in the past. If OfficeXP uses the same method for identifying the machine it is installed on then this will need reactivating. In any event neither of these are a problem as all the software is legit., its just something else to think about (although I'm sure Microsoft won't let me forget!)


Thanks for the input.