Guest Need a miracle Posted July 5, 2008 Posted July 5, 2008 Hi: I recently averted disaster when the hard drive containing my operating system got sizzled in a power surge. Thanks to Testdisk, it is up and running again. But ... I don't trust the drive any more. There are two other HD storage devices on the computer --- a 435 GB RAID 0 system with a barebones sytem on it (thank God I avoided Microsoft's advice about dual operating systems) and another 250GB ATA hard drive. The one that crashed is a 70GB Western Digital deserving of retirement. So, understanding that this is Microsoft, is there a relatively painless way of transfering the system -- with its four years' worth of installations and settings -- directly to one of the more reliable storage devices? Can the registry just be copied over (which is certainly how life *should* be)? Or do I have to spend days watching Windows XP maddenly slow installation start and restart, while digging up old serial numbers and installation CDs for dozens of programs, etc? Does Microsoft really expect me to waste all that time? Please say "no, you technically inept moron, there's a nice easy way to do this. Microsoft cares about you. You should apologize to the company for holding such a low opinion of it ..." I paid for the OS, of course, and the CPU and all its architecture remain identical. Thanks, Richard
Guest sgopus Posted July 5, 2008 Posted July 5, 2008 RE: An MS moment: can my system be moved from HD to HD? Get Acronis True Image , it will clone your old drive to the new drive, (requires two drives hooked up to the system) "Need a miracle" wrote: > Hi: > > I recently averted disaster when the hard drive containing my operating > system got sizzled in a power surge. Thanks to Testdisk, it is up and running > again. But ... I don't trust the drive any more. > > There are two other HD storage devices on the computer --- a 435 GB RAID 0 > system with a barebones sytem on it (thank God I avoided Microsoft's advice > about dual operating systems) and another 250GB ATA hard drive. > > The one that crashed is a 70GB Western Digital deserving of retirement. > > So, understanding that this is Microsoft, is there a relatively painless way > of transfering the system -- with its four years' worth of installations and > settings -- directly to one of the more reliable storage devices? > > Can the registry just be copied over (which is certainly how life *should* > be)? Or do I have to spend days watching Windows XP maddenly slow > installation start and restart, while digging up old serial numbers and > installation CDs for dozens of programs, etc? > > Does Microsoft really expect me to waste all that time? Please say "no, you > technically inept moron, there's a nice easy way to do this. Microsoft cares > about you. You should apologize to the company for holding such a low opinion > of it ..." > > I paid for the OS, of course, and the CPU and all its architecture remain > identical. > > Thanks, > Richard > > > > > >
Guest Andrew E. Posted July 5, 2008 Posted July 5, 2008 RE: An MS moment: can my system be moved from HD to HD? XP already has the software to do that,however it runs with IDE hds,it will copy to a SATA or RAID set,but after it runs one would need to boot to xp cd,use the "repair xp" installation.To run,set the new hd as slave to C: on same IDE cable,format the new hd in xp,once thru,go to run,type: XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r D: being the slave hd,if asigned diffrent letter, then use it instead.Also,agree to all in the DOS window,thier would be no diffrent settings for SATA/RAID,just run as described,then repair. "Need a miracle" wrote: > Hi: > > I recently averted disaster when the hard drive containing my operating > system got sizzled in a power surge. Thanks to Testdisk, it is up and running > again. But ... I don't trust the drive any more. > > There are two other HD storage devices on the computer --- a 435 GB RAID 0 > system with a barebones sytem on it (thank God I avoided Microsoft's advice > about dual operating systems) and another 250GB ATA hard drive. > > The one that crashed is a 70GB Western Digital deserving of retirement. > > So, understanding that this is Microsoft, is there a relatively painless way > of transfering the system -- with its four years' worth of installations and > settings -- directly to one of the more reliable storage devices? > > Can the registry just be copied over (which is certainly how life *should* > be)? Or do I have to spend days watching Windows XP maddenly slow > installation start and restart, while digging up old serial numbers and > installation CDs for dozens of programs, etc? > > Does Microsoft really expect me to waste all that time? Please say "no, you > technically inept moron, there's a nice easy way to do this. Microsoft cares > about you. You should apologize to the company for holding such a low opinion > of it ..." > > I paid for the OS, of course, and the CPU and all its architecture remain > identical. > > Thanks, > Richard > > > > > >
Guest GHalleck Posted July 5, 2008 Posted July 5, 2008 Re: An MS moment: can my system be moved from HD to HD? Andrew E. wrote: > XP already has the software to do that,however it runs with IDE hds,it > will copy to a SATA or RAID set,but after it runs one would need to boot > to xp cd,use the "repair xp" installation.To run,set the new hd as slave to > C: on same IDE cable,format the new hd in xp,once thru,go to run,type: > XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r D: being the slave hd,if asigned diffrent > letter, > then use it instead.Also,agree to all in the DOS window,thier would be no > diffrent settings for SATA/RAID,just run as described,then repair. > That is so cumbersome. The easy and painless route is via Acronis True Image or Ghost or any other hard drive cloning software, shareware or freeware. Moreover, think about it...xcopy plus "repair" does not cut it, especially when there are numerous updates post facto to the original installation and just how many people would have made a slipstreamed copy of the XP installation cdrom with all of these updates, including SP3, to use for the repair?
Guest Anteaus Posted July 5, 2008 Posted July 5, 2008 Re: An MS moment: can my system be moved from HD to HD? XCOPY will also not work from the running OS, as it did with Win9x. Plus, it does not solve the issue of the bootloader needing reinstalled. Add to that, those pesky permissions on NTFS may prevent EVEN an Administrator from copying all files. (whoever designed this feature had a bad day, IMHO) "GHalleck" wrote: > That is so cumbersome. The easy and painless route is via Acronis
Guest Ken Blake, MVP Posted July 5, 2008 Posted July 5, 2008 Re: An MS moment: can my system be moved from HD to HD? On Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:58:50 -0700, GHalleck <ghalleck@arrakian.mining.com> wrote: > > Andrew E. wrote: > > > XP already has the software to do that,however it runs with IDE hds,it > > will copy to a SATA or RAID set,but after it runs one would need to boot > > to xp cd,use the "repair xp" installation.To run,set the new hd as slave to > > C: on same IDE cable,format the new hd in xp,once thru,go to run,type: > > XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r D: being the slave hd,if asigned diffrent > > letter, > > then use it instead.Also,agree to all in the DOS window,thier would be no > > diffrent settings for SATA/RAID,just run as described,then repair. > > > > That is so cumbersome. And it doesn't work reliably. > The easy and painless route is via Acronis True > Image or Ghost or any other hard drive cloning software, shareware or > freeware. Moreover, think about it...xcopy plus "repair" does not cut it, > especially when there are numerous updates post facto to the original > installation and just how many people would have made a slipstreamed copy > of the XP installation cdrom with all of these updates, including SP3, to > use for the repair? -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Guest John John (MVP) Posted July 6, 2008 Posted July 6, 2008 Re: An MS moment: can my system be moved from HD to HD? A simple and safe test that anyone can run will quickly and definitely put your "solution" to rest. At a Command Prompt issue: cd\ md c:\test xcopy %systemroot%system32\config c:\test Of course the command will halt and give a pesky little message about a sharing violation: C:\>xcopy %systemroot%\system32\config c:\test C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\AppEvent.Evt C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\DEFAULT Sharing violation The simpleton solution to this pesky little inconvenience is to use xcopy's /c "ignore errors" switch! So let us try the test again with Andrew's switches, minus the /e switch, for our little test we don't need to copy all the subdirectories so we will keep things brief. Lets try this again: C:\>rd /s c:\test c:\test, Are you sure (Y/N)? y C:\>xcopy %systemroot%\system32\config c:\test /c/h/k/r Does C:\test specify a file name or directory name on the target (F = file, D = directory)? d C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\AppEvent.Evt C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\DEFAULT Sharing violation C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\default.LOG Sharing violation C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\default.sav C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SAM Sharing violation C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SAM.LOG Sharing violation C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SecEvent.Evt C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SECURITY Sharing violation C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SECURITY.LOG Sharing violation C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SOFTWARE Sharing violation C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\software.LOG Sharing violation C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\software.sav C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SysEvent.Evt C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SYSTEM Sharing violation C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\system.LOG Sharing violation C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\system.sav C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\TempKey.LOG C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\userdiff C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\userdiff.LOG 9 File(s) copied Hmmm... that seems to have copied the folder and the pesky "Sharing Violations" were ignored! Now let us look more closely at the results, let's use the DIR command to examine our folders: C:\>dir %systemroot%\system32\config /a sh Directory of C:\WINDOWS\system32\config 05/20/2008 12:32 AM <DIR> . 05/20/2008 12:32 AM <DIR> .. 07/02/2008 07:08 PM 458,752 AppEvent.Evt 07/02/2008 07:08 PM 262,144 DEFAULT 07/03/2008 12:10 AM 1,024 default.LOG 05/19/2008 09:42 PM 94,208 default.sav 07/02/2008 07:08 PM 262,144 SAM 07/06/2008 08:54 AM 1,024 SAM.LOG 06/03/2008 12:33 PM 65,536 SecEvent.Evt 07/02/2008 07:08 PM 262,144 SECURITY 07/06/2008 07:32 AM 1,024 SECURITY.LOG 07/02/2008 11:54 PM 12,582,912 SOFTWARE 07/06/2008 09:55 AM 1,024 software.LOG 05/19/2008 09:42 PM 659,456 software.sav 07/02/2008 07:08 PM 393,216 SysEvent.Evt 07/02/2008 11:32 PM 6,553,600 SYSTEM 07/06/2008 09:54 AM 1,024 system.LOG 05/19/2008 09:42 PM 892,928 system.sav 05/20/2008 12:32 AM <DIR> systemprofile 05/19/2008 09:42 PM 1,024 TempKey.LOG 05/19/2008 09:42 PM 262,144 userdiff 05/19/2008 09:42 PM 1,024 userdiff.LOG 19 File(s) 22,756,352 bytes C:\>dir c:\test /a sh Directory of c:\test 07/06/2008 09:55 AM <DIR> . 07/06/2008 09:55 AM <DIR> .. 07/02/2008 07:08 PM 458,752 AppEvent.Evt 05/19/2008 09:42 PM 94,208 default.sav 06/03/2008 12:33 PM 65,536 SecEvent.Evt 05/19/2008 09:42 PM 659,456 software.sav 07/02/2008 07:08 PM 393,216 SysEvent.Evt 05/19/2008 09:42 PM 892,928 system.sav 05/19/2008 09:42 PM 1,024 TempKey.LOG 05/19/2008 09:42 PM 262,144 userdiff 05/19/2008 09:42 PM 1,024 userdiff.LOG 9 File(s) 2,828,288 bytes The results are that xcopy copied 9 File(s) 2,828,288 bytes out of 19 File(s) 22,756,352 bytes from the original config folder, the solution offered is a failure. John Andrew E. wrote: > XP already has the software to do that,however it runs with IDE hds,it > will copy to a SATA or RAID set,but after it runs one would need to boot > to xp cd,use the "repair xp" installation.To run,set the new hd as slave to > C: on same IDE cable,format the new hd in xp,once thru,go to run,type: > XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r D: being the slave hd,if asigned diffrent > letter, > then use it instead.Also,agree to all in the DOS window,thier would be no > diffrent settings for SATA/RAID,just run as described,then repair. > > "Need a miracle" wrote: > > >>Hi: >> >>I recently averted disaster when the hard drive containing my operating >>system got sizzled in a power surge. Thanks to Testdisk, it is up and running >>again. But ... I don't trust the drive any more. >> >>There are two other HD storage devices on the computer --- a 435 GB RAID 0 >>system with a barebones sytem on it (thank God I avoided Microsoft's advice >>about dual operating systems) and another 250GB ATA hard drive. >> >>The one that crashed is a 70GB Western Digital deserving of retirement. >> >>So, understanding that this is Microsoft, is there a relatively painless way >>of transfering the system -- with its four years' worth of installations and >>settings -- directly to one of the more reliable storage devices? >> >>Can the registry just be copied over (which is certainly how life *should* >>be)? Or do I have to spend days watching Windows XP maddenly slow >>installation start and restart, while digging up old serial numbers and >>installation CDs for dozens of programs, etc? >> >>Does Microsoft really expect me to waste all that time? Please say "no, you >>technically inept moron, there's a nice easy way to do this. Microsoft cares >>about you. You should apologize to the company for holding such a low opinion >>of it ..." >> >>I paid for the OS, of course, and the CPU and all its architecture remain >>identical. >> >>Thanks, >>Richard >> >> >> >> >> >>
Guest HeyBub Posted July 6, 2008 Posted July 6, 2008 Re: An MS moment: can my system be moved from HD to HD? Need a miracle wrote: > Hi: > > I recently averted disaster when the hard drive containing my > operating system got sizzled in a power surge. Thanks to Testdisk, it > is up and running again. But ... I don't trust the drive any more. > > There are two other HD storage devices on the computer --- a 435 GB > RAID 0 system with a barebones sytem on it (thank God I avoided > Microsoft's advice about dual operating systems) and another 250GB > ATA hard drive. > > The one that crashed is a 70GB Western Digital deserving of > retirement. > > So, understanding that this is Microsoft, is there a relatively > painless way of transfering the system -- with its four years' worth > of installations and settings -- directly to one of the more reliable > storage devices? > > Can the registry just be copied over (which is certainly how life > *should* be)? Or do I have to spend days watching Windows XP maddenly > slow installation start and restart, while digging up old serial > numbers and installation CDs for dozens of programs, etc? > > Does Microsoft really expect me to waste all that time? Please say > "no, you technically inept moron, there's a nice easy way to do this. > Microsoft cares about you. You should apologize to the company for > holding such a low opinion of it ..." > > I paid for the OS, of course, and the CPU and all its architecture > remain identical. > > Thanks, > Richard Most hard disk manufacturers have a free utility to do exactly what you want and the utility will be available on their website. You run the utility and you end up with a hard drive identical to your original except it has more available space. Swap some cables and boot from the newly-created drive. You're good to go. Manufacturers provide this as a marketing tool - the availability of such a tool removes a big impediment to buying one of their larger drives.
Guest Richard in AZ Posted July 6, 2008 Posted July 6, 2008 Re: An MS moment: can my system be moved from HD to HD? "HeyBub" <heybub@gmail.com> wrote in message news:eMErP653IHA.3624@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... > Need a miracle wrote: >> Hi: >> >> I recently averted disaster when the hard drive containing my >> operating system got sizzled in a power surge. Thanks to Testdisk, it >> is up and running again. But ... I don't trust the drive any more. >> >> There are two other HD storage devices on the computer --- a 435 GB >> RAID 0 system with a barebones sytem on it (thank God I avoided >> Microsoft's advice about dual operating systems) and another 250GB >> ATA hard drive. >> >> The one that crashed is a 70GB Western Digital deserving of >> retirement. >> >> So, understanding that this is Microsoft, is there a relatively >> painless way of transfering the system -- with its four years' worth >> of installations and settings -- directly to one of the more reliable >> storage devices? >> >> Can the registry just be copied over (which is certainly how life >> *should* be)? Or do I have to spend days watching Windows XP maddenly >> slow installation start and restart, while digging up old serial >> numbers and installation CDs for dozens of programs, etc? >> >> Does Microsoft really expect me to waste all that time? Please say >> "no, you technically inept moron, there's a nice easy way to do this. >> Microsoft cares about you. You should apologize to the company for >> holding such a low opinion of it ..." >> >> I paid for the OS, of course, and the CPU and all its architecture >> remain identical. >> >> Thanks, >> Richard > > Most hard disk manufacturers have a free utility to do exactly what you > want and the utility will be available on their website. You run the > utility and you end up with a hard drive identical to your original except > it has more available space. > > Swap some cables and boot from the newly-created drive. You're good to go. > > Manufacturers provide this as a marketing tool - the availability of such > a tool removes a big impediment to buying one of their larger drives. To add to that, use the tools from the HD manufacturer for the drive that you are moving to, not from. I would suggest the 250 GB ATA drive manufacturer. Remember to make that drive a "Master" after you are done.
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