Hard disk upgrade?

[Guest google-groups.20.petkan@spamgourmet.com]

Hello everyone,

 

I have a laptop with OEM Windows XP installed. I have detected some

faults in the hard drive, so I decided to buy a new one. I was

wondering if I could transfer the HDD image to the new disk and boot

Windows from it, without running into any license issues. Will Windows

complain if the system hard drive gets changed? Will I have to go

through activation again? Do I need anything other than the product

key?

 

Thanks in advance for any input!

Petko

[Guest M.I.5¾]

Re: Hard disk upgrade?

 

 

<google-groups.20.petkan@spamgourmet.com> wrote in message

news:6bad1f34-2adb-41eb-9637-8356447f0abe@d5g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...

> Hello everyone,

>

> I have a laptop with OEM Windows XP installed. I have detected some

> faults in the hard drive, so I decided to buy a new one. I was

> wondering if I could transfer the HDD image to the new disk and boot

> Windows from it, without running into any license issues. Will Windows

> complain if the system hard drive gets changed? Will I have to go

> through activation again? Do I need anything other than the product

> key?

>

>

 

There are 10 features* that are used in considering whether the hardware has

changed enough to trigger re-activation. 7 of those features must remain

unchanged (or missing) for reactivation not to occur (The network card MAC

address counts as 3, so if fitted only 4 other features need to remain

unchanged). If the laptop is dockable (or has a PCMCIA, Cardbus or PCI-E

port) more changes are permissible (as most qualifying hardware can

disappear).

 

The primary Hard disk type is one qualifying parameter.

 

The volume serial number (VSN) is another.

 

That would be two changes, but if you can clone the hard disc installation

onto another disc the VSN won't change and that makes it one change. As

most other qualifying hardware is likely to be unchanged on a laptop, you

are unlikely to have to reactivate your Windows XP.

 

*For the curious: they are:

 

MAC Address of network card (counts 3)

Primary CD-ROM type

Type of SCSI adapter

Primary hard disc type

Primary Volume Serial Number

Graphics card type

Memory size (in ranges)

Processor Type

Processor Serial Number

Primary ATA or SATA adaptor type

[Guest R. McCarty]

Re: Hard disk upgrade?

 

The way activation ( Changes ) works is that certain devices hold a

vote in the overall hardware hash of the computer. Changes over time

are cumulative. The hard drive's unique Hardware ID does hold a

vote. Whether the change forces a re-activation depends on what

other hardware vote holders has changed recently.

 

Your post is unclear about how you intend to move to the new drive.

Using an image will preserve the XP volume's VSN, doing a fresh

install will create a new one. Either way you still need to document &

save your product key.

 

<google-groups.20.petkan@spamgourmet.com> wrote in message

news:6bad1f34-2adb-41eb-9637-8356447f0abe@d5g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...

> Hello everyone,

>

> I have a laptop with OEM Windows XP installed. I have detected some

> faults in the hard drive, so I decided to buy a new one. I was

> wondering if I could transfer the HDD image to the new disk and boot

> Windows from it, without running into any license issues. Will Windows

> complain if the system hard drive gets changed? Will I have to go

> through activation again? Do I need anything other than the product

> key?

>

> Thanks in advance for any input!

> Petko