Avoid reinstalling XP and all programs/files

[Sidrack]

Imagine the following scenario:

Two Hard Disk Drives in the same machine.

First drive, XP SP3 installed. Several programs installed, plus personal files. Several directories such as C:\Windows\system32, etc.

Second drive, Vista installed. But not using any dual boot setting. Both were installed, but isolated from each other. While XP was being installed, the 2nd HDD was unplugged from the hardware. Same for Vista. So you have two Op. Systems, not related with each other. And you can change the boot order in the BIOS setup.

When you start XP, you can read the Vista drive, cause it's the slave drive. Same for Vista.

Now imagine that I wish to do a complete format in the XP drive.

Then, I enter the Vista drive (or XP) and before I do the full format, I use any kind of program to copy ALL FILES from the other drive.

Really, all the files, the entire drive, even if it's 30 GB of size. Not a single file missing. Including directories like C:\Windows\system32, C:\Program Files, and all that stuff.

After the XP disc is erased, I am placing all the files in the same place again, where they were located before. And I am doing that while Vista is running. A simple copy-paste to that empty drive.

Then I reboot my machine. Will both systems work like before, or not?

I was really thinking about this, cause I wish to avoid reinstalling Windows and all programs. But I have no idea if it's remotely possible.

I know it's the same machine, same hardware, same everything.

 

[Billb2]

Not........

There's a lot more to Windows than just the files you see.

 

[corkyg]

What you can do is back up each drive to a common 3rd (larger) drive. Then Restore to other drives as needed. What is the end game here? Are you trying to replace exisiting drives with larger ones? So far, I don't see an objective or purpose.

 

[RebateMonger]

If you want to clone an entire Windows operating system to a different (same size or larger) hard drive, use one of the many cloning programs. Every disk drive manufacturer has one available for free.

 

[Sidrack]

Originally posted by: corkyg
What you can do is back up each drive to a common 3rd (larger) drive. Then Restore to other drives as needed. What is the end game here? Are you trying to replace exisiting drives with larger ones? So far, I don't see an objective or purpose.

The whole purpose of what I was asking is simply to avoid installing Windows and a lot of different programs.

If what I was sugesting was possible, you will only need to copy files to the same hard drive, nothing more.

Unless you like to spend several minutes installing things after doing a full format, plus changing settings (Windows or programs) that you have changed before. But since you formatted the drive, they were not saved. Things like how many minutes you are going to wait till the screensaver pops up... or what is your current Windows theme... etc.

Rebate: by doing what you are suggesting I will have Windows and all programs installed and the way I left them before formatting? If that's possible, then it's the solution.

 

[Billb2]

Originally posted by: Sidrack

Rebate: by doing what you are suggesting I will have Windows and all programs installed and the way I left them before formatting? If that's possible, then it's the solution.

Yes, you can clone, but you cannot just copy.

 

[corkyg]

And cloning only takes about 10-15 minutes normally. I do it every week on 3 systems.