Is this possible? Is this legal? Moving an operating system

[rivethead]

First off, sorry if this is in the wrong forum. I couldn't decide between hardware and operating system.

Secondly, I'm NOT attempting to do anything sinister here. I just want to use a licensed copy of Windows XP Home on the same computer but a different hard drive.

Here's the situation:

I'm upgrading my sister in-laws' computer. Step one (done a month ago) was to upgrade her from Windows ME to Windows XP Home so her damn iPod could work. I did that and completely wiped her 10GB old IDE hard drive with nothing but a clean install of Windows XP Home.

But wouldn't you know it, her damn iPod doesn't like the USB ports on her old Gateway computer, so it was decided (by the mother in-law) to upgrade her entire computer as a combo X-mas/Birthday gift.

So I've got the new computer build and I ordered her a 160GB WD Sata drive because 10GB isn't gonna cut it when she starts saving all the pictures from her digital camera to it (plus the songs from damn iPod).

My question:

Is it possible to move everything from the IDE 10GB hard drive to the 160GB Sata and then just toss the IDE drive (it's old and slow)?

Is that legal? I know Microsoft get uptight about copying OS, but this will still be a licensed copy used on the SAME computer, just a different HD and motherboard.

If this is possible, I'd love some detailed steps on how to accomplish this (or point me to a thread somewhere else....I searched and couldn't find anything).

At the end of the day, I want all her crap on the SATA drive and have that be the only drive installed. I really don't think the IDE drive has much life left.

I'm comfortable with pointing the BIOS to the correct boot device, but I'm not sure how to copy all the files from the IDE drive to a partition on the new SATA drive.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

 

[tylerw13]

yah that is totally fine...you dont even know how many times i had to call microsoft to reactivate my xp...they dont even care just tell them what happend and its that easy...that is if it even asks you to reactivate it at all...just do it you are pirating anything

 

[merk]

You can copy everything using something like drivecopy or ghost...do a search for hard drive cloning or copying and you'll find some programs to do that for you.

however, when you copy XP from one motherboard to another motherboard you will almost certainly run into some problems. Most people suggest you just reinstall. However, you can sometimes correct the problems. I did this on my last computer upgrade.

Usually what you have to do is boot into safe mode, uninstall any drivers related to the chipset on the previous motherboard, and then install the drivers for the new motherboard. You may then have to do some tweaking, hunting down any stray components left over from the old mobo. In my case i had to get rid of some registry keys pointing to some chipset features that were on the old mobo.

You could also try copying xp, and if you have trouble getting it to boot, do an install on top of the existing xp install. I think that'll save some of the existing settings etc.

But if you dont want your in-laws calling you every time there's a problem, it might be worth it to just do a fresh install since that'll probably give you the least headaches. Guess it depends on how much you like digging around in XP to fix any quirks that might come up from doing a copy.

 

[mwhals]

Make sure you have the SATA drivers installed on the OS and then clone it to the new hard drive and I believe it should work. Make sure the old one is removed first so that the SATA drive becomes the new drive C.

Mark H

 

[aka1nas]

You'll probably have to do a reinstall unless you prep the installation first.

 

[nweaver]

actually....

it depends. Was you XP an upgrade, OEM, or Retail?

If it was an upgrade, it's tied to the OEM license from the gateway, that is tied to the motherboard (and hence invalid). Not sure on licensing details of upgrades (transferable to new system?)

If it was an OEM, it's not legal, as it's tied to the original Motherboard

If it is retail (box and manual) then you are good to go.