Transfering XP Help!!

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 8:25 am

For the last several weeks, my desktop has been making a weird noise. Its kind of a "rar" noise with a mechanical sound to it. I thought it was my CPU fan (it has been making the "I need oiled noise") so I thought nothing of it. Then my dad opened it up and listened to the hard drive, and found out that it was making the noise. I confirmed this a few minutes ago, so I shut it down and will leave it off til I know whats wrong.
So will me hard drive die? What should I do??? I can replace it, I just need to know if I have to.

EDIT: 2000 posts!!!
And would Microsoft get mad at me if I installed the same copy of XP on 2 partitions in the same computer and dual boot 2 XPs with the same key?

EDIT2: Changed subject.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 8:58 am

Ok, I've decided not to risk it and I'll get a new hard drive.
Now I just need to know if Microsoft would get mad at me if I installed the same copy of XP on 2 partitions in the same computer and dual boot 2 XPs with the same key?

atari2600a · Post by **atari2600a** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 9:07 am

You can use the same key for up to 12 times I believe (could be less)

Post by **bicostp** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 9:09 am

No they shouldn't get mad since it's the same computer. (Besides you can activate it 5 times before they start asking questions.)

Your hard drive is singing its death song. If you can, buy one the same size. Back up all your really important stuff to a few CDs or a DVD (just in case), then use a Linux boot disc to clone the old hard drive to the new one.

http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/free ... 12504.html

It's a little bit trickier than using a commercial program, but it's free.

Once you finish this, disconnect the old hard drive and put the new in its place. If everything went right you shouldn't be able to tell the difference, well aside from the noise.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 9:25 am

Does it have to be the same size for the cloning with Linux to work? The XP install is getting slow, so I might just back up pictures and Firefox profiles to my USB drive and start anew.
So what kind of questions does Microsoft ask?

Post by **bicostp** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 9:41 am

I think it will work as long as the destination drive is at least as big as the original. I've only cloned drives to ones of identical size, so that's what I recommend.

Remember that cloning the drive will not do any maintenance, so it will still be fragmented and messy. However, if you install AMUST registry cleaner, Ad-Aware, AVG, and CCleaner on the drive after you clone it you can clean it up. (Really it takes a LOT of malware to damage a Windows install beyond repair.)

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:06 am

So for the Linux cloning, do I have to do what your link said, or could I just put the new hard drive in with the old and boot with an Ubuntu live CD and use it to copy?
And the reason I want the 2 XP installs is so that my parents/the rest of the family use one, and I use the other. Then if I screw something up, my parents won't have need to kill me.

EDIT: I'm thinking of getting this hard drive.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:53 pm

Ok, we ordered this 160GB Seagate Barracuda. Its just a $65 bandaid, it would have been an iMac instead if we had the money right now. So I should have this XP install and a new one on it by next weekend.
I'm going to make 3 40GB partitions, 1 for family XP, 1 for my XP, 1 for linux (most likely Ubuntu) and the rest for a shared partition, or maybe added to my XP partition.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:11 pm

I got the hard drive, but I can't get this install of XP over to it.

Linux hates NTFS and I can't get my XP CD to install. I have a couple more ideas, but can anyone else help?

KIWIDOGGIE · Post by **KIWIDOGGIE** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:49 pm

Google Winternals

i have the ERD 2005 disk you can copy files from a dead xp os and some more just copy bout 100MB at a time or ur goinna kill the disk very fast

Rekarp · Post by **Rekarp** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:58 pm

The Windows Xp key can be activated any number of times on the same computer. You just have to call them up and talk to them. Best thing would to do a clean install and just copy the files you need.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:00 pm

Well, now I think the hard drive is ok, found out it was the GPU fan making the noise. But I still need a way to get this stuff over, I think I know how. At least I'll have twice the hard drive space.

EDIT: @Rekarp: I would, but some program discs have been lost or have been misplaced around the house, so I could XP on, but it would suck to get the rest of the programs back on.

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:06 pm

Rekarp wrote:The Windows Xp key can be activated any number of times on the same computer. You just have to call them up and talk to them. Best thing would to do a clean install and just copy the files you need.

You could make an image with Acronis True Image, so you can restore the OS at a later time.

Harshboy · Post by **Harshboy** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 11:10 pm

Rekarp wrote:Best thing would to do a clean install and just copy the files you need.

This is what I did. As some of you know, my Hard Drive Died. I got it replaced (It was under warrenty magicly, yay!) and I installed XP. Let it install Updates, and went down to Staples and bought:

Windows Vista: Home Premium
Microsoft Office 2007: Home and Student

Upgraded, installed, lovin it

After that, i plugged in my handy dandy USB Flash Drives with my luckily saved files using a Linux Live CD, and it's like nothing happend.

Of course, i seem to be missing $328.50

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:35 am

I installed XP to another hard drive and edited the boot.ini in my original install, but the new XP install won't start from the boot selector, there is always some error. I can get the new install to start with the old hard drive unplugged, but I need to be able to start the new one with the old hard drive plugged in so I can transfer the old install.