Transfer XP to new drive

[RTR]

I would like to replace my hard drive and go to a quieter one, and might as well get a bigger one too. So I am planning on transfering XP to the new drive with Drive Image. Question is since it will be a different and larger HD, will XP allow that and still function, or will that violate its authorization rules? How much configuration changes can be made to your machine before XP considers it as an illegal copy?

Appreciate any guidance.

[Steve]

Hi RTR,

I don't think that you will have a problem installing XP on a new HDD. But I'm not so sure about the transfering with Drive Image.

XP uses a "hardware hash" to determine if it is being reinstalled on the same computer. There are 10 items in that list and you need to keep 7 the same for a no hassle install. Changing the hard drive should not be a problem.

"One of the forms of piracy that Product Activation guards against is hard disk cloning. Not all forms of hard disk cloning are illegal. However, by comparing the hardware hash originally activated to the current hardware hash, hard disk cloning can be detered by requiring re-activation if the hardware hashes are substantially different." (straight from the horses mouth, M$)

Hope that helps...:)

[RTR]

Thanks Steve,

That is exactly the information I was looking for. I guess to cover my bases regarding the use of Drive Image, I can do my normal full backup to a slave drive, re-install XP on the main, and restore from my backup if the drive image won't work.

...Ron