hard drive fun

[Callipygous]

i have a new hard drive, and its sata, which would allow me to remove my adaptec ata expansion card, hopefully improving my systems performance.

 

the problem is, i lost my windows xp professional CD and all of the documentation and microsoft will not replace it without a reciept or some similar proof of purchase.

 

what im currently thinking about doing is creating an image of my current hard drives, partitioning the new harddrive in to two partitions of similar size to the old ones, and just loading the images into the new partitions.

 

im curious if windows will be able to handle that without all sorts of horrible problems. will windows run on a sata harddrive after its been installed on a regular ATA harddrive?

 

i have some programs installed on the D drive that would take an aweful long time to reinstall, im curious if they would function in that environment or if i would have to reinstall them to reset the registry keys.

 

if i do this is windows going to get confused and lose track of where everything is?

[insane_alien]

it works with linux so there may be a chance it could possibly work with XP. though if you try it with XP expect the worst.

[Callipygous]

xp= expect problems?

 

: D

[insane_alien]

yeah. especially when your trying to stuff like your trying to do. Microsoft doesn't want you tinkering with anything in your PC. my copy needed reactivated after i installed more RAM. why i don't know but it did. ubuntu just went 'WOOHOO! <zooom...>'

[Callipygous]

im not sure what you meant by "it" in your original reply (it works in linux), so i guess ill elaborate.

 

i know that programs that i have on the D drive will no longer run if i reinstall windows on the C drive.

 

im curious if having C and D changed to partitions on the same drive, instead of 2 different drives, will cause windows similar issues.

 

do you know anything about that?

[insane_alien]

'it' meant transfering separate drives with applications on both to partitions on the one drive.

 

windows will probably be iffy. i give it a 10% chance of working.

 

if you make an image of the current drives and some how store them( other computer maybe?) then you could try it. if it doesn't work then you can put it back to the origional configuration and restore the images.

 

it MIGHT work.

 

disclaimer, i take no responsibility for any dataloss, time wasted or fist shaped holes in the tower and monitor.

[Callipygous]

as for storing it, i was planning on plugging in the new harddrive (which has a different attachment) and then making an image of the c drive on the D drive and expanding it onto the new one, then making an image of the D drive on the C drive and loading that into the second partition on the new one.

 

and then if it works, and will load from the new one, removing both of the other two

[-Demosthenes-]

i have a new hard drive, and its sata, which would allow me to remove my adaptec ata expansion card, hopefully improving my systems performance.

 

the problem is, i lost my windows xp professional CD and all of the documentation and microsoft will not replace it without a reciept or some similar proof of purchase.

 

what im currently thinking about doing is creating an image of my current hard drives, partitioning the new harddrive in to two partitions of similar size to the old ones, and just loading the images into the new partitions.

 

im curious if windows will be able to handle that without all sorts of horrible problems. will windows run on a sata harddrive after its been installed on a regular ATA harddrive?

 

i have some programs installed on the D drive that would take an aweful long time to reinstall, im curious if they would function in that environment or if i would have to reinstall them to reset the registry keys.

 

if i do this is windows going to get confused and lose track of where everything is?

 

Wait, you have XP installed and activated? Well just use a program to find the serial number. The serial number is everything. You can use any XP disk to install, just use your current serial number.

[Callipygous]

by serial number do you mean the number on the sticker they want on the front of your computer? the cd key?

 

because they told me that wasnt good enough.

 

 

i actually already installed the new drive, and it came with a wonderful utility that asked me if wanted to

 

a. add it as storage

b. add it as the new boot disk and keep the old disk

c. add it as the new boot disk and take out the old disk

 

i told it to keep the old disk becuase i wasnt sure exactly what it was planning on doing to my system and i didnt want to mess things up. turns out it partitions the drive however you tell it and then it copies all the files over from your old boot drive and gives you instructions on things like changing the bios and jumper settings.

 

i think i might leave the old drives in for now, and if my performance is below my liking ill copy files over and remove them.

 

i currently have my programs and my OS running from the new drive with the adapter still in and have already seen dramatic improvement.

[Pleiades]

Don’t forget that in addition to copying all the files on the drive, you also need to copy the Master Boot Record (and probably some other stuff too), have a look on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record

 

And in case you didn’t know you can change drive letters all you want by going to: control panel, administrative tools, computer management, storage, disk management, then right click on the drive and select “change drive letter and paths”

[Dak]

i seem to recall that if your trying to do anything like this, it's an idea to roll-back any relevent drivers to the generic version before doing it.

 

so, if xp loads custom hdd-drivers (can't remember), uninstall them and roll-back to the generic hdd drivers first. maybe turn off system restore, etc, aswell?

[Callipygous]

the change has been made.

 

things im noticing though... the utility they gave me doesnt seem to have done all that complete of a job.

 

1. all my internet programs are being caught by my firewall. no big deal, just have tell it to accept them again.

 

2. my recycle bin appears to still be on the C drive. i went to delete some stuff this morning and it told me c:recycle bin (probably not the exact path, but you get the idea) is corrupt, and would i like to empty it? i said yes, and it deleted the files i told it to.

 

3.I copied Fraps over to the H drive, but it still save the videos to the C drive. easily fixed, but it makes me wonder if other programs will do the same thing.

[-Demosthenes-]

by serial number do you mean the number on the sticker they want on the front of your computer? the cd key?

 

because they told me that wasnt good enough.

 

There are 5 windows xp disks at my house. All exactly the same. I have no idea which cd goes to which key. Any random disk works every time I install. Technically, there's no reason that the cd should matter, you can use any, just make sure you use your cd key. They're trying to screw you, the cd key (technically) is plenty.

[Pangloss]

As far as Microsoft is concerned, the CD key is ALL that matters. Anybody who tells you otherwise is misinformed. That's why they put the key no a little sticker and OEMs actually attach the sticker to the computer case.

 

With XP you do have to make sure that the key matches the CD of the OS you have installed. With Vista this is no longer the case because they all come on the same DVD, but even with Vista you have to match the key with the OS version.

[Callipygous]

There are 5 windows xp disks at my house. All exactly the same. I have no idea which cd goes to which key. Any random disk works every time I install. Technically, there's no reason that the cd should matter, you can use any, just make sure you use your cd key. They're trying to screw you, the cd key (technically) is plenty.

 

 

i can actually counter that from personal experience.

 

i borrowed my friends CD after i lost mine, figuring i would just install it with my CD key and it didnt work. it said it was invalid.

[Klaynos]

i can actually counter that from personal experience.

 

i borrowed my friends CD after i lost mine, figuring i would just install it with my CD key and it didnt work. it said it was invalid.

 

Are you sure it was the same type of XP install, so pro or home most likely?

[Callipygous]

Are you sure it was the same type of XP install, so pro or home most likely?

 

CD and cd key are both pro.

[-Demosthenes-]

i can actually counter that from personal experience.

 

i borrowed my friends CD after i lost mine, figuring i would just install it with my CD key and it didnt work. it said it was invalid.

 

Call 'em and tell 'em it's a good cd key. Do it all the time.

[Callipygous]

Call 'em and tell 'em it's a good cd key. Do it all the time.

 

 

and how is that supposed to help?

 

they cant tell the cd to let me proceed with the installation.

[Pangloss]

They give you a new one that does.

[Callipygous]

now the damn thing is just having wierd issues.

 

any time i install software that requires a reboot it will struggle starting up. the first time i unplugged the new harddrive, started it with no trouble, plugged it back in and everything started up fine.

 

the second time i tried that with no effect, and my original C drive was making this sound like electronics being turned on and back off repeatedly. i unplugged that and it started up fine again : P

 

it was hanging at the screen right after it does the memory check.

[-Demosthenes-]

and how is that supposed to help?

 

they cant tell the cd to let me proceed with the installation.

 

They'll give you a new one, at least they give em to me.