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How to get Windows XP to new hard drive


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#1
Nicole W

Nicole W

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Our hard drive began working intermittantly so I just installed a new hard drive, used the Windows XP recovery disc from HP to reinstall windows, and now I'm trying to figure out how to get all of my old hard drive info onto the new drive.

I have the old drive working, for the time being, so I'm using a laptop to back up the drive to an external 1TB drive. The laptop is running Windows 7.

Can I restore my old hard drive info to the new hard drive from the external drive? Will it matter that I backed it up using a computer running Windows 7?

I would unhook the hard drive from the laptop and hook it up to the desktop computer, but I'm afraid I won't be able to get it to run again. It makes a clicking sound- you can hear it trying to start up, then it clicks a few times, and then cycles down.

When I put in the restore disc, the new hard drive was formatted, but I haven't done anything else to update the windows version, etc.

Thanks for any help!
Nicole
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#2
Schutzengel

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there are several utilities for just this task,

Symantec Ghost and Power Quest Drive Image are two of the most well known for this task
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#3
Nicole W

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Right now the old drive is working but I don't know when it's going to go out again.

The new drive I bought is a Western Digital, so I checked their web site and they offered a free version of acronis True Image, so I tried that.

Unfortunately it stops each time it gets to checking the partitions and says there is an error. I'm trying to figure out what that error means, but if I can't I'm guessing that means I won't be able to clone the drive?
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#4
Schutzengel

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it would depend more than anything on the nature of the error
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#5
123Runner

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Cloning a hard drive that has the click of death is most likely not going to work. It depends on the error (as already stated). Doing any type of error check on it could make the problem worse.
The absolute first priority is to get the data backed up.

Is the new drive operational? You seem to indicate it is.

so I just installed a new hard drive, used the Windows XP recovery disc from HP to reinstall windows


Is the old drive from a laptop or desktop? I believe you are indicating it is from a desktop.

I would proceed by getting the data you want first.
Make sure the new drive is operational.
With out a cloned image to image to the new drive you will have to reinstall all your programs. Then you can move your data back to the new drive because you backed it up to the 1TB drive.

If you then want to mess with a cloned image (and I wouldn't), You can try running the manufacturers drive diagnostics on the bad drive and see what it can repair (if anything).
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#6
Nicole W

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I tried to clone the drive, but one of the indexes was bad, so it was really just a huge waste of time.

Luckily I found my HP/XP recovery disks that I made when the computer was new. When I tried just using the Windows XP disk (a generic black disk that came with the computer) I didn't have the right licenses, even though I copied the one from the sticker on the computer. So I tried the recovery disks and it worked.

Now I'm in the process of transferring over all the old files and reloading EVERYTHING!! Ugh. I guess I should be thrilled with a "new" computer, but it would take me days to sort out what I really need and what I don't anymore. We bought the computer in 2007 so all the programs need to be updated. Plus, we had a virus that stopped our computer from loading at one point, so for some reason the document files got mixed up and we have 3 places where there are important documents.

Moral of the story....back up frequently and keep things organized!

By the way, I was able to get the old hard drive to work again by turning it upside down on my desk! It stopped clicking and now I'm able to transfer files from there.

Thanks for all of your help and input!
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#7
123Runner

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Glad you got it sorted out. To bad you have to reinstall everything but that at least gets the computer cleaned up and like new again. :D

Moral of the story....back up frequently and keep things organized!

How true that is.
I back my files up using 2 different programs into 3 different areas and on to 3 separate drives.
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