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Anyone had any experience in completely moving a Windows OS to a new drive and having it bootable? I've tried a few options but i would like to know what some of you guys think. It has to be possible because thats what Digital Forensics experts do to create a working copy of any digital evidence. But they have expensive programs and computers to do it. :/
Ghost
MLF
edit
there is a whole forum dedicated to this
http://www.antionline.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=57
Yes, I have done it many times, you just take the CD.............load it into the CD Drive and follow the instructions.
NO IT IS NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if you boot from the "evidence" then you corrupt it ;)Quote:
It has to be possible because thats what Digital Forensics experts do to create a working copy of any digital evidence.
You clone the drive and put it as a slave.............................but you MD5 hash it and the like first, get it properly witnessed, properly document your processes/procedures.................another forum for that though.
What exactly is your problem here........................a few more details and we could possibly help?
Is this a laptop or a desktop, which Windows OS................single boot or multiple boots?
C'mon............give us a chance................my psychic powers are dwindling :D
My psychic powers are not very good either, but I'll take a wild guess at VAIO having a Sony® VAIO® Notebook w/XP installed. (Title of post). ;)
But that still does not help much. Hardware specs are always welcomed when handling these issues.
Even if it was a laptop, how would VAIO transfer his/her existing HD to the new laptop HD?
I am so glad I have a desktop... :D
Hi Cope57 you are right, I missed that bit.
However, we need confirmation of:
1. Is this a laptop/laptop? or is it laptop/desktop or desktop/laptop transfer?
2. Are we transferring to a new laptop, or replacing the existing hard drive?
3. Is this a forensics question, like do we just want to make an exact image of an existing drive for analysis?
4. Why just a "Windows OS", are there no data or applications involved?
5. Is there a network and another machine available?
They are all easy enough to do, we just need a bit more information to give the appropriate instructions :)
I agree, desktops are much easier :D
EDIT: This thread addresses a possibly similar situation?
http://www.antionline.com/showthread...0&pagenumber=1
It does.. And the solutions mentioned there should work on an XP system too..Quote:
Originally posted here by nihil
EDIT: This thread addresses a possibly similar situation?
http://www.antionline.com/showthread...0&pagenumber=1
But because it's a notebook it'll be difficult to add the second harddisk to it.. So you may need to use a desktop and a converter to connect the 2.5inch HD to a regular IDE cable..
Bahh... people assume. But i guess thats what i get for not specifying.
It's not my laptop i am taking about. It's a desktop that belongs to my roommate's grandpa. He has a 12 gig Quantum Bigfoot in it right now and it's out of space. So he bought a new 100GB drive and basically wants an exact image of the old HD put onto the new one. I asked my roommate if the new HD could just be extra storage but he said the grandparents are old and senile and need to be able to save things to the default C drive.
So... I am trying to get a hold of Ghost 2003 cuz that will most likely do it. But has anyone done this with partition magic and just copying the partitions over to the new drive? I don't know if it would be an exact bootable image or not. Might be issues with the MFT or something.
And yes it is windows XP, as stated in the subject. And when i say copy the "OS" i mean all the programs and files along with it, yes.
Do you know anything about the rest of the hardware?
That is Pentium II/Windows 95 era!...........hell, even my Bigfoot is a 14.4Gb :eek:Quote:
12 gig Quantum Bigfoot in it right now and it's out of space
The basic problems will be:
1. Getting the BIOS to recognise a 100GB drive.
2. Getting XP to run on the new drive, given that it is hardware configuration sensitive.
The correct approach is to:
1. Install the new drive as master and the old one as slave.
2. get the BIOS to recognise the new drive.
3. Load XP from the CDs, creating what partitions you want (probably one each for the OS, applications and data)
4. Activate XP
5. Install AV and FIREWALL
6. Update XP
7. Reinstall applications.
8. Update applications
9. Move data files into their partition.
10.Run in test for a while, and when satisfied reformat the slave and use it for backup.
:)
Bahh... people assume. But i guess thats what i get for not specifying.
Exactly, which is why I generally ask first as I know that many people who come to this site get asked to help out others :D
The bigfoot is probably 14GB. I couldn't remember and was estimating, but either way it's too small. Hardware is not an issue. The new drive is recognized in both BIOS and Windows. And just to answer your question, the specs are PIII 551MHz, 256 RAM running on an Inteva machine.Quote:
Originally posted here by nihil
Do you know anything about the rest of the hardware?
That is Pentium II/Windows 95 era!...........hell, even my Bigfoot is a 14.4Gb :eek:
The basic problems will be:
1. Getting the BIOS to recognise a 100GB drive.
2. Getting XP to run on the new drive, given that it is hardware configuration sensitive.
The correct approach is to:
1. Install the new drive as master and the old one as slave.
2. get the BIOS to recognise the new drive.
3. Load XP from the CDs, creating what partitions you want (probably one each for the OS, applications and data)
4. Activate XP
5. Install AV and FIREWALL
6. Update XP
7. Reinstall applications.
8. Update applications
9. Move data files into their partition.
10.Run in test for a while, and when satisfied reformat the slave and use it for backup.
:)
Bahh... people assume. But i guess thats what i get for not specifying.
Exactly, which is why I generally ask first as I know that many people who come to this site get asked to help out others :D
And i don't really get what you are trying to tell me with your 10 step process. Reinstall and copy everything over? That's what i'm trying to avoid. Thanks though.
OK, that sounds very much like an old drive being put in a new machine?
So, the drive is recognised by the BIOS................OK, that deals with one of your potential problems.
Now, XP will recognise the 100Gb as a slave, but to try to clone it onto a very different drive is another story. XP is protected against piracy by recording the hardware that it was installed onto.
You can add a drive as a slave, and you can add stuff like CDs, DVDs, extra RAM and the like. However, if you want to use it with a different motherboard, it won't work until you have "persuaded" Microsoft that it was a replacement for a failed unit (unless you have a boxed retail version, of course).
I would guess that attempting to clone the OS from one HDD to another that is not absolutely identical will meet problems, certainly if it is an OEM version that you have.
By all means try it, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work. If you think about it, if you could do such a thing, all you would have to do is install it on one machine, then use that to clone it onto hundreds? I think that MS are a bit too smart for that, but I could be wrong.
:)
Nihil is right...if you are trying to take the old install into new hardware....it wont boot.
You used to be able to do that with NT 4.0...you just removed all the 3rd party drivers and moved the harddrive\install to new hardware...then reinstall the drivers.
But this fwent away with 2000.....and definately XP.
There is the files and setting transfer wizard....not sure if its available in XP home....this may be your option.....although I have never used it???
As suggested earlier...use the old drive as a slave and copy the data after the fresh install.
MLF
Well i am using Ghost right now to copy everything to the new drive. It has an estimated time of a little over an hour and half left. So we will see if it works.
Keep us posted mate!
If it works, then you realise what it says about the vainglorious MS Windows XP copy protection methodology?
:eek: :cool: :D
Grrr... It got 90% done and gave me an RPC error. So i will maybe try and boot from the cd. I dont know.
Could we have the exact error message please.............this is getting better than tonight's FA Cup football match :D
Ya know....
Install XP on the new drive...
copy data as needed.........
Done!!
sometimes that is just the easiest.....trust me...I know :D
MLF
Have had hells own problem with ghost 2002-2005 doing a hdd transfer ..that is Machine upgrade of C:\..ie 14gb hdd to 100gb hdd..
Now I assume that this is what is required here??
Transfer errors here can be the result of a number of thing.. the main being the systems BIOS not being fully compatable wth drives over 76GB (read here drives of 80GB labeled capacity).. actually many PIII machines didnt support over 80Gb only some of the tautalin boards.
The fact the BIOS is reporting the presence an size of the HDD is NOT an indication that the BIOS fully supports that size.. Check the mobo manufacturer.. you may be able to cheat by a BIOS update..
As for software.. There is far better drive clone software out there than Norton Ghost..
arconis true Image?
Don't remember exactly what it was... but there were no error codes or anything. It was something to the effect of :
"Error loading (maybe finding?) remote procedure call" Not quite sure. Sorry. But it was only one line and didnt really say much other than there was an RPC error and the process couldn't be finished.
All advice is already posted............
sometimes its just easier to start from scratch.....
slave drive and copy data....KISS
MLF
Think sideways my friend.Quote:
the grandparents are old and senile and need to be able to save things to the default C drive
Leave the old drive in attach the new as a slave.
Put a Shortcut on the desktop to the new drive and call it "C:" or "My Stuff" or something.
Move all their old stuff into it.
In the real C: where they were storing all their stuff put another shortcut to the new "C:" or "My stuff" whatever you call it.
They'll get it quick enough if every sign points them to it. They still go to the old location but all they will find is a link to the new.