Hello everyone,


I'm planning to buy a new laptop soon. But having had my current laptop for so long now, I've got it configured exactly the way I want it. I'd like to find a way to basically transfer everything on my C drive, i.e. Windows XP root partition, from this laptop to the new one, including all my software and configurations.

My first impulse was to do a complete backup of this partition and then do a restore on the new laptop's hard-disk. But the more I read about this, the more I get the impression that this doesn't actually work. I mean, I remember when I used to take my PC's hard-disk -- which had Windows XP installed on it -- and try to boot another PC with it. I almost always faced the notorious Blue Screen of Death, telling me that Windows had encountered a fatal error. I suppose these two situations are essentially the same, right?

Another option, I suppose, is to take an image of the partition, using software like Acronis or Norton Ghost. But even after I searched around for information about this, I couldn't be sure that I could mount my image to a new computer.

So basically my question is this: is there a way to transfer an entire system -- Windows XP and all the other software, files, and configurations -- from one computer to another?


Thank you in advance.

When an operating system installs, certain files (drivers) specific to your hardware configuration are loaded. Standard devices such as the keyboard, mouse and monitor can be run by fairly the same set of driver files. But, the core components which are a part of the motherboard require various different files owing to the difference in the architectures.

If the computer you are porting to has a different motherboard (which in your case most certainly is), Windows will fail to run if you try to use the same installation. That explains the inevitability of installing a fresh copy of Windows. You can always use the "Files and settings transfer wizard" from Microsoft to take care of your documents and stuff.

Simple softwares can be ported by basic copy-paste. But those like Microsoft Office, Visual Studio require numerous registry changes, type library registrations and what not. I am afraid you will have to take the pain of setting up your machine once again. But look on the bright side, a clean installation will re-deem the once lost performance.

Thanks, turbopowerdmaxsteel.



That IS what's bugging me! I've kept this installation running with very minimal performance loss ... Oh well, I suppose I can always content myself by saying that new hardware deserves new software. lol.

Thanks again, turbopowerdmaxsteel. Have a good day/night.

Although, if you're set on keeping your existing windows exactly as it was when you first installed it (provided you have the same install cd and haven't done major system file changes to your system), what you can do is mirror or clone the hard drive over to the new one. Simply cloning a single partition hasn't always worked in my experience. But using proper drive cloning software, you get the new hard disk exactly the same as the old one, and then pop it in the new computer. If it all boots up, then you're fine. But if not, boot off of your install cd and perform a repair. This reinstalls the hardware-specific drivers without changing any settings, login info, or software installations. Be aware though that if you've patched the uxtheme.dll or similar stuff for customizing purposes, the reinstall will overwrite these patched system files with original windows ones. But it hasn't failed me yet. --it's worth a try.

I was not aware of such a technique; perhaps because in none of the countless re-installs, I trusted that the Repair mode would work. Thanks for letting us know.

Also if you intend to keep both machines on a LAN together, make sure your cloning software supports new SID generation (or sysprep it) for the new box so that you don't have authentication collisions.

I believe that windows xp has a files and settings transfer wizard of some sort, have you looked into that?

I haven't ever used it so I am not sure exactly how it works, or if it works well, etc, but it is at least worth looking into it i would think....

Usually what I do, is simply transfer all my files, and then worry about getting the settings set up, and re-install any software on the new computer....so that takes a lot of time, but it is an incentive to get your documents all cleaned up so that you can easily transfer them.

Hi Grafitti,




I've never heard about cloning before. I'll look into it and come back if I have questions -- which is really probable



But wouldn't that require the two hard-disks being exactly the same size? In all likelihood, the new hard-disk will be much larger than the old one; in this case, wouldn't that waste a lot of disk space?

Of course, if the cloning isn't permanent, perhaps I could use a partition resizing tool, such as PartitionMagic for example, to fix this problem.



Well, I wouldn't mind patching things up again if it means I get to preserve the rest of the system as it is. Heck, I'm actually thinking now about exporting whatever I can to an external drive, installing the new system from scratch, then importing back again. It might be time-wasting but at least I'll have the satisfaction of knowing exactly what I have and what I have not.



Oh absolutely! Thanks a lot, Grafitti, I really appreciate this







Yup, that's definitely a great point! I had run into almost every networking problem a home user may run into, so I've become extra-careful







Yup, .:Brian:., I'm keeping this as a last resort -- although I'm thinking more and more about it now. It's somewhat basic, and I'll have to reinstall everything on the new computer before I could actually benefit from the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, but the truth is: I don't really mind! In fact, like I said above, I'm growing to like the idea



Thanks, everyone, for all your great advice and tips. It's all truly appreciated.

It depends on what you count as wasted space. Generally in cloning to a larger hard disk size, you have two options. Either keep the partitions the same size, or resize them proportionately. Say you have a 40GB disk and you're upgrading to a 200GB. If your 40GB disk had a C: partition of 10GB and D: of 30GB, then your ratio is 1:4
If you choose to clone the partitions exactly then you'll have 160GB free space to create more partitions. If you do proportional resizing, you'll end up with C: being 50GB and D: will be 150GB. If you're into keeping your C partition as small as possible, then yes, it's a waste of space. Otherwise not.
There are several freeware programs that can do this... of course the paid ones are more powerful and with less limitations. But in the UltimateBootCD, found here it has quite a few freeware cloning tools.
For paidware, I've always used Paragon Drive Copy -- price around $25. check it out here:

Alright, I poked around a bit and I found this somewhat detailed article addressing my problem:

Beginners Guides: Cloning WindowsXP -- Part 1B: Cloning for a new computer

It's a series of articles, actually, but this is the one most relevant. The technique described is basically the same one Grafitti beautifully explained earlier. However, the article points out, this procedure may constitute a violation of the End-User License Agreement (EULA) of the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) versions of Windows XP.

Again, thanks everyone, especially Grafitti, for the great advice