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Upgrading xp Laptop Drive Without Discs. If Take Image, Need xp Product Key?

woodface7

Likes # 0

Posted April 24, 2012 at 4:17PM

We plan to upgrade our 32bit xp Laptop's drive, which doesn't have discs or a readable code on the COA sticker. (It is legit - owned from new).

If we an take an image of the drive, would we need the xp Product Key? Windows won't want re-authenticating, finding itself on a changed drive?

BTW, We've never 'copied' a drive before, so if anyone has links to any good 'how to' guides, we'd be grateful!

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onthelimit1

Likes # 1

Posted April 24, 2012 at 4:49PM

I'd say the easiest way is to put the new drive in an external caddy, and use Seagate's (HDD manufacturer) own cloning tool Diskwizard, which is a slimmed down version of Acronis, but free seagate site

You should be able to find the COA number in case you need it with magic Jellybean from here

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T0SH

Likes # 1

Posted April 24, 2012 at 4:51PM

There should be no re authentification issues if you clone/image the existing drive to a larger one

Depending on the new drive manufacturer if you choose one of the better known brands they will most likely have some free drive cloning/imaging software available on their web site for download often this is based on the Acronis products which will make the project easy for you

Cheers HC

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Batch

Likes # 0

Posted April 24, 2012 at 6:00PM

Out of interest, what type of drive are you upgrading from and to (e.g. IDE, SATA, SSD)?

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woodface7

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Posted April 24, 2012 at 6:16PM

Thanks for the great cloning ideas.

I bought a bunch of 160gb Fujitsu external drives a couple of years back. I've never had one apart, but I think it's a safe bet they're a) SATA and b) Fujitsu!

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KRONOS the First

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Posted April 24, 2012 at 7:02PM

Well if you bought a bunch of 160GB Fujitsu external drives a couple of years back then there is a good chance they are Fujitsu.LOL.

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Batch

Likes # 0

Posted April 25, 2012 at 8:43AM

If the external drives are SATA (which by the sounds of it you aren't sure of), are you certain that the existing lappie drive is SATA as well? I ask as I'm guessing the machine is a few years old (as the OS is XP) and might have an IDE drive and you won't be able to swap out an IDE and insert a SATA (or vice versa for that matter).

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