Windows XP HDD Copying

[Vlad The Impaler]

Do any of you guys (and girls) have a good method for copying a Windows XP installation wholesale from one hard drive to another? I have tried Drive Image 5.0 which seems to be in the realms of chocolate firguards in terms of usefulness.

Any simple commands like goos old xcopy in a Dos window?

[Tannin]

Dream on, Brother. This is Microsoft. They think technicians are the lowest possible form of life. But when you find a method, be sure to let me know!

[Mercutio]

I have a copy of just about everything that's out for backup and imaging purposes, and I'm just working out which of my machines I plan to install XP on (most of them fail for some reason or other, mainly the fact that I don't like C: partitions bigger than 1GB).

Anyway, once I figure out how to use corpfiles.zip I'll probably be installing it.

Thing is, I can't believe Ghost/PQDI doesn't work. Microsoft offers all these automated install options with Windows 2000 - and most of them rely on a 3rd party imagining tool to work properly. Why would they take that big step back to break them again?

[James]

Doesn't Ghost 2002 Enterprise work?



Anyway, once I figure out how to use corpfiles.zip I'll probably be installing it.


1. Unpack existing XP ISO (or whatever it is you have). WinISO does this nicely.

2. Dump all those files and folders into a new folder on your HD somewhere.

3. Expand corpfiles.zip into that folder. It will want to overwrite a number of files, allow it to do so.

4. Pack all the files back up into an ISO (WinISO does this too).

5. Burn the ISO onto a CD.

Done!

#include <standarddisclaimer.h>

[Vlad The Impaler]

I am going to try Drive Copy 5.1. I well let you know.

[Mercutio]

Doesn't Ghost 2002 Enterprise work?



According to everything I've read, Ghost 2002 and Drive Image 5.01 will work OK on XP, even with the NTFS 5.1 (updated from NTFS 5 in Win2000, whoops) filesystem. Older versions of either won't work.

The requirements for downloading patches to PQDI are fairly annoying. You have to register with the site and provide your original product key. Not good if you've lost the manual. :(

Thanks for the rest, James.

[Mercutio]

That should be "older versions of either won't work with XP's NTFS".
Ghost 2001 does work with XP/FAT32.

[Bozo]

If you have the Win2k Resource Kit, there is an app called 'Robocopy'. Like xcopy on steroids. It runs from a command prompt.

I used Drive Image 5.0 with my install of XP. But it is on a FAT32 partition.

Bozo :D

[HellDiver]

AFAIK Ghost (at least 2k2) has no problem with XP (FAT/FAT32/NTFS) whatsoever... Dunno about older versions...