XXClone , move XP to other disk with keys and all

[spacef]

This one cannot go unoticed
http://www.xxclone.com/index.htm

Allows to clone Windows XP and move it to another disk so you can boot from it just after the cloning has finished.
- - target disk immediately bootable , functional and defragmented.
- - free for personal use
- - simple (1 or two buttons), and all is done in windows (no DOS or boot disks or else).
- - copies the source Volume ID, boot sectors etc to avoid re-activating windows XP or other apps.
- - works with all apps tested so far (no need to re-register, re-activate etc): MS Office, Native Instrument Apps, Scope, Cubase, everything (except may be software that create virtual cd roms and things like that). No reinstall needed.
- - no problem with cloning to a new partition of different size ...

Operations:
- make clone copy to the new target (format/partition disk as desired, then run XXclone) (approx 1 hour for 50GB)
- after cloning is finished, go to "Tool" and run the "Make Bootable" and "Volume ID" utiliities.
- reboot computer
- change BIOS Setting to boot on new disk (or winXP will stop loading after a while, because it will see 2 identical boot drives and won't be able to choose one to use as system disk)
- save bios changes, reboot, and enjoy fully functional XP on the new drive.
- enjoy

[Tau]

Thanks Mehdi, this may be just what I needed right now! My system drive is running out of space, and I was a bit afraid I'd have to reinstall everything all over again. I'll definitely give this one a try


Cheers,

T

[siriusbliss]

This looks great, but unfortunately too later for me, since my system finally crashed this past weekend. May be a corrupted boot sector. Now in the middle of recovering.

Coulda just offloaded and rebooted to the 2nd OS and moved on.

Are there plans for the same thing for W7?

Greg

[mausmuso]

Guys be careful.
When I went to download the free xxClone, Trend warned me that it was a dangerous site.
Then the Free Download Accelerator warned that 5 users had reported this download as malicous.
I did'nt continue.
regards
maus

[spacef]

Been using it for several PCs now, this soft is a blessing....
not sure why downloaders say it is malicious, i didn't encounter a single problem...
Note that Free download accelerator is seen as a Spyware/Adware by many companies (except the ones that removed it from their list).

there are independant reviews on the net about XXClone.

[David]

I beats using Xcopy and working out all those switches

Thanks Mehdi

[outsounder]

This is interesting, I currently have XP with all my apps registered on an IDE drive. It's a perfect installation, all nicely tweaked and runs a dream, though since upgrading to Cubase 5 it's a bit short on free space.

I have SATA available on the same system/motherboard and have been thinking for a while I should re-install everything onto a new SATA drives I recently purchased, but the thought of all those hours tweaking registery, services etc and re-register all the apps and upgrades is daunting !

Native Instruments say I will have to, Steinberg say my e-licence dongle should be ok though i'm wary of doing it all because of the time involved.

If I use this program I will be able to achieve that and simply reboot from the bigger SATA drive? I tried with Drive Image which I have used for some years for backups and re-install but it doesn't like cross over to SATA !

Has any one tried that combination from IDE to SATA with success?

Advice is always welcome !

[irrelevance]

I'm still using ghost v9 which has got me out of sh*t on a number of occasions although it did hiccup once with a strange error after recovery. However a re-recovery did the trick ...nail biting experience though! If I ever lose my reg license I know where to look, thx!

[spacef]

@outsounder, that's what i did... (however, it was sata to sata).

I didn't have a problem with cubase 5, synchrosoft key, or NI apps/service center, or other windows apps. I lost some icons for MS Office apps though, as well as midi ox, and a few other (they show the classic "exe" icon), but in general it is really like i didn't change the harddrive.

Nothing forbids you to try it and then revert to something else if you are not happy....
As long as you have your original C disk, you could replug it and start over.

[kylie]

switching over to sata might work if you set sata options in the BIOS to the most backwards compatible level it allows you to.
enhanced mode or sata only or ahci (there are many names for it) makes your sata drive a "scsi drive" which requires other drivers (and windows to know where to boot from).
I read somewhere that people managed to convert an installation they did in ide mode to ahci later, so it must be possible somehow.

[spacef]

I read quickly the XXClone webpage and it seems irrelevant that the disk is ide or sata or else, as long as you copy the volume id and make the new disk bootable with the XXclone tools, and choose the right disk to boot from in the bios,
windows will beleive it is the same disk.. For example, it doesn't matter if your source is FAT32 and the target is NTFS.... or if the parttions are not the same size etc....
You could even boot on usb drive if windows allowed that (it does not allow it for a full install of XP apparently). It's all on the first page of the xxclone page.

Worth a try in my opinion, not much to loose except an hour or two depending on the amount of data on the source disk.

I am not too sure going from IDE to sata will make a high difference in speed performances for the ystem operations though, unless you get a caviar black or something like that (disk with 2 processors instead of one)....

Note that i didn't try myself, just trying to imagine why it would not work.... but i am not too technical with windows stuff so... what kilye just answered to you is like an alien language to me

[kylie]

I read quickly the XXClone webpage and it seems irrelevant that the disk is ide or sata or else, as long as you copy the volume id and make the new disk bootable with the XXclone tools, and choose the right disk to boot from in the bios

I might add that I still doubt it will work with XP while I admit it could do well with vista and w7 which have native ahci drivers on board.

[spacef]

Ok you mean, XP installed on a IDE drive uses different drivers than SATA drive and so might cause a weirdness at first boot of the new disk ?

I read quickly the XXClone webpage and it seems irrelevant that the disk is ide or sata or else, as long as you copy the volume id and make the new disk bootable with the XXclone tools, and choose the right disk to boot from in the bios

I might add that I still doubt it will work with XP while I admit it could do well with vista and w7 which have native ahci drivers on board.

[kylie]

Ok you mean, XP installed on a IDE drive uses different drivers than SATA drive and so might cause a weirdness at first boot of the new disk ?

exactly. you can test that with an xp in ide mode and switch to ahci in BIOS. good luck.

[kwild]

Thanx a lot Mehdi it's just what i was searching for!!!
Bought a brand new INTEL X-25 SSD just yesterday,copied the system partition from my old
HD to the new SSD and now i must re-authorize all my plugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I try to clone the partition with XXClone now...let's see what happens.

[maky325]

If someone ever decide to go with something commercial like i am strongly recommending Acronis True Image Home 10. By far best disk cloning tool, backup tool, can boot up from DVD and restore everything etc..

[siriusbliss]

If someone ever decide to go with something commercial like i am strongly recommending Acronis True Image Home 10. By far best disk cloning tool, backup tool, can boot up from DVD and restore everything etc..

+1 for Acronis. It's awesome, but didn't save me recently from a corrupted boot sector and bad power supply on a 4-year old computer

Greg

[Tau]

Super Tip!!

Just tried this, cloned my system disk to a larger one, booted from it and everything works perfectly.

Great program!

T