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Number   :  7389
Date     :  2004-03-07
Author   :  Kan Yabumoto
Subject  :  Re: XXClone on WinXP home - a question
Size(KB) :  3



Ketaki wrote:
>I have been successfully using XXClone for backing up my WinXP Home
>machine to another hard disk. The target hard-disk boots well and
>performs just like the original hard-disk on same PC. I use the
>target HDD for trying out new games, software etc. If anything goes
>wrong, I just clone it again from my original HDD which I keep clean
>of any junk. But this I am doing on the same PC, so there is no
>hardware conflict.
>
>Now my question is, whether I can use XXClone to clone the OS to a
>different HDD and then use that HDD in another computer with totally
>different hardware (mother board, graphics card, sound card etc.) I
>am ready to install required drivers again on the new PC. But will
>WinXP boot? Will the authentication feature create any hurdle? Any
>answer?


The answer is probably not.

It is Microsoft's deliberate efforts that prevent a healthy
disk drive with a completely bootable set of XP files
to be transported to another computer whose characteristics
are sufficiently different from the original one.

You may succeed in doing so in a very rare case where the
two computers are nearly identical. It is my understanding
that the XP system keeps track of various hardware-related
characteristics of the computers. Furthermore, it is my
guess that the XP computes some kind of "similarity index"
based on such information and determines what constitutes
a distinctness of a computer. E.g., when you replace a
faulty motherboard, the chances are pretty slim in succeeding
the transplant. If you replace a NIC, sound card, extra
USB-interface card, you can get by. I'm not sure whether
Microsoft even publish the exact formula on what is within
the limit what not. On the other hand, it is my understanding
that if the difference is small enough that the system can
boot into the new environment (the more the difference,
the more extra work needs to be done at the new reboot
that the system has to re-configure the whole set of
device-driver re-installation --- an elaborate form of
plug-and-play), you will succeed and the XP will prompt you
to go through a "product-activation" chore.

Actually, Microsoft has mastered this extremely complex
automatic re-configuration technique back in Win95 (improved
in Win98). If you have an experience in transplanting a
system disk on a Win98 system to another one and observe
what the system goes through at the beginning, you know
how complex a job must be. Actually, at every system
boot time, a Win9X system (for that matter, the NT/2K/XP
all go through the same thing) will perform a series of
plug-and-play system check. Every hardware component
on your system must be checked and the proper device driver
for it must be loaded at the boot time. I guess in Win XP,
much of the chore is much simplified by making an optimistic
assumption that most of the hardware components are identical
from the previous boot and use the previous device driver
setting.

What you are asking is way beyond what XXCLONE is designed
for. Besides, we have no intention to supply a tool that
would used to easily defeats Microsoft's tight anti-piracy
measures. It is hard enough for us to make a cloned disk
bootable on the same machine that only a carefully written
program (like XXCLONE) can make a bootable clone on the
same machine.

What then, should you do? The cloned disk using XXCLONE
should be an excellent starting point for a re-installation
using XP's installation CD. Just reboot with the Microsoft
XP CD and follow the installation procedure on the new
machine. I have not done this, but I believe you can
retain much (if not all) of what you have on your disk ---
effectively accomplishing what you wanted in the first
place. It's just more time-consuming and needs Microsoft's
involvement (Product activation) in the process.

Kan Yabumoto



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