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Number   :  7770
Date     :  2004-04-26
Author   :  fred44holland
Subject  :  Re: XXClone on WinXP home - a question
Size(KB) :  4


--- In xxcopy@yahoogroups.com, Kan Yabumoto  wrote:
> 
> 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

Thanks for the excellent explaination, as I am dealing with the same 
problem.
I have a pc with WinXP Pro OEM.
The roriginal disk was 40 Gb ide.
After installing a 80Gb sata disk, I moved the complete 40 Gb disk to 
the new disk with Ghost. No problem, works fine.
Now I tried to xxcopy /clone the sata disk back to the ide-disk.
And there I have a problem with the regsitration.
The solution was to ghost the sata back to the ide disk.
So, aparently, it can be done, but only with Ghost.
The reason I am doing this is for backup purposes.
The conclusion is, that a working backup of a complete XP-
installation has to be a full disk images and not a partition-image, 
not to mention several zip-files.
I'm sure it is correct to maintain software licences, but they should 
be workable and usable.
Thnks
Fred



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