I've successfully cloned windows XP using norton ghost 2003, I did it via dvd-r disc as I was upgrading my laptop harddisc and didn't want all the hassle of getting everything up and running again.

I found the process very straight forward i loaded ghost 2003 onto my laptop told it to create a ghost image of my HD and send it to my firewire dvd-rw drive and there you go no problems at all it even split the image onto two dvd-rs for me.

I use the latest DriveImage, and havent had any problems. Setting sysprep to redetect all your hardware on boot up, really is a problem and time saver!

Thier really isnt any "simple step-by-step instructions". I'm sure you'll find the info your seeking. Here's a few links that may be helpful.


http://www.techtutorials.com/

http://www.techsitesusa.com/images/GHOST%2...g%20Outline.pdf

http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBM/tip6200/rh6207.htm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=...G=Google+Search

Have Fun

Simple, install another installation somewhere (sep. partition), boot into that installation, and copy everything over

Sparkesy and Jetson -

Thanks for getting back to me.

Sparkesy - I'm amazed you got Ghost 2003 to boot.

1. I tried using "restore" from within XP "from the partition" in the WDC 128 GB drive to the WDC 36 GB Raptor.

2. I tried "from partition to partition" from within XP.

3. I tried both from dos -- never attempting to boot the new drive with the old drive still attached.

So I'm amazed you ostensibly went to a DVD-r and then to a new hard drive and it booted -- but well done.

Jetson --

I will use your links as best I can and see if I can succeed with Sysprep. One of the ironies is that the initial instructions I was given was to use "mini-setup" which of course was greyed-out in Sysprep!
But - thank you.

...
1. www.acronis.de - way better then norton ghost

but 2. it does not boot !? huh maybe u should look into ur BIOS and swith the Boot order to disc 2 there ....

Ghost is not that good but it works basically ..

Thanks Mertsch-

As the Raptor is an SATA drive, I do switch to it in the bios each time I try to boot the "new" disk.

so if you clone it to Sata it is ... not 100% sure but very likely ... that the XP HM misses the SATA driver to boot up!
... there was no SATA when winxp came out so how should XP know how to handle the disc ... since it does not even support all normal RAID controllers ...

thats very true I once tried to connect my already working HD onto my IDE RAID and even though XP had the drivers for my RAID ports it couldn't boot because it wasn't setup that way in the first place.

The problem is that XP does see the new drive and takes me up to the desktop at which time it hiccups on an activation error and stops. If I try to go into safe mode and add the activation, it also goes right up to the desktop and appears to just about go onto the desktop and then recycles endlessly at the blue pre-desktop.

now its getting really confusing ... next time pls give a better description of the problem ...
so actually windows can boot and you get some errors within windows ...
1. this really has something to do with activation ...
2. still the lack of SATA drivers ...

so just reinstall winXP using third party driver disk of ur SATA controller ... this will do the job very well and you got a fresh and fully working WinXP

Mertsch -

First - Sorry to roll out the problem so poorly.

Secondly, I think you're correct on both counts -activation and SATA drivers + the changing of the boot.ini during Ghosting.

Therefore, I continue to run into three conditions:

1. Activation error BEFORE windows locking you out of Windows or Safe Mode.

2. Immediate blue screen with 0X0000007B error message (Lack of SATA drivers I believe)

3. Incorrect boot.ini which gives you a "can't find hardware" error until you fix the new drives boot.ini.

Adding to all of this --- if you happen to go into fdisk and see how the SATA drive and the ATA drive is seen by the system, you find that although you can boot with the SATA drive by way of the bios, the system sees all of the ATA drives partitions before any of the remaining SATA's partitions (after C).

The upshot is, it appears that the SATA drives work best in two situations:

1. When they are used alone or
2. When they are used as extra drives AFTER the ATAs.

1. - How to Use Sysprep with Windows Product Activation or Volume License Media to Deploy Windows XP
- Deploying Windows XP Using Windows Product Activation

2. - Missing {SysprepMassStorage} Section Causes STOP 0x7B Error Message on Windows XP Sysprep Images
- You Receive a Stop 0x0000007B Error After You Move the Windows XP System Disk to Another Computer
- HOW TO: Troubleshoot "Stop 0x0000007B" Errors in Windows XP

3. - HOW TO: Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP
- The Purpose of the Boot.ini File in Windows XP
- "Invalid Boot.ini" or "Windows Could Not Start" Error Messages When You Start Your Computer

These links are related to images but might be useful for cloning also.

As I see it:

1. You have changed your hardware configuration. Since WPA depends on the hardware configuration it probably decided you need to reactivate. If I'm right it will ask for reactivation. I don't think you need sysprep.

2. Lack of SATA Controller drivers. Install the drivers before cloning.

3. Your bootdrive configuration changed. Boot.ini should direct to the systemdrive. Check the SATA Controller ID and the SATA Disk ID and change the boot.ini file entries to direct to the SATA Controller and Disk. You might want to just add a second entry instead of replacing the original entry. This way you can change your boot.ini before cloning without rendering your original install unbootable. You can remove the original entry later (after succesfull cloning).

That your PATA drives are seen before your SATA drives is not a problem. If I'm right this is normal. FDISK does not see drives like WinXP does. FDISK will always see the first active primary partition on the first HDD on the first Controller as the C: drive. WinXP usually sees its systemdrive as the C: drive (unless installed with another driveletter).

BTW, you might want to disconnect your drive with the original install when booting WinXP from the SATA drive for the first time to prevent interference by the original install.

if you going through all these problems why don't you just face it and back up all the stuff you really need on your existing ATA drive, switch to the SATA drive and install windows and then copy your essential files accross. Once your done you can clone it for quick recovery in the future.

Usually successful with imaging WinXP, but I have had atleast one boot time issue. Turns out, the image was cloned perfectly but the partition was not activated. Trying the recommended corrective actions (fix boot and fix mbr, using the repair option from the XP CD, etc) got me nowhere. I fixed it by manually creating an NT bootable floppy with boot.ini that pointed to the OS on the hard drive and after it booted, I just went into drive manager and made the non booting partition "active". Problem was solved!

Of some concern when imaging is the SID. If you plan on imaging and having both the original system still active on a network as well as the clones, you should use sysprep to recreate a unique SID for each cloned system. This is an NT security identifier and should be unique for each computer.