Kerry Sharman
Posted 5 years, 1 month ago
Joined: 12 years, 5 months ago
Hi.
I have a laptop that I bought second hand with Windows XP Professional on it and a desktop with Windows 2000 Professional that I have the disk for.
I have had a lot of trouble with the desktop computer and have had to format the hard drive and reinstall Win 2000 and all my programs several times. I use a lot of different software so it is quite a chore. I would like to clone the laptop hard drive onto an external hard drive and then install the cloned copy onto my desktop computer as Windows XP seems much more stable.
I have downloaded a few free cloning software programs but, either can't understand them as they are DOS based and I am not sure what the command lines are , or they don't seem to recognise the external hard drive. Even if I could understand what to do as far as cloning the laptop hard drive onto the external hard drive, how would I transfer the info so that I have both computer hard drives exactly the same?
Thanks so much.
Kerry
Gordon Drennan
Posted 5 years, 1 month ago
Joined: 12 years, 5 months ago
Re: How do I clone a laptop HDD to an external HDD and then to a
You can't do that.
Yes you can copy the laptop's HDD with the right hardware (and converter for the cable) and software. But there are two reasons you can't use it on the desktop. The first is that the desktop will require different drivers that the laptop, so a cloned copy of the laptop disk won't run. The second is that its not legal. Having two PCs means you have to own two copies of Windows XP.
Go buy a copy of XP and install it on the desktop.
Be warned though. You have to have the right drivers for Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista to run happily and reliably. Make sure you can get them from the manufacturer of the desktop.
Chris Burrage
Posted 5 years, 1 month ago
Joined: 12 years, 5 months ago
Re: How do I clone a laptop HDD to an external HDD and then to a
Hi Kerry,
Firstly, the licence under which you use the XP on the laptop permits you to run it on that machine only. Secondly, if you were to clone it to the desktop, it would not run as the hardware is totally different. If you want to run XP on the desktop, you will need to buy a new copy of XP. Easily done. Then format and clean install. Win2K though is very stable. If you are having issues with it, you may actually have hardware issues on the desktop machine. I would suggest having it seviced by a professional - clean out the dust, reseat the components, check the RAM, etc. It should run fine. Of course, once it is set up as you like it, clone it, so you can restore in the event of a major issue. Ghost is the simplest and best (in my view).
Chris B
p.s. A machine with Windows 2000 is likely getting on a bit. Unless the CPU is a 1Ghz or better, I would stick with 2000. You would also need 512MB of RAM. If the machine is running SDRAM this may be a problem.
Kerry Sharman
Posted 5 years ago
Joined: 12 years, 5 months ago
Re: How do I clone a laptop HDD to an external HDD and then to a
Thank you. Have followed your advice and bought Win XP Professional as the machine came with it pre installed. I didn't realise that it was illegal to own two computers and only one copy of Windows so thanks for the information. Appreciate your help.
Kerry.
