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Hi,
You CAN transfer your current Windows XP installation from one HD to another. It requires the use of PowerQuest's DriveImage Pro, or Norton Ghost (see Raid 762's suggestion if you don't have either of these programs) and a CDRW drive.
1. Burn an image of your old drive to CD using PQDI or Ghost.
2. Install the new drive and create some partitions using FDISK, or the installation software that came with your drive. You do not have to format the partitions. The restore operation doesn't need it for the primary partition and the other partitions can be formatted from Windows XP after you transfer the OS.
3. Restore the CD image to the primary (i.e. bootable) partition. Both PQDI and Ghost will allow you to resize the image to the size of the partition, so don't worry about any size differences.
4. Reboot, and your system should come up as normal but with a LOT more space. Format the other partitions and your done.
If your system hangs while booting, you will probably need to boot from your Windows XP CD and do a "repair" installation to redetect your hardware and update your drivers. This repair operation does not harm your programs or base configuration. Also, take note that THIS repair option is not the first one you see when you boot from the CD, but appears after you say you want to install Windows XP to your C: drive. You get the option when it detects that you already have a copy of Windows XP installed.
If you are using a retail copy of Windows XP instead of the "Corp" version you might have to reactivate through M$ after making this change, but there is a good chance you won't.
I have successfully moved and updated a Windows XP installation from a PIII to an Athlon system this way.
Good Luck,
Tomboy
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