Laurie wrote:
>I'm going to get a bigger disk
>& transfer XP to what will be C:  Friends tell me this can't
>be done,though their explanations as to why seem rather
>vague. can it be done?>>


Yes, it can be, but only by "cloning" a copy of the disk, but not by a 
simple transfer or copy.

The reason (simplified) is that the NTFS or FAT file system is essentially 
an index of the location on the disk where each program lives. These 
locations are called "sectors".  One program may be scattered randomly over 
various sectors. This is called fragmentation. When you defrag, those parts 
are brought more or less together as near as possible, thus speeding up 
your computer a little, at least in theory.

When you open a program, the computer needs to know which sectors or 
"addresses" contain the relevant parts of that program.  If you simply copy 
a program from one disk to another, there won't be any index to tell the 
computer the addresses of the various components of that program. So 
nothing will happen.  This also explains why you cannot simply transfer an 
installed program from one folder to another.  The registry simply won't be 
able to find it unless you re-install it. It is the installation process 
which creates the index of addresses.

When you "clone" a disk, it not only copies all the files and programs, but 
also places them in exactly the same physical sectors on the new disk, so 
that the registry will know where to find them.

If you just copied everything over, you would need to reinstall all your 
programs.  But your data files would be OK.

You will need special software to perform cloning---the most popular seem 
to be Acronis True Image or Nortons Ghost. Neither is freeware. There are 
many others, some are free, some expensive.

Don Penlington


 From the Beach at Surfers Paradise in sunny Queensland.
Computer tutorials, local scenery,  and other things at my website:
http://users.tpg.com.au/deepend/index1.html

         PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download
                     visit our download web page at:
                  http://freepctech.com/downloads.shtml