Clone older windows HD to new Bootcamp partition?

[mscriv]

So, I've got an old windows laptop running XP that has a few programs on it that I occasionally need to use and the 17" MBP in my signature line. Here's what I want to do. Set up a Bootcamp partition on the MBP's hard drive and then clone the older windows laptop's hard drive to that partition. Is this possible? The thought is that my Windows software is already installed and set up and thus cloning would be the easiest way to make a smooth transfer as opposed to setting up Bootcamp and essentially starting over with having to install everything I would need.

I don't know anything about cloning software on the PC side, but have used Carbon Copy Cloner for my mac cloning needs in the past. My windows laptop does not have firewire, only USB and removing the HD from the laptop is not an option. I was hoping I could clone the windows drive to an external and then use that external to clone to the Bootcamp partition. So any MR biplatform geniuses out there who can help walk me through this?

 

[ayeying]

So, I've got an old windows laptop running XP that has a few programs on it that I occasionally need to use and the 17" MBP in my signature line. Here's what I want to do. Set up a Bootcamp partition on the MBP's hard drive and then clone the older windows laptop's hard drive to that partition. Is this possible? The thought is that my Windows software is already installed and set up and thus cloning would be the easiest way to make a smooth transfer as opposed to setting up Bootcamp and essentially starting over with having to install everything I would need.

I don't know anything about cloning software on the PC side, but have used Carbon Copy Cloner for my mac cloning needs in the past. My windows laptop does not have firewire, only USB and removing the HD from the laptop is not an option. I was hoping I could clone the windows drive to an external and then use that external to clone to the Bootcamp partition. So any MR biplatform geniuses out there who can help walk me through this?

You can move over everything, but it won't boot, or if it will, it'll blue screen. The best bet is see if Windows XP has some sort of "Migration Assistant" program built in and move your files/programs that way.

It's not like OSX where you can literally clone the hard drive from a PowerBook and use it in the new laptops

 

[mscriv]

From the limited research I've done there are PC programs that report the ability to make bootable clones or images. Are you saying that this is not possible or that it's not possible to do with Bootcamp? Anyone else have other advice or options?

 

[Darth.Titan]

It's possible, just not likely to work. Your old Windows laptop has a completely different set of drivers installed than what will be needed for the MacBook.
Chipset, video, network, etc. Windows installs are just not as portable as Mac OS installs are.

Microsoft recommends a clean Windows install after just a motherboard replacement, so I definitely wouldn't recommend using the same install on a completely different computer.

 

[jzuena]

I don't know about just cloning when the target isn't the exact same model of computer, since Windows only installs system drivers (the HAL, or hardware abstraction layer) for your current system during an install, unlike OS X that installs so that an image can run on any supported Mac hardware configuration. If you were going to make a virtual machine to run under VMware Fusion, you could look at one of the physical to virtual (P2V) tools [link is kind of old, but the idea still holds] that take care of changing the hardware drivers to match what VMware is expecting. Cloning a physical machine to a different physical machine (P2P) is more complicated. It can be done, but you have to know what you are doing.

Also, if your copy of Windows had to be activated, changing the hardware will probably trigger the need to reactivate Windows. You will have to call Microsoft and explain that you have moved Windows and hope that the license for your copy isn't one of the ones that is tied to specific hardware.

 

[mscriv]

Thanks guys, I think I'm beginning to understand better. How about some kind of migration program that moves your Windows install and all applications to a new computer. Would that be a better option and does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[balamw]

Thanks guys, I think I'm beginning to understand better. How about some kind of migration program that moves your Windows install and all applications to a new computer. Would that be a better option and does anyone have any suggestions?

VMWare Converter http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/ can do some of the heavy lifting to convert a Windows currently installed on hardware to a "portable" mode by abstracting all the hardware. getting it back to Boot Camp is the harder part, though I think I've seen some articles about that.

EDIT: Here's one from VMWare itself http://www.vmware.com/support/v2p/doc/V2P_TechNote.pdf

Note that because the hardware changes twice, you may run into some activation issues.

B