I've bought a new hard disk drive for my computer, and I thought that all I would have to do is format it and set up the partitions. Okay, maybe I was naive on that part. But now I've been told that I can't use the copy of XP Home that I bought with the computer - HUH? All I'm doing is putting in a new hard disk with larger capacity than the old one!

is the copy of XP an OEM, retail or a branded one ie Dell/Compaq

as long as XPs on one machine only you should be able to install in on the new drive

Is the new disk replacing the "old" disk (as primary/boot) in your machine?

ie; Is this a clean install with a new hard disk in an original machine?

"I've been told that I can't use the copy of XP Home that I bought with the computer.."

Who told you this? ;>) As brain_damage eluded to; Is this a retail XP CD? (Seperately purchased aside from the machine.) If so, there should be no problems. However, I've learned across the years that machines can (and given Murphy's Law, will) act differently.

If the above is true, are you disconnecting the "old" hard disk before the install? As you're aware, XP searches for other Windows installations during an install. It may be picking up the other install (HAL) and rejecting. (I've never had this happen though. I've done multiple installs of Win2000 Pro and XP on machines in the past just to salvage files etc without a problem.)


If it's a "factory restore" CD, ~some~ won't run if a major hardware change (from what shipped from the factory with that machine) is detected. It's probably seeing a different hard disk serial number.

The way around this is to clone the old disk to the new disk. (This "clones" the hard disk serial number in the process.) As the new disk is "larger", no problem there. The drawback to this method is that if you wanted different sized partition(s), you'll need a third party program to do the resizing after everything is installed. Otherwise, you'll end up with the same "disk" on the "new" disk, with space left which you can create further partition(s), format a file system, and use how you'd like.

If you clone, use a clone utility from the new disk manufacturer;
Hard Disk Analysis Tools - Major manufacturers

Thanks for the replies.
XP was already installed on the machine when I bought it. I received a pamphlet with installation instructions but no "Windows" disk. Instead I got three Acer disks - the comp is an Acer 3600GT - and they have XP software on them.

the hard drives maybe got a hidden partition that the acer disks use to return the machine to out of box state.

you may be able to clone the drive and get around it as Dan pointed out

What does diskmgmt.msc show regarding the "current_old" disk?

Do you have another "hard disk or partition tool" that you can use to see if, or verify, that diskmgmt is showing everything?

Using Paragon Disk Wiper, I can tell you the disk is partitioned thus:

C: Disk, 36.2 GB
D: Disk, 18.1 GB
*: Disk, 20.1 GB

The * partition is a hidden partition which holds - what? System Restore info?

Probably. Especially if it's 20GB.
So this is the original (Acer system) hard disk? 80GB?

I have Paragon Disk Manager 8.0 Professional. Full purchased version.

Will Paragon Disk Wiper allow you to clone? Or only wipe?

What brands are the original and new hard disk?

So this is the original (Acer system) hard disk? 80GB?
Yes.

I have Paragon Disk Manager 8.0 Professional. Full purchased version.
Will Paragon Disk Wiper allow you to clone? Or only wipe?
No clone facility that I can find from reading the Help page.

What brands are the original and new hard disk?
I'll have to open the comp up to get details on the old. But the new is a Western Digital WD3200AAJB, capacity 320GB.

Everest Home Edition will tell you what make the hard disk is without opening the machine.