How to Clone XP partition to new drive?

[starwisecom]

Need advice please :-)

I'm the "nerd" who tweaks the computers of my tech-less friends & family, but this clone problem with a 1TB hdd has me baffled. 

HISTORY:
My goal: add space & speed to my computer. 

1) I got a new 1TB Samsung hdd & installed it. My OS (XP Pro,SP3) recognized, partitioned & formatted it perfectly! :-D

2) I made a 20GB primary active partition on the Samsung for the OS plus 1 more primary partition for data. Then I cloned my reliable-working, identical-sized 20GB OS partition from the "old" 74GB Velociraptor I'm using. :-)

3) Changed the BIOS so that the Samsung = boot drive. :-)

4) Computer boots up fine UNTIL THE VERY END when I get an error message that says, "kernel32.dll" (or sometimes "ntoskrnl.exe") is unhappy and must close. When I close the message, the computer freezes, needing power-off to reboot.  ;-(

5) Read online that this error means I must run FixBoot & maybe FixMBR from Recovery Console of my original M/S XP installation disk. 

6) BUT, my original M/S disk is XP Home Ed (2001).  I got a Microsoft package (2004) to upgrade from XP Home into XP Pro, but it is only software, not a boot-able disk.  I then let M/S update my software to SP3.

7) Sadly, there is NO Recovery Console program on my XP Home Ed disk, nor in the XP Pro upgrade software.  So no easy way to run FixBoot.

So, I used BartPE to run "WINNT.exe" (& later tried "WINNT32.exe") off my XP Home Ed disk, and launch FixBoot that way.  BUT Fixboot warned, "the Windows version (= Pro) on this computer is NEWER than on this disk (= Home)."  It then tried to connect to M/S website for some reason. I was off-line at the time, so I shut Fixboot down.

9) I then read online NEVER to let the old (= Home) version of Fixboot link to M/S because it will destroy up my Pro SP3 configuration.  This information scared me away from using the Home version of Fixboot.

10) So, I used BartPE to run "bootsect.exe /nt52" off my original Vista disk (got in '07 before I learned Vista stinks).  "bootsect.exe /nt52" is the Vista name for Fixboot.   

11) Although "bootsect" says, "the boot sector (boot.ini) was updated correctly", now the computer only boots up to the blue screen "Installing Windows" and freezes, needing power-off to reboot.  ;-(
   

What I have tried:

a) various cloning software: Macrium Reflect, DriveImage XML, EASEUS Partition Master, Seagate DiskWizard, WD's version of Acronis True Image, etc. No success.  ;-(

b) swapping cables so Samsung uses the Velociraptor SATA cable. ;-(

c) read about Hardware Abstraction Layer archetecture issues to learn if the Samsung is incompatible HAL-wise with my 1.5 year old desktop, but this seems unlikely.


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Any ideas from better minds than mine? 

Any one know what happens when XP Home version of Fixboot "fixes" a XP Pro upgrade configuration by connecting to M/S website?!?
+++++++++++++++++
thanks :-)

[michelsmith]

Install a cloning software such as Norton Ghost--you can find this program in the common Symantec's "Norton Systemworks" software package. There are freeware packages out there that do the same thing, but make sure any software package you use has good reviews.
Add the new hard drive to your computer. Turn the power off to the computer and install the hard drive as the secondary drive.
Reboot the computer and follow the instructions on the screen to enter the BIOS. Your new drive should show up under the slot you installed it, for example Primary master/slave or secondary master/slave, and show the full size of the drive.
Run the cloning software. Follow the instructions with your cloning software. Choose the old drive as the source and the new drive as the target. Double check the BIOS settings if you are not positive which is the new drive.
Turn off your computer after the cloning is finished. Replace the old drive with the new drive. Look on the top of your motherboard or on the new hard drive for the jumper settings specific for your computer. There should be one listed for master and another for slave. Set the correct jumper setting for each drive.
Restart your computer again. If your computer detects the new cloned hard drive, Windows XP should boot up as normal. If it doesn't detect the hard drive automatically, go back to the BIOS and manually select it.
Check your new hard drive to make sure everything copied over properly

[starwisecom]

I HAD SUCCESS!
THANKS TO ALL FOR THE GREAT ADVICE!  :-D

Last night I
1) used EASEUS Partition Master to successfully clone the entire source boot disk (NOT just the 'C' partition) to the new destination disk (leaving a lot of unallocated space left over, which I easily dealt with later). 

2) DISCONNECTED the source disk's SATA cable and attached it to the new hdd BEFORE I REBOOTED!

Thought I tried this procedure before, but obviously not.

[patio]

Just a heads up but whenever you clone a drive the "cloned" drive needs to be taken out of the equation...otherwise the operation is sure to fail...