New hdd for t43 vs hidden xp prartition chow to transfer it?

[radiator]

I've got t43 with hdd 40 GB and hidden part. on it. Recently have I bought a new HDD and ned to transfer my genuine xp to a new disk. The problem a face is that my cdrw is broken have noone to borrow from a working one. Now the question is it possible to copy the pratition and if there is a way how to do that? Does MBR need to me modified if so in what way??

[CZOLG]

Best thing is to burn a set of recovery CD's.
Having them, swap the drives and restore system using discs.

[Neil]

You might be able to boot Linux from a USB drive and use DD command in terminal to create an image of the entire HDD including the hidden part. and MBR. Then put the new drive in and boot the USB Linux again and restore the image to the new drive. Then resize the partition to fill the new drive.

Note, I've never actually done this, but in theory at least, it should work. Not having a working CD drive does make it a little more difficult, but not impossible.

[CZOLG]

Oops,
Did not notice the drive is broken. I guess then Neil's advice might be worth checking out?

[Orclas]

Cloning a disk and achieving a new disk which will boot and have an intact and working recovery partition is a nightmare. I looked into it, tried a few ways and gave up. There might still be some way, but I would rather do some clone combo if I were you.

As for burning recovery CD's, how about finding an external USB CDRW?

Then two questions:

• - Is the old disk functional?
  - Do you want to get a fresh install?

[radiator]

The old disk is functional - works fine!
I want to get a fresh install the existing OS fails to work properly.

[RealBlackStuff]

You may be better/easier advised, to get a set of Recovery CD for XP-Pro.
Try a LF (Looking For) post in our Marketplace forum.
You need to specify if your T43 has Intel or ATI graphics.

[radiator]

I mistakenly posted under the old topic I should have done it unther this one.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=101072

[Orclas]

The old disk is functional - works fine!
I want to get a fresh install the existing OS fails to work properly.

Then I may have a good enough workaround, which is what I used when I wanted to migrate my T40 HDD to an SSD and a) failed on successfully cloning the hidden partition and b) had recovery CD burning produce non-working CD's.

It's pretty simple really, do this:

1. Backup the files you want to keep on the old HDD
2. Perform a full reinstall from the recovery partition on the old HDD
3. Clone the fresh system onto a new HDD
4. Save the old HDD as a system restore backup

Worked a charm for me. You will need to buy a USB 2,5" PATA adapter though, but it shouldn't be overly expensive.

As for cloning hardware, check out if the HDD manufacturer (any of the two) supplies a cloning software. Many of them (Seagate, Western Digital and Intel at least) provide a limited Acronis True Image for free (limited in the way that you need to have at least one HDD of their brand present for it to work). In my case HDClone (free) has not always worked (boot failure on another cloned TP), but Acronis has.