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lovelybug's hard drive is dying; the logs are full of errors and her applications are falling apart.
I've bought a larger replacement. My first thought was to make a bit-for-bit copy of the old drive onto the new, but that fell over trying to copy sectors that seem to have become entirely unreadable.
The machine runs Windows XP Pro. I could install Windows on the new hard drive and copy over the files; this would have the advantage that the applications could all be reinstalled and might start working again. But where do I get a copy of Windows to install (the machines did not come with Windows install disks) and how do I re-use our existing Windows license?
NBlovelybug wants to continue using Windows XP, though of course I'm more than happy to use Linux based tools for the low-level stuff.
lovelybug's hard drive is dying; the logs are full of errors and her applications are falling apart.I've bought a larger replacement. My first thought was to make a bit-for-bit copy of the old drive onto the new, but that fell over trying to copy sectors that seem to have become entirely unreadable.
The machine runs Windows XP Pro. I could install Windows on the new hard drive and copy over the files; this would have the advantage that the applications could all be reinstalled and might start working again. But where do I get a copy of Windows to install (the machines did not come with Windows install disks) and how do I re-use our existing Windows license?
NB
lovelybug wants to continue using Windows XP, though of course I'm more than happy to use Linux based tools for the low-level stuff.
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Date: 2008-12-30 01:43 pm (UTC)http://www.petri.co.il/quickly_retrieve_windows_cd_key.htm
You'll need a copy of the right version of XP to install with it though (can't use a Pro key with Home and vice-versa). Can't help you with that.
If you don't mind having a knock-off version then google TinyXP - which is a cut-down version that works a treat. Rev9 is the one I've used.
I do recommend starting from scratch. Once an OS ceases to work well a reinstall is your best bet.