new hard drive data transfer for ep121

See option 1 in the 2nd post.

The Sandisk and Intel drives should be the same electrically.

I don't believe MS has ever revealed the magic recipe. They check a number of factors to see if it's the same computer, and I'm not sure if HD size is enough to trip the reactivation.

 

I recalled reading a thread that you execute four linres of code for through to remove "cmd" window under Vista to remove the disk size check restriction. so when you copy over to new drive, you do not have to even to repair the OS.

Could not find that posting any more.

 

My method involved the following steps...

1.) use the backup and restore Control Panel to make an image of the old HDD. This results in a VHD file..
2.) use Windows AIK to convert the VHD file to a WIM file.
3.) Boot from a custom WinPE Boot disk and use imageX to write theWIM file to the new HDD

This requires the use of an ExternaI HDD, another PC with AIk installed, a WinPE Boot disk with imageX installed, and a USB hub so you can connect the ext. HDD, a boot device, and a mouse and/or keyboard