I have a computer with a failing HARD drive, and I need to replace it. Continuing to use it is not an option. I am concerned, however, that replacing it (by buying a new drive and a device to transfer the data from the old to the new drive) will cause XP to invalidate itself. To my knowledge, XP has a 'feature' which creates a checksum of the system's hardware upon installation. If that checksum differs too greatly with a checksum created, say, at boot, then XP will invalidate itself and I will have to buy a new copy of XP. (Right?)

I really don't want to buy another copy - is there a way to replace to hard drive and avoid REACTIVATION?

-Ianreplacing just the drive won't engage the protection mechanism. If you replaced the video card and NIC at the same time though, maybe. (your not doing that though).


Also, I've done this myself twice (transferred my OS to a larger drive) and neither time did XP bicker.

Even so, you couldn't invalidate the copy anyway; you would just need to PHONE MS to reactivate; there would be no need to buy another copy (UNLESS you tried to install it onto two PCs at the same time),*sigh of RELIEF*

Thank you for clearing that up. That's one less thing I have to worry about.

-Ian