Vista - Clone Vista onto new larger drive

Wanna run that one past me Cameron ?...how is that gonna work then..

Jim.

Am I missing a trick or two here with you guys...what happens to the
literally hundreds of files that are going to come up with access
denied when you are doing this.

I take it you've tried this yourself ?

Jim

He wants a bootable 'clone' without reinstalling.
Copying the files from one drive to another (then sys'ing the drive) hasn't
worked in a long time.
I had a batch file that I could use in W95/98/ME for that, but it hasn't
worked in XP ever.

Your method worked, obviously. So I wouldn't presume to redo your effort. I
just wondered if you had tried copying (robocopy in Vista which took the
place of xcopy in XP) to quickly move all your files to the new drive,
system files included. It seems like you jumped right to the backup image
option since Ghost wasn't available without first trying what would seem
easier to me. Also, your method isn't available to those of us with lesser
versions.

My question has been answered though. You didn't consider it. So, in the
words of Rosanne Rosanna-Danna, "Never mind."

I haven't done it in Vista, I was just curious, since the repair install (or
sys-ing the drive) was part of the plan and required for either method I
assume.

You can use norton ghost to clone the drive over. You will need to boot to your vista cd and run a very fast repair after you clone the drive and it will boot normaly after that. You won't even have to reactivate windows. I have done this meny times in my computer shop and it works every time for me. Note the windows repair is fast, only about 1 min.

In order to clone a VISTA32 OR VISTA64 drive, edit the BCD (Boot Configuration Data) file in the following way:

a. Boot the Master drive and log in as a user with administrative rights.

b. Press the Start button (the Microsoft Orb) and type cmd.exe at the search window. The cmd.exe application will show up at the top of the box. Right-click it and run it as an administrator (or with elevated rights). A DOS window will open.

c. Now type the following commands in the DOS Window:

Bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device boot <enter>
Bcdedit /set {default} device boot <enter>
Bcdedit /set {default} osdevice boot <enter>
Bcdedit /set {memdiag} device boot <enter>

If you typed these correctly, with admin rights, the response will be successful in each case. These commands change the BCD file in a way that allows Vista to boot even if some of the drive’s geometry has changed. It will not cause a rollback, will not request the license key again, or perform a SID change pass.

d. Now shut down the computer and disconnect the Master drive. Your Master drive is now ready for cloning.

It should not be necessary to repeat the above procedure, and your system will remain clone-able. (The commands shown above are scriptable, or can be placed in a .bat file for painless execution in the future, if you desire.)

You can use nearly any cloning program. I am using HDClone, but G4U, MaxBlast, etc. should also work.

ENJOY!