Vista - How to Clone a Vista HD and retain the Activation information

I have 2 400G SATA drives in my computer, I want to clone "C" to my "D"
drive as a back-up.
How do I clone the drive and retain all the Activation information for Vista
and Office 2007.

So far I have not found a clone software that will perform this task

Thank you
Lew

Lew, I have an 80GB drive which contains Windows Vista, Office 2007,
Photoshop and a host of other apps. All that I have ever done is 'imaged'
the drive to a partition on my second hard drive using Acronis True Image.
So far this last ten days I have re-imaged the drive from my backup
partition to my Vista drive 3 times. In each case activation has been
intact. The imaged copy keeps all activation details along with all your
applications. Acronis True Image will also 'clone' a drive and, although I
have never used the clone option, this too should keep activation intact.
Most PC manufacturers clone the drives with Norton Ghost but personally I've
never been a great fan of Norton.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"Lew" <lew_jean@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23S7CYwy6HHA.5424@xxxxxx

John:
If you boot off your back-up 80G drive and look at SYSTEM under the control
panel does it show that
Windows is ACTIVATED?

Lew
"John Barnett MVP" <freelanceit@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%2313FWoz6HHA.3528@xxxxxx

"Lew" <lew_jean@xxxxxx> wrote in
news:#S7CYwy6HHA.5424@xxxxxx:
Lew, clone it with Casper, worked great for me!

You don't usually boot off of a backup, clone maybe. It would be activated,
but as soon as it contacts Microsoft servers, it will know it is on a new
drive and will request to be activated again.

"Lew" <lew_jean@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:evcPST06HHA.1900@xxxxxx

On 8/30/2007 1:39 PM On a whim, dearhunter pounded out on the keyboard
Or if Lew purchased and installed either of the drives himself, he could
use the image software that came with the drive.


--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

"Terry R." <F1ComNOSPAM@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ujedYu06HHA.3400@xxxxxxNothing comes with a hard-drive, if you are smart and buy an OEM brown-box.
Retail boxes come with screws and CDs etc, but cost a lot more. You can
always download the same software from the manufacturer's website.

ss.

On 8/30/2007 3:39 PM On a whim, Synapse Syndrome pounded out on the keyboard
Sometimes boxed drives go on sale locally for less than a bare drive
online. That is why I asked. Bare drives I've purchased don't even
come with a box. But yes, if he purchased a bare drive, he could get
the software online.

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

Lew the operating system is 'imaged' to a partition on the second hard
drive, therefore, it is not bootable. To make it bootable one would need to
image it back to the original hard drive (in this case hard drive 0)

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"Lew" <lew_jean@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:evcPST06HHA.1900@xxxxxx

On 8/31/2007 10:05 AM On a whim, John Barnett MVP pounded out on the
keyboard
Or he could swap the drives in the case, or change the rdisk from 0 to 1
in boot.ini, couldn't he? Either is quicker than re-imaging.

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.