Computer advice please. I have an older laptop running windows xp and I need to keep it that way, but it only has a 40gb drive, which is full. I have purchased a compatible 120gb drive.

How do I go about mirroring the 40gb drive onto the new drive, including the operating system and make it the bootable drive? I have an external drive I can use to store the mirror image for transferring the data. (Laptop only holds one drive)

Are you needing to run XP for specific applications because of device drivers? If so, you could consider getting Win 7 (other than personal or personal premium) which will let you run a virtualized version of XP as a Window on Windows 7. That way you have an OS that is updated with the latest patches (XP no longer has support) and you have a copy of XP for the specific reason you need it. I would test this on another machine before I committed to the laptop.

Symantec Ghost. Put it on your current system. Backup to a thumb drive or portable HD. Put the new HD in the system and boot it with the Ghost CD. Ghost will adjust to the new HD size when you run a system restore.

Thanks H2. It appears symantec discontinued ghost but they have a replacement.

Kingfish, I need this machine to function exactly as-is. I have an older very expensive (legal) copy of some software I need/use and it requires a lpt port security dongle which cannot be defeated. The new software upgrade would be prohibitively expensive and have a lot of unneeded and unwanted features. So, I'm going to put in a bigger HD and keep it chugging along.

If that solution doesn't work, use a LPT to USB adapter. A quick search online has them from $11-$25.

throw all that shit in your truck and get a qualified geek to do it if it's for work. business expense.

I've tried the adapters and they won't work with this dongle. They will print but the software can't see the key.
and yeah, lou, I get your point but as a fellow xpt reader with all that entails, I dont want to give over my laptop to a geek.

If you have a way to receive it I can send you an ISO of v. 14. I consider all old versions of any commercial software as abandonware.

I'll email you a dropbox folder soon and you can place it there. Unless you know a better way. Sometimes dropbox fucks up if, say, you and I are using the email addresses we use for xpt and our dropbox is in another name.

I found ghost 15.0 and it's installed on a thirty day trial but I'm afraid it isn't going to do the restore without registering it- and I'm not sure I can purchase/register it anymore.

You still have XP? I bet you still use a fucking buggy whip too, bitch,

I still own a buggy whip to deal with simpletons like yourself. You cannot understand anything else.

I have computers with more modern OS, but wish to keep this laptop running this particular program, using an lpt port.

But then, if you had any sense or awareness whatsoever, you would have deduced it from the above posts.

Offyago.