Cloning and HPA's

[Rossua]

Has anyone had any experience of cloning a hard disk with an HPA (Host Protected Area) ? I am planning to upgrade my hard disk from the current 80GB to a 400/500GB PATA drive.

I have a system which came with a ‘Reload CD’ and this uses a hidden area on the hard drive (called the ‘HPA’) to store a complete backup of the system, ie OS plus all installed applications and settings, as were shipped with the system when new. No XP CD was supplied with the computer, so this HPA and associated reload CD are the only method of recovering XP to the system should any problems arise. Without this I would have to buy another copy of XP Home if I ever needed to re-install !

I have heard of Ghost and Acronis imaging products, but wonder can they handle this HPA area on the disk, and place it on the cloned new drive. (I know I can just slave the new drive, but would rather not do this).

Many thanks for any advice.

(Spec :-
CPU : Athlon XP 2400+
Mobo : FIC AM39L, MicroATX board
Chipset : VIA KM400 (Unichrome)
RAM : 1GB DDR SDRAM
HD : 80GB Western Digital
BIOS : Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00PG
BIOS Date : 07/08/2003
OS : XP Home SP2)

[doctorgonzo]

If you do a complete disk-to-disk copy, then everything on the source disk, including the HPA, will be moved over.