Re-installing Win XP on new HDD

[Dianka]

I have a Windows XP running on my 40gb HDD. I just bought a 160gb HDD and need to install Win XP on it.

The Win XP I'm running came from my husband's company when they had some kind of subscription to Microsoft Services with 10 licences (I have no idea what kind of service that was). So one licence went to my home computer. Now the subscription is expired, but Win XP is running fine on my current HDD, I never had to re-authenticate it.

My question is: If I try to install the old Win XP on my new HDD, will my old authentication work even if the subscription expired? I don't even know the original number. Should I call Microsoft? Does anyone know the phone number?

Please help!

If I can't re-install Win XP, I guess I could just install new HDD as a slave. Does it make my computer work slower?

[bigandy]

I think that calling MS would be the best thing to do in this case, since I'm not completely sure.

You could easily slave the new HD and it would work fine. The size doesn't have anything to do with the speed of the system. What you should look at instead is the cache/buffer speed of the two drives. This is more important.

[glc]

You can "clone" the old drive to the new drive and it will not require reactivation. Most hard drive manufacturers' setup utilities have a clone function and are freely downloadable. Make SURE you have at least SP1 installed before you do this OR merely installing the 160 as a slave, because it's required for large drive (>137gb) support.

[Dianka]

Thanks for your help.
I have SP2 installed, but how do I "clone" a drive? Sorry, I'm not very computer savvy.

[glc]

Most hard drive manufacturers' setup utilities have a clone function

In a nutshell, it will copy one drive to another by booting with a floppy. What brand is the old drive, what brand is the new drive?