HDD upgrade on a Dell Help

[HRF1T2007]

Ok

Heres what I want to do

I have a Dell Dimension 3100 pc running Windows XP media Centre I have a external hard drive attached via usb port which is 250gb with music etc on

I would like to replace the hard drive on the Dell to a larger one problem being is that there is no recovery discs as the recovery partition is on the hard drive on the Dell machine.
How do I go about this without buying a new copy of XP? Someone must have done this without buying a new copy, if not what version do I need is it OEM or something else

Can I borrow a XP media centre disc and use the activation code that is with the DELL

Any ideas please and can you lay them out step by step…

[stevelup]

If you are replacing the disk with a new one, then you may as well clone the old disk onto the new one. There is no need to reinstall the operating system.

There are tools on this bootable CD which will help you do the clone.

The Dell product key will most likely only work with the Dell branded OS. If you do want to reinstall the OS, there should be a way of burning the recovery partition onto a CD.

Have a look in 'Dell Accessories' on your start menu.

Steve

[graystreet]

Why not just add a second HDD, it looks as if this is possible here.

It'll save you the trouble of re-installing XP and also give you a data drive separate from the O/S drive.

[HRF1T2007]

Ok

what if i where to copy a clean restore from the partition once restored ie copy the whole registry and the windows sub tree folders, then install windows xp media centre then over right the saved registry and folder trees?