windows xp - Copying all contents of one computer to put onto another

I have a laptop running Windows XP, full of work-specific applications, developed in-house and now unavailable to be put on another computer (don't ask). This laptop is intended for use at home but now I am looking to upgrade this laptop. The problem is that the workplace are unable to provide me these applications, nor will they provide any sort of back-up option in order to pass new files onto a newer laptop of theirs.

It's a crazy situation, but it seems clear to me that I need to copy all the files from this disk to the other, somehow. I could always swap the hard drive, but this one is only 20GB and I need a large drive to keep these files/reports.

This laptop has one working USB port and is (barely) connected to the Internet. Is there any way in which I could copy EVERYTHING from the old laptop to the new laptop? When I mean everything I mean EVERYTHING; the Operating System, all the applications, absolutely everything. When it boots up I want it to boot up the exact same contents from the old one. I may even need to do this to multiple laptops should the need arise.

Is this possible, and is it easy to do?

Answer

You should use two tools:

Then you have to:

1. Create an image of the laptop using the imaging tool


2. Install that image in the target computer (will erase hard drive contents), but this will leave you with a 20 GB partition only


3. Create a different partition with the rest of the disk or resize it to full disk size with the partition resizing tool

It's not particularly hard, but things can go wrong especially in the partition resizing department. I suggest you make a trial run (in a non important disk/machine) if you have the time an resources to do so.