Hi,

I have a machine with Windows Server 2008. I want to change the hard disk drive, but keep everything else. I don't have a cd/dvd drive and don't want to buy it.

My first idea was to make a byte-to-byte copy of the disk with Paragon Advanced Recovery. The problem is that when I try to boot from a new hard disk, it says that there were hardware changes and that Windows must be repaired, inviting me to insert the installation disk and follow repair instructions.

I searched and found that 1:1 copy is not a correct way to do things. The correct one is to restore Windows to a new hard disk from a full system backup. But to restore, I need to have a dvd drive.

I tried to make a copy of the Windows Server 2008 .iso on an USB flash drive, but the drive is not bootable (while the same procedure applied to Paragon Advanced Recovery ISO produces a bootable recovery USB flash drive).

Now what else can I do (except buying a dvd drive)? Is there a way either to make Windows work without doing recovery or recover Windows 2008 without using a cd drive?