How to make slave disk with second copy of Windows main and bootable?

Is there a legal way to make a copy of windows, that is already installed, for use on a new hard drive?

• I'll try to explain. I have windows xp pro sp2. I bought a new hard drive, and can't find the start up disk, the one that has windows on it. I have my product key, I just need the disk. I want to install the same copy of windows, that came with my PC, to the same PC just different hard drive. There is nothing illegal, just wish I had the windows disk. Is there a free program out there, or can I just somehow copy windows to a disk. Thanks.

• Answer:

  There's no way to make a copy of Windows itself from an existing computer like what you're trying to do. However, most hard drives come with a utility CD that lets you copy the entire contents of your old hard drive over to the new hard drive, including Windows. Another option (if yours didn't come with any software utilities) is to use a disk imaging program to make a backup of your old hard drive, and then restore the backup to your new hard drive. There's a comparison of a couple disk imaging programs that do this at the link below (Acronis True Image and Genie Backup Manager - which I prefer).