"Michael T" (e-mail address removed) wrote in message--
A dear friend just purchased a new computer running Windows XP for
his
business.
As an experienced software engineer he asked me to help him
'everything' from his old computer running Windows 98.
Unfortunately he does not have all of his installation CD-ROMs.
So is it correct to assume that going to Start All Programs
Accessories- System Tools Files and Settings Transfer Wizard is of
little help.
It is my understanding that this is used primarily (if not
exclusively)
for
transferring settings/data for Windows applications only like IE, OE
and perhaps Word & Excel.
So I have to wonder how do I transfer non-Windows applications
(including Registry settings)?
Aren't there some kind of programs out there for 'ghosting' the hard
drive from one PC to another?
If so, will they work for the scenario I have just described? And if
they do, is there a problem if the NEW hard drive is partitioned for
ONE
drive only (i.e. drive C
?
Thank you for your time.
Michael T.---
--
R. C. White Wrote:
Hi, Michael.
In addition to moving from one computer to the other, your friend has
the problem of migrating the software from Win98 to WinXP. Win98 is
built
on MS-DOS, as you probably know, while WinXP is built on the NT
architecture. Thus, the two Windows versions deal with hardware much
\
differently. (Device drivers that work in Win98 almost certainly won't
work in WinXP, but that is not likely to be a problem in this case,
since
WinXP is already running
on
the new machine.) While the Windows user interface still looks much
the
same on the screen, there are lots of differences below the surface.
Simply copying all the application program files to the new computer
would
not be enough to allow them to run there. Each must be installed,
from
the
CD-ROMs or other original media, in WinXP so that it can make its
required
entries in the new WinXP Registry. It doesn't matter if the
application is
from Microsoft or Adobe, Quicken or some other source.
When transitioning from Win98 to WinXP on the same computer, we can
use
the "upgrade" method. This first installs WinXP, replacing Win98's
operating system files, and then attempts to migrate all the
installed
applications, reading the Win98 Registry and making WinXP Registry
entries based on those. In your friend's situation, that won't be
possible because there is no
upgrade on a single machine. But many users, even after "upgrading"
in
this
way, find that they have carried over so much deadwood from their
pre-WinXP
life that they eventually reformat their drive and reinstall WinXP
and
all
their applications, anyhow.
Data, of course, is quite different from the applications that
created
all
those files of photos, music, financial data, letters, etc. Data
files
can
simply be copied by any convenient means (floppies, CD-R, direct
cable
connect?) from the old HD to the new. Often, the easiest way is to
physically remove the old HD from the old computer and temporarily
install
it as a secondary drive in the new computer to transfer the files.
WinXP
doesn't care whether the drive(s) have one partition each or dozens,
or
whether they are formatted FAT32 or NTFS.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP--
"witteman" (e-mail address removed) wrote in message
Hello R.C. good stuff on the subject of migration.
I will be facing the same ordeal pretty soon when I will buy my new
laptop next month or so. I have a 6 year old Fujitsu Lifebook loaded
with my business applications and all my data and one of these days
it
is going to cause problems (20 gbyte HDD is 70% full).
I am thinking of an HP 9000 series should I go for FAT32 or NTFS and
if
the HDD of the new laptop is FAT32, should I reformat and reinstall
the
OEM OS and applications from scratch, this is the chance to get rid
of
all the deadwood that you described so well...
Please advise
Frank-
Michael:
As Frank has indicated, R. C. White has explained the migration-of-data
process very well concerning a transition from a Win98 OS to a WinXP
one.
While awaiting any further response from R. C. White to Frank's and/or
your
query let me give you some of my thoughts on the matter...
1. First of all, if those "business applications" that you refer to on
your
friend's present (desktop?) PC that contains a Win98 OS are crucial to
him -
as I expect they are - you should not at the outset tamper with that
PC's
HDD in any way except to use a disk imaging program to either create a
disk
image of the drive or clone the contents of that drive to an external
HDD as
a backup device in the event that at one time or another you have to
manipulate the data contents of that HDD. I assume you or your friend
are
already employing some type of routine backup system. At least I hope
that's
the case.
2. Your friend's new (desktop?) PC will, of course, be equipped with
the XP
OS, formatted NTFS as you have indicated. While, in theory, you could
format
its drive FAT32 (using, for example, a Win98 startup boot disk), and
thus in
the process delete the entire contents of that HDD, and then fresh
install
the XP OS, it's questionable whether you should pursue that course
since,
for a variety of reasons - primarily performance & security issues -
NTFS is
a significantly superior file system as compared with FAT32. So unless
he
has a special & overriding need for the FAT32 file system I think it
would
be in his best interest to leave well enough alone.
Then, too, if the new PC is an OEM machine and a "full" XP installation
CD
is not available because the system includes *only* a recovery/restore
type
of XP installation CD, then the above may not even be feasible.
I assume you're aware that the XP OS - either during the installation
of the
OS or subsequently through its Disk Management utility - has a 32 GB
limitation re formatting partitions FAT32. But, as noted above, the XP
OS
can be happily installed on FAT32 partitions 32 GB if such partitions
already exist at the time of the OS installation process.
BTW, I'm assuming that your friend's new PC will be equipped with a
large-capacity HDD, e.g. 120 GB. If that be so, another potential
problem
re formatting that HDD with the FAT 32 file system might be that one
could
run into future data corruption issues using a large-capacity HDD with
the
FAT32 OS. So that's another negative to keep in mind.
3. In summary, re the above, there would seem to be little or no reason
for
you to format your friend's new PC's HDD FAT32 unless those business
applications you refer to and possibly the user-created data in
connection
with those programs are *only* compatible with a FAT32 file system. And
furthermore he's unable to obtain updates to those programs & data so
that
they would be compatible with an XP OS, or he cannot use any other
XP-designed similar program as a practical substitute, so that you
would
have really no choice in the matter but to employ the FAT32 file
system.
Even then there could be a compatibility problem using those programs
in an
XP environment, regardless of the file system in use (see below).
4. However, as R. C. White has pointed out, while there's likely no
problem
copying over the user-created data from the old to the new machine,
there's
little or no chance that your friend's programs can be successfully
ported
over to an XP OS installation, *regardless* of the file system employed
on
the latter. Hopefully he has the installation media for those programs
and
even more hopefully they will be compatible in an XP environment. As
you can
imagine that is not always the case with many programs that have been
designed for a Win9x/Me OS.
Anna
Frank:
I hope it is, but I'm not sure if any of the above is relevant or
helpful to
your situation.
Anna
