Need advice... want to reinstall XP fresh - How to migrate apps and settings?

[SK]

I'd like to re-install windows XP fresh since the reinstall helped but
not enough...

Now my XP installation is on another drive then c: and I've got dual
boot, wiht the XP on C: basically being throw-away (don't care about
it since not much is there)

I just got a new drive and was thinking about doing a 1-to-1 copy when
I realized all the registry settings would point to E:\

So I figured I should just reinstall, now, what tools should I use to
migrate apps and settings to the new install?

I'm sure someone out there does this regularly and can give me some
awesome insight.

Thanks to everyone who replies

 

[smlunatick]

I'd like to re-install windows XP fresh since the reinstall helped but
not enough...

Now my XP installation is on another drive then c: and I've got dual
boot, wiht the XP on C: basically being throw-away (don't care about
it since not much is there)

I just got a new drive and was thinking about doing a 1-to-1 copy when
I realized all the registry settings would point to E:\

So I figured I should just reinstall, now, what tools should I use to
migrate apps and settings to the new install?

I'm sure someone out there does this regularly and can give me some
awesome insight.

Thanks to everyone who replies

You can not "migrate" applications from one Xp to another. You need
to re-install the application(s) in order for the settings to be
"installed" into the registry.

A for DATA, you can "save" these by using "File And Settings Transfer
Wizard." This will copy your data (doucments, emails, address book
etc..)

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'd like to re-install windows XP fresh since the reinstall helped but
not enough...

Now my XP installation is on another drive then c: and I've got dual
boot, wiht the XP on C: basically being throw-away (don't care about
it since not much is there)

I just got a new drive and was thinking about doing a 1-to-1 copy when
I realized all the registry settings would point to E:\

So I figured I should just reinstall, now, what tools should I use to
migrate apps and settings to the new install?

You can't. All installed programs (except for an occasional trivial
one) have files and pointers to them within Windows, in the registry
and elsewhere. So if Windows goes, the pointers go with it. Apps have
to be reinstalled form the original media.

I'm sure someone out there does this regularly and can give me some
awesome insight.

Anybody who reinstalls Windows regularly is someone without sufficient
skill to maintain their computer properly, and should not be trusted
for advice. Windows should almost never need to be reinstalled.

 

[FoolishMVP]

Anybody who reinstalls Windows regularly is someone without sufficient
skill to maintain their computer properly, and should not be trusted
for advice. Windows should almost never need to be reinstalled.

What a load of horse shit. I've worked in the industry thanks, I've
done countless repairs, installs and upgrades.

Windows tends to slow down the more apps you install into it, and
removing them alone will not restore the speed and snappyness of
windows. The registry has become too relied upon, I loved the days of
dos, INI files and self-contained programs and windows programs using
redundant DLL's and settings file in it's own directory (i.e. each
program had it's OWN copy, instead of sharing a single version dll
which may become a single point of failure as DLL versions are
changed).

I install and test a lot of software that doesn't completely remove
itself. Your comment sounds smart but it's actually not from
experience, if you said that on a serious hardware forum. The
experienced users would just tear into you for your ignorance.