Question - Windows Backup & Restore

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alex
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A

Alex

I would like to transfer the Documents files from one XP computer to another
system using Windows Backup/Restore. I would also like to include the
Program files. Will this work?

TIA
 
Alex said:
I would like to transfer the Documents files from one XP computer to another
system using Windows Backup/Restore. I would also like to include the
Program files. Will this work?
Click to expand...

Document files will.

Program files will DEFINITELY NOT work.
 
Alex said:
I would like to transfer the Documents files from one XP computer to another
system using Windows Backup/Restore. I would also like to include the
Program files. Will this work?

TIA
Click to expand...
Programs get installed, meaning entries are made in the registry, files
a dropped in C:\windows\.... folders etc. Just moving something like
C:\programs files\quicken\* files will not necessarily make it work.
In most commercial programs it won't. Some small utilities, you might
get away with it. But you have to bank on all applications failing.
 
I would like to transfer the Documents files from one XP computer to another
system using Windows Backup/Restore. I would also like to include the
Program files. Will this work?
Click to expand...


You can move documents from one computer to another, but not programs.

All installed programs (except for an occasional very small one) have
files and pointers to them within Windows, in the registry and
elsewhere. So if you aren't running the Windows copy they were
installed under, the pointers and files aren't available and the
programs won't run. Programs have to be reinstalled from the original
media.
 
When you asked, "Will this work?", do you really mean, "Will the Programs work
just as they did on the original system?", the answer is simply "No".

Installed programs place many unique settings in the system registry that are
required and then there's usually special DLL files that may be located in the
windows/system32 folder.

Only in the days of DOS could one move or copy programs successfully in the
manner that you're attempting. There are a few Windows applications/utilities
that are standalone, by design, but they are rare.
 
Jerry said:
You can include them but they won't work on the computer you copy them to.
With a few exceptions, you can't copy programs.
Click to expand...

So why bother to include them?
 
You can move documents from one computer to another, but not programs.

All installed programs (except for an occasional very small one) have
files and pointers to them within Windows, in the registry and
elsewhere. So if you aren't running the Windows copy they were
installed under, the pointers and files aren't available and the
programs won't run. Programs have to be reinstalled from the original
media.
Click to expand...

OR alternatively he can use a program like Laplink's PC Mover, which will
move programs and applications (although a few will just need to be
reinstalled).
 
OR alternatively he can use a program like Laplink's PC Mover, which will
move programs and applications (although a few will just need to be
reinstalled).
Click to expand...


My experience with programs like this (although I've never tried
PCmover in particular, I assume it's similar to the others) has been
considerably less than satisfactory. I wouldn't want to rely on them,
and I don't recommend them to others.
 
Ken Blake said:
My experience with programs like this (although I've never tried
PCmover in particular, I assume it's similar to the others) has been
considerably less than satisfactory. I wouldn't want to rely on them,
and I don't recommend them to others.
Click to expand...

Laplink has been around for decades... but I've never heard from
anyone who says it did what it's supposed to do.

And it costs $50 to find that out.
 
My experience with programs like this (although I've never tried
PCmover in particular, I assume it's similar to the others) has been
considerably less than satisfactory. I wouldn't want to rely on them,
and I don't recommend them to others.
Click to expand...

Ken, I have successfully used PC Mover to move all my programs and
applications from my older Win98SE computer to my new WinXP computer, and it
sure has saved me a LOT of time! However, I will admit that it took a
couple of runs at it to get it right, and some programs still needed to be
reinstalled (and sometimes uninstalled and reinstalled), as they state in
the documentation. But, all that said, it sure saved me a major amount of
time (I'd say measured in weeks, if not months. :-).

Obviously, though, the best or most ideal approach is as you said: do a
clean install. So, no argument there!
 

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