The best way to move everything to a new PC?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Erik
  • Start date Start date
E

Erik

I read horror stories about all major migration software (Alohabob, Mover,
Laplink, etc) and would like not to let the events repeated. I cannot use
Ghost since the machines are not identical.
Would anyone know how to migrate programs and settings, some programs
without installation CDs, and their settings? Other machine-wide settings
such as auto-complete, passwords, Internet explorer history, etc. (I know
how to move favorites and documents.)

Thanks.
 
Hello Erik,
you want to much,i recomend to save your settings files from those programs
and install programs on another PC
then just copy settings files and your other files related to this program.
I hope this will help.
 
Provided both are the same type of install (OEM, Retail, etc) I'd be inclined
to try the Ghost route. At the first start there's likely to be a lot of
disk-activity, which you just have to wait-out as the devices are
reconfigured.

If it just hangs, then you need to do a repair install, for which you'll
need a 'real' Windows CD, not a recovery-disk (Or a copy of the i386 folder)

You'll then need to activate. Select telephone, and change the product key
to the new one.
 
I read horror stories about all major migration software (Alohabob, Mover,
Laplink, etc) and would like not to let the events repeated. I cannot use
Ghost since the machines are not identical.
Would anyone know how to migrate programs and settings, some programs
without installation CDs, and their settings? Other machine-wide settings
such as auto-complete, passwords, Internet explorer history, etc. (I know
how to move favorites and documents.)
Click to expand...

Re-install.
 
Erik:
The fact that the computers in question are not "identical" is not a bar to
using a disk imaging program such as Symantec's Norton Ghost to "clone" the
contents of one HD to another HD. Following the cloning operation you would
usually need to install whatever drivers are necessary for the new machine
to operate properly. So wouldn't using that type of program meet your
objective?
Anna
 
Erik said:
I read horror stories about all major migration software (Alohabob, Mover,
Laplink, etc) and would like not to let the events repeated. I cannot use
Ghost since the machines are not identical.
Would anyone know how to migrate programs and settings, some programs
without installation CDs, and their settings? Other machine-wide settings
such as auto-complete, passwords, Internet explorer history, etc. (I know
how to move favorites and documents.)

Thanks.
Click to expand...


Applications/programs can be transferred to the new computer only by
the use of their installation CDs; It's not at all practical to copy an
already installed application from one computer to another. You'd have
to export all of the pertinent registry entries (and there could easily
be dozens, if not hundreds) for tranfer and importation into the
registry on the target computer; you'd also have to find and copy any
essential system files (such as Dynamic Link Libraries) from the various
Windows system files, and place them in the corresponding folders on the
target machine. An expert with several hours of spare time per
application might be able to pull it off, but it's a lot less trouble to
simply reinstall and reconfigure the applications.

Once all of the desired applications have been installed on the new
computer, the File and Settings Transfer Wizard can help move those
settings that are transferable. Unfortunately, not all settings are so
easily transferred, so you'll have re-establish some of those. I don't
know if the FAST wizard will transfer passwords, because I've never
stored passwords on a computer - doing so completely defeats the whole
purpose of having a password in the first place.

HOW TO Use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard By Using the Windows
XP CD-ROM
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;306186

HOW TO Use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard with a Wizard Disk in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306187


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
 
Anna said:
Erik:
The fact that the computers in question are not "identical" is not a bar to
using a disk imaging program such as Symantec's Norton Ghost to "clone" the
contents of one HD to another HD. Following the cloning operation you would
usually need to install whatever drivers are necessary for the new machine
to operate properly. So wouldn't using that type of program meet your
objective?
Anna
Click to expand...


There'd be a lot more involved that simply installing a few drivers.
It'd probably be "doable," under some circumstances, if a lot of work.

Normally, and assuming a retail license (many factory-installed OEM
installations are BIOS-locked to a specific chipset and therefore *not*
transferable to a new motherboard - check yours before starting), unless
the new motherboard is virtually identical (same chipset, same IDE
controllers, same BIOS version, etc.) to the one on which the WinXP
installation was originally performed, you'll need to perform a repair
(a.k.a. in-place upgrade) installation, at the very least:

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341

Changing a Motherboard or Moving a Hard Drive with WinXP Installed
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html

The "why" is quite simple, really, and has nothing to do with
licensing issues, per se; it's a purely technical matter, at this point.
You've pulled the proverbial hardware rug out from under the OS. (If
you don't like -- or get -- the rug analogy, think of it as picking up a
Cape Cod style home and then setting it down onto a Ranch style
foundation. It just isn't going to fit.) WinXP, like Win2K before it,
is not nearly as "promiscuous" as Win9x when it comes to accepting any
old hardware configuration you throw at it. On installation it
"tailors" itself to the specific hardware found. This is one of the
reasons that the entire WinNT/2K/XP OS family is so much more stable
than the Win9x group.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
 
I read horror stories about all major migration software (Alohabob, Mover,
Laplink, etc) and would like not to let the events repeated. I cannot use
Ghost since the machines are not identical.
Would anyone know how to migrate programs and settings, some programs
without installation CDs, and their settings? Other machine-wide settings
such as auto-complete, passwords, Internet explorer history, etc. (I know
how to move favorites and documents.)
Click to expand...

Anna said:
Erik:
The fact that the computers in question are not "identical" is not a bar
to using a disk imaging program such as Symantec's Norton Ghost to
"clone" the contents of one HD to another HD. Following the cloning
operation you would usually need to install whatever drivers are
necessary for the new machine to operate properly. So wouldn't using that
type of program meet your objective?
Anna
Click to expand...
[/QUOTE]


Bruce Chambers said:
There'd be a lot more involved that simply installing a few drivers. It'd
probably be "doable," under some circumstances, if a lot of work.

Normally, and assuming a retail license (many factory-installed OEM
installations are BIOS-locked to a specific chipset and therefore *not*
transferable to a new motherboard - check yours before starting), unless
the new motherboard is virtually identical (same chipset, same IDE
controllers, same BIOS version, etc.) to the one on which the WinXP
installation was originally performed, you'll need to perform a repair
(a.k.a. in-place upgrade) installation, at the very least:

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341

Changing a Motherboard or Moving a Hard Drive with WinXP Installed
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html

The "why" is quite simple, really, and has nothing to do with
licensing issues, per se; it's a purely technical matter, at this point.
You've pulled the proverbial hardware rug out from under the OS. (If you
don't like -- or get -- the rug analogy, think of it as picking up a Cape
Cod style home and then setting it down onto a Ranch style foundation. It
just isn't going to fit.) WinXP, like Win2K before it, is not nearly as
"promiscuous" as Win9x when it comes to accepting any old hardware
configuration you throw at it. On installation it "tailors" itself to the
specific hardware found. This is one of the reasons that the entire
WinNT/2K/XP OS family is so much more stable than the Win9x group.
--
Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
Click to expand...


Bruce:
We've performed this "cloning" operation on hundreds of XP systems, both OEM
and non-OEM systems, primarily using various editions of the Norton Ghost
program, but other disk imaging programs as well, and the process generally
proceeds smoothly and without incident. It (nearly) goes without saying that
the disk cloning operation will be successful when the user's HDs are
non-defective, are properly connected/configured, and that the OS, programs,
and created data being copied are without corruption.

To be sure, in many, if not most, cases (but not all) the user will be
required to install driver(s) on the cloned destination HD. But aside from
that usual requirement, there are ordinarily no other onerous nor
time-consuming tasks to perform. And since only a change in hard drives is
involved there will ordinarily be no activation process to undertake.
Anna
 
Anna said:
Bruce:
We've performed this "cloning" operation on hundreds of XP systems, both OEM
and non-OEM systems, primarily using various editions of the Norton Ghost
program, but other disk imaging programs as well, and the process generally
proceeds smoothly and without incident. It (nearly) goes without saying that
the disk cloning operation will be successful when the user's HDs are
non-defective, are properly connected/configured, and that the OS, programs,
and created data being copied are without corruption.
Click to expand...

The I can only conclude that these PCs involved were very close to
identical in hardware configuration, particularly the motherboard
chipsets. This is the only circumstance under which I've ever seen a
transplanted WinXP require at least a repair installation. (Or you're
not using the OEM version of WinXP to create the image; are you using a
Volume License?) The mere administrative chore of keeping track of,
and storing, hundreds of different OEM-based images seems overwhelming.

To be sure, in many, if not most, cases (but not all) the user will be
required to install driver(s) on the cloned destination HD. But aside from
that usual requirement, there are ordinarily no other onerous nor
time-consuming tasks to perform.
Click to expand...


Granted, there are ways to create a customized drive image that
includes drivers for multiple systems, but this technique, and the tools
required, are well beyond the means of the average home user.

And since only a change in hard drives is
involved there will ordinarily be no activation process to undertake.
Click to expand...


Actually, by transplanting a drive image, you've, in effect, changed
*everything*, hardware-wise. Only a the BIOS-locked (which mandates an
identical motherboard) or the Volume Licensed version would not require
Activation under such a circumstance.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
 
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