Moving everything from one machine to another.....

[Janitor Tzap]

Ok, that sounded strange.

What I'm going to do is this...
I'm trying to move all the contents of my old hard drive, to a new hard drive and new machine.
Without having to go through the long process of redoing all the settings.
Reloading the OS, patches, add on's, passwords, etc....

I've found Drive Cloning software.
But unless the original Drive doesn't have corrupted files on it.
I end up reloading software anyway.

Also, when you have a system that uses a different mother board.
The OS has to be re-installed.
Or many times I half to make a fresh format of the new hard drive.
Then install the OS.
Then spend hours reloading drivers, patches, upgrades, and then the application software.
{It took me months to get my current system to the way I want it.}

Is there an easier way to do this?


Signed: Janitor Tzap

[desy2820]

You can't get around the OS and application re-install, especailly if the hardware is differenet, but there are easier ways to move everything else from machine to machine.

You didn't specify the OS, but XP and Vista have "Files and Settings Transfer" wizards. You can give those a shot.

The other option is a free download from Microsoft, the User State Migration Tool. I've had good luck with this in a corporate environment. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

I hope this helps.

[Janitor Tzap]

desy2820,

Yeah,
I'm using XP SP3 with all the patches and upgrades.

I looked at the "Files and Settings Transfer" wizard.
But I still have to setup the OS on the new system before I can do the transfer.

The Transfer itself is fairly simple.
I need a Nul-Modem cable, or a Lan crossover cable to connect the two machines.

Reminds me of an old DOS Transfer program I used "The Brooklyn Bridge".
I'd still be using it.
But when character strings for program names got extended in W95 or DOS 7.0
Long program names, and files got chopped and a ~ was placed in it.
It became hard to recognize what was transferred over to the new Hard Drive.
Plus, the programs wouldn't run because the data File names no longer matched.

Oh, Well.....

Thanks any way.


Signed: Janitor Tzap