Being a novice (somewhat) I just bought a new Windows 7 laptop and would like to transfer several programs (many I've downloaded from this extremely valuable site) from my old XP laptop. Now I know there are several programs that will do file transfer, but I need to find a reliable program/method that will transfer the software programs as well since in many cases I do not have the original disk or registration numbers. Can someone help me in simple to understand jargon? Thanks to all responders!
need recommendation for transferring software programs from old laptop to new
(18 posts) (12 voices)-
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruHi novice; if you're looking to transfer giveaways over it's not possible as you need the registration details for each software you want to transfer. any programs you copy over will end up being demo's only. (Though a few do seem to be permanent (don't ask me which as i never bother transferring when i update my computers. There's nothing else I can say that will help you.
W.R.
Posted 14 years ago # -
What I did when I last upgraded is backed up everything I could onto an external drive. I did not worry about the actual executable setups of anything. What I transferred was the install programs and re-installed them on the new machine. As WR stated, GOTD is a odd case where you can't do that. In those cased, I expected to lose most but using a special procedure that is rather technical and I do not recommend for beginners, managed to keep some of them (I won't say which ones).
The key is to make backups of your user data (regardless of the applications involved) so you can copy that over.
There are some special hardware (cables) and software designed to facilitate a transfer but I recommend an external hard drive with data manually copied onto it from the old computer and then copied onto the new computer. You might decide to re-structure or re-organize your data and this is the way to handle that kind of change, too!
Posted 14 years ago # -
Hi, novice, the procedure (regarding the GOTD software)is explained in the FAQ:
Installation / Re-installation
Can I download the program today and install it after giveaway period is over?
If I keep the build will it be possible to use it to reinstall the program in the future?
The main idea of the project is to make registered version of particular product available free of charge for 24 hours. We protect either Setup.exe or Activate.exe against being used on any other date. So re-installation or installation on other days is not possible.
My system crashed. How can I reinstall products gained earlier from GOTD?
All the GOTD builds can be used to install and activate the software on giveaway date only. Thus to reinstall any product you will need to purchase it from the Developer.Sorry, there is no other legal way.
When you like the programmes you had the chance to get here, then please pay the developer for his work and buy a registration.graylox
Posted 14 years ago # -
watcher13
MemberHi, novice. Unfortunately, a lot of people get confused on the concept of file transfer versus program transfer. When most programs are installed on your computer, they don't just dump a bunch of files on to your machine - they make changes and often additions to your machine's software configuration. Just copying the files from one machine to the other - if you even know where all the files are located because they're quite often NOT all located in the program's folder - usually doesn't work because those necessary configuration changes and additions haven't been made.
The exception are what are called "free standing" or portable (or sometimes standalone of self contained) programs. These are designed with everything in the program's folder, so that all the software code they need is internal and they just interact with, not modify, your system.
For you, there's also another issue. Since you're moving this stuff to a newer OS, you may run into the problem that not all of these older programs are compatible with Windows 7 (which is, of course, 2 versions newer - we can't forget Vista). Though Microsoft is getting better all the time dealing with this issue - it's called "backwards compatibility" - you may need newer versions of some or much of your old software.
In fact, I hate to say it, but it's quite likely that the majority of your old stuff is not going to work, unless you do it the way Dragonlair suggests AND those old versions that come from those old installers are compatible, or the software can be made compatible with 7 after the install. (There are adjustments in the "Properties" tabs for the individual softwares that can, many times, make them run under the new OS - at least in Vista. I assume they haven't abandoned that feature in 7.)
If you'd like to check free portable software, or free software in general, or get tips for novices, I heartily recommend Gizmo's Freeware Reviews site. The reviews are kept up to date, and it's a great source of tutorials for beginners (or anybody else).
http://www.techsupportalert.com
As to the portability of GOTDs, all I can say is that every once in a while it does happen, but it's NOT intentional. And then, with a red face, I'll shutup.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Quantum Dragon
MemberThe best way to keep your existing installation in your new computer is to first "image" your old hard disk from the XP, second partition your new hard drive on the Win 7 laptop so that it has two (or more) partitions and finally arrange a dual-boot (XP/Win 7) system on your new laptop.
Important: Make sure 1) that your new partition is bigger than the old drive full capacity as explained by almost all makers of imaging software and 2) that the software is usable both in XP and 7 to avoid surprises.
Google search for free imagers (Non specific): Free Disk Imagers
Google search for free partition programs (again non specific): Free Disk Partitioners
Guides on dual (or multi) booting:
apcmag.com (the_definitive_dualbooting_guide - step by step)
Hope this helps
Posted 14 years ago # -
samm
MemberWOW, thanks for asking the question Novice, and thanks for all the answers everyone. I now put all my GAOD programs on my portable drive (1TB) now I can take them with me everywhere. I do like Dragon's answer, I'm going to image all these laptops and desktops so I'll have them in the future.
Thanks again everyone.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Robert
StrayCatPaul F. Quantum AKA "The Dragon"
Thanks for the interesting links.
Maybe I am reading this wrong,but are you suggesting creating a dual boot 7 - XP using an image of the old XP computer on the new computer with 7 pre-installed?
I don't think this has been done before and probably won't work using an OEM XP image.
But it's an interesting theory.Or are you suggesting a clean installation of 7 after you 'restored' the XP image(if possible at all with oem editions)?
I don't mean to criticize your comment but I don't think we should get people's hope up...leaving them with a terrible headache and running to the shops to restore their 7 installation.
Should any of the mods/admins subject to this discussion feel free to delete the comment.
Just being plain curious about the matter...for educational reasons and giving a friendly warning.Posted 14 years ago # -
Quantum Dragon
MemberYou are mostly right Robert!
Yes, it is probably going to be too technical for novice and others like him/her.
I don't remember if OEM installs have different problems than full CDs installations but I know it is possible to multi-boot existing systems (although I cannot find the original article I found a few years back because my old computer went blue (BSOD) from old age).
So yes, technically, it may be too much for casual PC users!
Thanks for putting (a bemol, we would say in French!) all this into perspective.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Samm:
I now put all my GAOD programs on my portable drive (1TB) now I can take them with me everywhere.
That won't help you with most of the GOTD software. You can of course install the GOTD programmes on your portable drives or sticks, but that doesn't mean, that you can use the programmes "everywhere". Only a few GOTDs and some of the games are free standing. All the other programmes put files into your registry. You can run those programmes only on that computer you installed them. They need the registry entries on your computer.
graylox
Posted 14 years ago # -
watcher13
MemberNovice, I think you may have hit on a really good solution with at least one of the programs you mentioned. The Laplink. I didn't think of it, but that's part of a new generation of software - the complete migrator. Microsoft even built something like that into Vista. Most software calling themselves migrators are only cloners - producing the disk images of old harddrives that we've been talking about. Some of the newer ones migrate everything but the programs. But the two you mention claim to do everything, and the reviews I've seen said they do. The reviews on Laplink look a lot better than the ones on Softrescue, which seems to require you be connected to the internet, at least initially, and which also might require you to defeat your antivirus. Then I'd want to disconnect both machines from the internet until I was done, which might be a little hassle.
Google review search on Laplink
As to the other options, multibooting is pretty much creating a 2nd partition, and then setting up a dual/multiboot manager to perform that function. I'm sure you could learn that, but it would take a little patience, and as "The Dragon" and Robert expressed notes of quite reasonable caution - I wouldn't do it until I had a backup hard drive and a clone/ghost image of my new 7 disk, anyway. Which isn't a bad idea, period. So there's more than one thing to learn. That note of caution would also apply to Laplink, but I understand it does have a fairly good undo function.
There are a couple of other options. One is to run a clone image of your XP computer "virtually" on your 7 machine. Then you could fire up the virtual XP image whenever you wanted to use the old programs. Might put a slight hamper on your machine's performance, but might not be that noticeable.
Microsoft article on creating a virtual environment from a ghost image
Another option would be to simply take the hard drive from the old machine and install it as a backup on the new machine - if it can take a 2nd (or 3rd) drive. That way you have a backup disk for storage/emergency booting and you can boot from it when you want to run the XP stuff. Booting from it may be inconvenient, though. One way is to use your computers' setup program - it's "bios". That's the simple program contained on your motherboard chip, that works as the basic brain of your computer - sort of like our autotomic reflexes (breathing, heart pumping, etc.). The Bios fires up before anything - meaning Windows - is accessed off your hard drive. If you're not familiar, that's what it means when you see "to run setup press (F1, esc, etc.)". The bios controls what drives your machine tries to boot from and in what order.
That might be cumbersome, though, because you'd have to go into setup every time you wanted to change drives. You might get REAL lucky and be able to set your bios so you could select the boot drive with just a key stroke when you first turn the machine on, but that's rare. There's probably some third party software that will let you do that, but it would probably take some digging to find. It's probably possible to rig up a CD that would give you that control - you'd set the bios to boot from the CD first, if one's in the drive. The CD would either make the machine boot from the Secondary drive, or give you a menu to choose which drive to boot from. Though to boot from the primary drive you'd just leave the CD out, anyway. This option would probably take a little research/experimentation.
I mention some of this because it brings up the question of how much you want to learn and how quickly. Most problems are solvable, but they're not always worth the time and effort in the short run. In the long run, all learning can be good, but there's only so many hours in the day/your life.
What you might want to consider is that saving this stuff may not be worth all this hassle. If you've bought a lot of software for the old machine, then it's understandable that you wouldn't want to shell out all that money again. Although, to be accurate, it isn't considered any more kosher to migrate purchased software than GOTD's. Migration is for when you blow out a hard drive and have to put a new one in. Most pay licenses are for one computer only, just like the GOTD license. That's one of the attractions of free software - the creators don't usually care how many machines you put it on.
I don't mean to rile people up, but I see GOTD as having the occasional gem among a lot of programs that you can find better versions of elsewhere, usually free. Considering that most of these developers here are up and coming that's not really unexpected, nor is it a criticism. But do you really want to pay, say $70, for Laplink, or learn a bunch of ways to get around the problem, just for some software that's probably available elsewhere for free? Only you can answer that, since only you, obviously, know what you've got.
Posted 14 years ago # -
copmom
MemberI've used Acronis True Image to make a total clone of my hard drive on my 2nd hard drive in case the C: drive goes down so I haven't lost anything. I now also have an external HD to clone my original one in case the whole computer goes down (which happened about a month ago when my motherboard took a hit from a lightening storm). Didn't want to lose anything when they installed the new motherboard! This 2nd hard drive could be installed in your new computer so you have everything.. IF the new one has the same operating system!!! I'm under the impression that if it's a different operating system that might not work.
Posted 14 years ago # -
watcher13
MemberThere is some confusion on this operating system issue. Actually, the hardware is the same. What determines what particular operating system that you're running is what drive/or partition you boot from. Whatever OS that drive has installed is the OS for that particular session only. If next session you boot from a different drive or partition, you'll be running whatever OS is on that drive or partition. The only significant difference in the hardware from a machine manufactured today and, say, 10 years ago, is the old machine may not have the computing power - cpu speed, RAM, and hard drive space - to run a new OS like Win7. That's why people talk about running both Windows and Linux. The hardware is different in a Mac, but that's the only major exception. There were some differences between Pentium series chips and the previous standard - 486 (Pentium is actually technically known as 586, so you can see they're in the same family.) - but all those issues are just handled by newer series drivers.
In other words, there's no such thing as Windows 7 machine, a Vista machine, an XP machine, or a Linux machine, etc.. There are just machines that have Win7 or XP, etc., installed on them. They'll run anything they have the computing power to run. So a 7 machine will run Vista or XP, and so forth, and an XP machine can be upgraded to 7 if it has the computing power or can be upgraded to more powerful hardware. So, for this discussion, if it will boot 7 from one drive or partition, it will boot XP from another.
If you're in 7, and you access the secondary drive which has XP on it, you can access all the files, but running the programs will depend on how dependent those programs are in running off there own drive, (for necessary system files and program/registry settings) instead or your primary Win 7 drive and/or how free standing/portable the programs are(although that's close to saying the same thing) and/or how compatible the program is (or can be adjusted to be) to running on the new OS.
The partition idea - installing the cloned image on a section of your new Win 7 hard drive requires the same thing as dual booting between 2 drives - you just need to find and learn some software to manage the dual boot. Using a 2nd partition is really what the folks here are referring to when they talk about dual booting. Using 2 different drives requires a slightly different and less common (but I'm pretty sure available) software.
Posted 14 years ago # -
goodgotd
MemberIn my experience 2 different drives doesn't make a lotta difference- once you get it into windows' drive chain they're all partitions. (SATA first complicates initial setup, but after that...) The initial order for the partitions is: first drive (HDD0) primary partition is C:, second and third if they have primary partitions those become D and E, then the extended/logical partitions from HDD0, followed by HDD1's logicals, and so on. Floppies (or variants that think they are) down at A: and B:, and card readers, USB flash drives, and optical drives tacked on last.
*if hdd1 and the subsequent drives have no primary partition they will not be added to the drive letter order until after HDD0's remaining partitions!*
I've used this (not making a primary partition) to add drives to an existing system for a decade without displacing the original HDD's extended partition's logical drives- where the programs and data are- and thus having to relocate or reinstall anything. I learned this when I bought into the 'removable carrier for standard drives' fad- they just plugged the drive into the IDE cable, USB external housings were not yet on the horizon for less than gazillionairs.
It does get tough when you start running out of the alphabet- when the first one hits Z: the rest vanish, and I personally use windows' drive management to put flash memory card readers, CD/DVD drives, etc. up as close to X: and Y: and Z: as I can. that way they don't move if you pull or install a second drive. Or plug in a flash drive. Or a USB external hdd.
my 2800 boots off the SATA drive's primary partition at E: (3rd hdd) for winXP and off C: (first of the 2 80 gig PATA drives) for Win2k- if I pull the SATA the *second* 80 gig's first extended/logical partition is where that pack of drives boots WinXP.
YYMV, but that's what's worked for me. BTW, different OS's can be a problem, but expect a ton of drivers to change one or two at a time if changing *hardware* like motherboards. Frustrating as all get out....
I use the stock windows boot manager, but there are better ones. Or as good, in freeware.
Alas, the one I *really* liked requires a floppy drive to register and install, and floppy controllers are going out of style. (I found a USB floppy cheap, but YMMV finding quality new ones cheap) I had to shelve it 2 systems ago. AArgh.
Posted 14 years ago # -
novice
MemberIt's been educational to read all the comments. I thank all of you who have contributed to my learning. I also thank those who viewed this, hoping that there is a software developer who will recognize that there's money to be made for providing a software for something that should be obvious.
Posted 14 years ago # -
dal987
MemberSoftRescue Pro (now Home) and Laplink PCMover operate from entirely different premises.
Softrescue Pro allows you fairly quickly to build a (smallish) archive file for the installed programs you select, with a view to transferring these to (an identical) file structure on a different PC.
PCMover starts from the idea of transferring everything, with exceptions. In my (perhaps feeble) attempts with this, the archive file for what I thought was just a couple of small apps was about 10GB, despite having deselected everything in sight.
Neither will transfer license codes.. you have to enter those yourself, so they are not intended as a means of doing anything illegal.
Softrescue Pro has the irritating characteristic of requiring a connection to the internet at the start, for, I think, two reasons- 1, valid its license use; 2, ensure you cannot proceed without the latest update.
In its latest (recent) Home version 1.6.3, it recreated start menu entries and registry entries but failed to archive/recreate the program folders (I choose to have programs installed on D:\.... rather than C:\ An earlier version worked. I'm hoping their support will advise!
Posted 14 years ago # -
Anonymous
UnregisteredHKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-776561741-920026266-1343024091-1003
This PC ^ new PC
____________________________________
Old PC >Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-796845927-1677128483-1343024091-1003\Software\Deep
"autoregname"="giveawayoftheday"
"autoregcode" *****************as you can see it not like the reg key and will not work
Posted 14 years ago #
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