Transfer everything BUT THE OS to another hard drive

Buolpo wrote:
> I recently added a 40GB hard drive to my XP SP3 system. How do I
> transfer everything except the OS to the bigger drive? I want to
> keep XP on the smaller (original) hard drive all by itself and move
> everything else to the bigger (new) drive. Surely, there is a way
> that isn't uninstall all the programs and such and reinstall to the
> new drive. Thanks in advance if any of you kind souls can help me
> out.

No. You pretty much got it.

The only 100% successful/sure way to get your files/folders/applications
form one computer to another is to cleanly install the applications from
their original installation media with their original serial numbers/product
keys and then try and use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard to get some
of the files/settings over (My Documents, Desktop, etc will come along,
Outlook settings and some other program settings will not, etc...)

Anything else is a kludge and has a higher percentage chance of failing than
working simply because of the 100's/1000's of variables involved.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

On Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:42:17 GMT, "Buolpo" <u49641@uwe> wrote:

> I recently added a 40GB hard drive to my XP SP3 system. How do I transfer
> everything except the OS to the bigger drive? I want to keep XP on the
> smaller (original) hard drive all by itself and move everything else to the
> bigger (new) drive. Surely, there is a way that isn't uninstall all the
> programs and such and reinstall to the new drive. Thanks in advance if any of
> you kind souls can help me out.


You can move data easily, but programs are a different matter. Most
installed programs have many references, in the registry
and elsewhere, to where they are located. If you move a program, these
all turn out to be wrong and the program will not work.

There is some third-party software that looks for and supposedly
change the references for you, but in my experience none of these
programs is perfect. The safest, and best, way to do it is to
uninstall and reinstall all your programs.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

The only reliable way to transfer applications to a different drive is
uninstall & reinstall.

However, there's no point to having applications and OS on separate
drive letters. Applications write to the registry and place support
files in the Windows folder. If you find yourself having to reinstall
the OS, you'll have to reinstall all your applications as well.

It might make sense to place your data files (documents, pictures, etc.)
on a separate drive (or drive partition) although this won't improve
your computer's performance. You would do this in order to be able to
independently backup and restore your software and your data files.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Buolpo wrote:
> I recently added a 40GB hard drive to my XP SP3 system. How do I transfer
> everything except the OS to the bigger drive? I want to keep XP on the
> smaller (original) hard drive all by itself and move everything else to the
> bigger (new) drive. Surely, there is a way that isn't uninstall all the
> programs and such and reinstall to the new drive. Thanks in advance if any of
> you kind souls can help me out.
>

Buolpo wrote:
> I recently added a 40GB hard drive to my XP SP3 system. How do I
> transfer everything except the OS to the bigger drive? I want to
> keep XP on the smaller (original) hard drive all by itself and move
> everything else to the bigger (new) drive. Surely, there is a way
> that isn't uninstall all the programs and such and reinstall to the
> new drive. Thanks in advance if any of you kind souls can help me
> out.

Shenan Stanley wrote:
> No. You pretty much got it.
>
> The only 100% successful/sure way to get your
> files/folders/applications form one computer to another is to
> cleanly install the applications from their original installation
> media with their original serial numbers/product keys and then try
> and use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard to get some of the
> files/settings over (My Documents, Desktop, etc will come along,
> Outlook settings and some other program settings will not, etc...)
> Anything else is a kludge and has a higher percentage chance of
> failing than working simply because of the 100's/1000's of
> variables involved.

Somehow I missed that this was all on the same system. My bad.

However - the answer only changes a little. Most applications you want
moved to the new drive, you will need to uninstall and install again -
pointing them to the drive you want them installed upon. This is because
many programs made for Windows systems today bury themselves in the registry
and put pointers to their location in various places. The only way to
ensure you get all these places covered - a clean installation of the
application is recommended.

Also - 40GB is the bigger drive? Ouch. *grin*

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
>> I recently added a 40GB hard drive to my XP SP3 system. How do I transfer
>> everything except the OS to the bigger drive? I want to keep XP on the
>> smaller (original) hard drive all by itself and move everything else to the
>> bigger (new) drive. Surely, there is a way that isn't uninstall all the
>> programs and such and reinstall to the new drive. Thanks in advance if any of
>> you kind souls can help me out.
>
>You can move data easily, but programs are a different matter. Most
>installed programs have many references, in the registry
>and elsewhere, to where they are located. If you move a program, these
>all turn out to be wrong and the program will not work.
>
>There is some third-party software that looks for and supposedly
>change the references for you, but in my experience none of these
>programs is perfect. The safest, and best, way to do it is to
>uninstall and reinstall all your programs.
>
Thanks very much for your input. I tried one of those "Fix-all" third party
programs and it failed miserably. Looks like I'll be un/reinstalling for a
whle. <sigh>
Thanks again.

Buolpo

Shenan Stanley wrote:
>Buolpo wrote:
>> I recently added a 40GB hard drive to my XP SP3 system. How do I
>> transfer everything except the OS to the bigger drive? I want to
>[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>> new drive. Thanks in advance if any of you kind souls can help me
>> out.
>
>> No. You pretty much got it.
>>
>[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>> failing than working simply because of the 100's/1000's of
>> variables involved.
>
>Somehow I missed that this was all on the same system. My bad.
>
>However - the answer only changes a little. Most applications you want
>moved to the new drive, you will need to uninstall and install again -
>pointing them to the drive you want them installed upon. This is because
>many programs made for Windows systems today bury themselves in the registry
>and put pointers to their location in various places. The only way to
>ensure you get all these places covered - a clean installation of the
>application is recommended.
>
>Also - 40GB is the bigger drive? Ouch. *grin*
>
Thanks very much for your input. Yeah, the 40GB is the bigger drive. Bear in
mind, my entire cost for this system is five dollars for a pair of amplified
speakers I got at a yard sale. Everything else was given to me. Thanks again.
looks like I'll be un/reinstalling for a while. <sigh> *grin*

BTW, just out of curiousity (and so I don't screw up anything in the registry!
) If I use the Add/remove programs from the C: properties menu, it won't
touch the new drive. (Hope I asked that right)

Buolpo

On Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:22:29 GMT, "Buolpo" <u49641@uwe> wrote:

> Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
> >> I recently added a 40GB hard drive to my XP SP3 system. How do I transfer
> >> everything except the OS to the bigger drive? I want to keep XP on the
> >> smaller (original) hard drive all by itself and move everything else to the
> >> bigger (new) drive. Surely, there is a way that isn't uninstall all the
> >> programs and such and reinstall to the new drive. Thanks in advance if any of
> >> you kind souls can help me out.
> >
> >You can move data easily, but programs are a different matter. Most
> >installed programs have many references, in the registry
> >and elsewhere, to where they are located. If you move a program, these
> >all turn out to be wrong and the program will not work.
> >
> >There is some third-party software that looks for and supposedly
> >change the references for you, but in my experience none of these
> >programs is perfect. The safest, and best, way to do it is to
> >uninstall and reinstall all your programs.
> >
> Thanks very much for your input.


You're welcome. Glad to help.



> I tried one of those "Fix-all" third party
> programs and it failed miserably.


I'm not surprised.


> Looks like I'll be un/reinstalling for a
> whle. <sigh>


Have you considered instead cloning the old smaller drive to the new
bigger one, and then using that new one to boot from (and formatting
the old drive)? If the drive didn't come with software to do this,
such software should be downloadable on the drive manufacturer's web
site.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

"Buolpo" wrote:

> I recently added a 40GB hard drive to my XP SP3 system. How do I transfer
> everything except the OS to the bigger drive? I want to keep XP on the
> smaller (original) hard drive all by itself and move everything else to the
> bigger (new) drive. Surely, there is a way that isn't uninstall all the
> programs and such and reinstall to the new drive. Thanks in advance if any of
> you kind souls can help me out.
>
>

I have a variation of the problem. The computer has only a 40 GB Hard drive
but I am running out of space. I can install a new hard drive and would like
to transfer as much as is practical to the new hard drive and leave the old
hard drive in. According to my son, some of the files are Apple I tune files
and there is a restriction on transferring files related to Apple I tune
files. Upgrading the computer to Vista may not be as practical because the
computer is a 1 GHz machine with 512 MB of Ram. Is it possible to reinstall
just the Windows XP on a second hard drive?

"Leonard Grey" wrote:

> The only reliable way to transfer applications to a different drive is
> uninstall & reinstall.
>
> However, there's no point to having applications and OS on separate
> drive letters. Applications write to the registry and place support
> files in the Windows folder. If you find yourself having to reinstall
> the OS, you'll have to reinstall all your applications as well.
>
> It might make sense to place your data files (documents, pictures, etc.)
> on a separate drive (or drive partition) although this won't improve
> your computer's performance. You would do this in order to be able to
> independently backup and restore your software and your data files.
> ---
> Leonard Grey
> Errare humanum est
>
> Buolpo wrote:
> > I recently added a 40GB hard drive to my XP SP3 system. How do I transfer
> > everything except the OS to the bigger drive? I want to keep XP on the
> > smaller (original) hard drive all by itself and move everything else to the
> > bigger (new) drive. Surely, there is a way that isn't uninstall all the
> > programs and such and reinstall to the new drive. Thanks in advance if any of
> > you kind souls can help me out.
> >
>

Hoffy8196 wrote:
> I have a variation of the problem. The computer has only a 40 GB
> Hard drive but I am running out of space. I can install a new hard
> drive and would like to transfer as much as is practical to the new
> hard drive and leave the old hard drive in. According to my son,
> some of the files are Apple I tune files and there is a restriction
> on transferring files related to Apple I tune files. Upgrading the
> computer to Vista may not be as practical because the computer is a
> 1 GHz machine with 512 MB of Ram. Is it possible to reinstall just
> the Windows XP on a second hard drive?

It would be easier for you to get the new hard drive and then use imaging
tools (many manufacturers give you the tools and instructions to do this
with the new non-OEM hard disk drive) to copy the entire contents of the old
drive to the new and then make the new drive the primary. Once you have
confirmed you can boot from the new drive and everything is the same (except
the influx of a large amount of space) - then you can even erase the old
drive and use it as a secondary drive, backup, etc.

And you definitely do not want to upgrade that machine to Windows Vista -
heck - I would personally not even run XP on it unless I had no other choice
(and for very little money - I have plenty of choices. heh)

Given the computer speed and amount of memory - I don't see investing more
money into it a wise choice, however.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html