Transfer old software onto new computer?

[wall2000x]

I have a client that wants her old programs on her new computer. She does not have the old disks. Can I partition her new drive and dump her old drive on the new drive using a USB cable? I am referring to Excel, etc. Any other ideas to load the old programs (software) onto her new computer. Thanks in advance. I seems like a basic question but I have always loaded the software from disk.

 

[Simmy]

You will need to reinstall programs like Office from the disk. The reason being the new computer won't contain the necessary registry entries to run Excel, Word etc. But some programs will work by simply copying the folder across.

I don't know of any program that will transfer programs from one computer to another. I would be interested to know if one exists though.

 

[mh348]

Try Laplink PCMover.

 

[koonter]

try this

AlohaBob's PC Relocator:

review:
http://reviews.cnet.com/software/alohabob-pc-relocator-4/4505-3513_7-20029850.html

40 - 60 $


PCmover:

http://www.laplink.com/pcmover

24 - 55 $


Acronis True Image 11 Home

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

50$


Norton Ghost 14:

http://www.symantec.com/norton/ghost

69$ !!!!

for vista try:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/easy-transfer.aspx

 

[Simmy]

Well there we go - it took a whole 47 minutes to be proven wrong. I'll give this a try tomorrow.

 

[14049752]

PC Mover's the thing to look at here. It needs the old machine to be in working order, but it usually copies programs without a hitch.

AlohaBob was bought by Microsoft and doesn't exist anymore. Supposedly it was going to be a Vista Ultimate Extra or something, but it hasn't happened.
Acronis and Ghost just do images and don't move programs. Acronis has a high end version that does move the image to a new system, but I'm assuming the new system already has an OS and everything so that's overkill.
And the built in Vista tool linked to specifically says that it doesn't move programs.

(To koonter: I'm not downplaying your post, I'm just making sure people don't buy something with false expectations.)

 

[NYJimbo]

PC Mover seems too good to be true. Has anyone here used it and can they say if it really moved all important programs and data ?.

If this thing really can perform this task automatically I will buy a copy tommorow. I cringe at the idea of doing this stuff manually and many times when a customer wants to move their old junk to a new machine they never have the original program disks to do it.

 

[14049752]

PC Mover seems too good to be true. Has anyone here used it and can they say if it really moved all important programs and data ?.

I can't vouch for it from my experience, but a couple of guys I used to work for tried it and reported varying levels of success.
If I remember right, it moved all of the big name programs like office but some smaller company programs didn't move over correctly because of their activation scheme.

Laplink gave out "free" copies of the program a couple of times, and every time I got around to using it, the free version they gave out had expired.

 

[stevenamills]

Laplink seems to be so afraid you will use their program, you invariably end up in license hell.

If you are going to an XP system, don't give up on Aloha Bob. As 14049752 said, it was bought by Microsoft and put in the vault - I hate those people. I still find my existing copy works well if I'm going to an XP machine. Vista? Not so good.

The built in Vista transfer mechanism is a joke (there's a surprise).

Good luck.....
Steve

 

[Czarman]

Fred_G has used the PCMover software. Sorry I can't post the url yet. I hope this helps!

It is under General Computer Help Page 3 of 19. Thread: Moving a hard drive Last Post: 7/14/2008

 

[Pc Fixed Right]

I have used PC mover and it did not work because it could not find the other computer over the network. I than did the usb option and that also did not work. So I said F*** it I will do what I normally do assuming its a windows xp home or pro install. I took out the hard drive I wanted to transfer the programs from. Installed it in the other machine as a master drive and did a repair on the windows install. That worked like a charm I just had to reactivate windows and install the drivers for the new machine.

Oh make sure you clone the original drive in the event that you do not have the version of windows that was used to do the installation in the first place.

Well after I wrote this I gave PCMover another shot and realized I had made a human error when I used the program before. Apparently I was trying to go through my VOIP box and my router to connect the machines which is why PC Mover could not find the new computer. So it does work I just tried it.

 

[wall2000x]

My hard disk fried today

While working on this problem for a customer, my hard disk fried today. I transferred my files to another computer, just barely. I don't know if it is worth it to transfer the programs. My hard disk was red hot! Any ideas?

 

[hawks5999]

The built in Vista transfer mechanism is a joke (there's a surprise).

I have found the Vista Easy Transfer to be quite good when I've used it. It won't move applications, but it does a fair sight better than USMT or FAST ever hoped to be. I actually got a little warm inside at how good Easy Transfer worked.

Wall - to answer your last question, reinstall your apps. If your drive has failed and you got your data off, then take a moment, look up into the heavens and whisper a thank you. Then go get yourself a mozy or carbonite subscription.

 

[jace]

for PCMover

can you run PC mover multiple times or does it expire after you use it once? This would get pretty expensive if you do alot of data transfers.

 

[Pc Fixed Right]

Each license is a one time deal. You can always buy multiple licenses and save money that way.

 

[Wheelie]

I have not tried to move programs in quite some time because of the damage I've seen it do to both the OS and the program itself. That said, I suspect the programs that do this task have come a long way. However, old fears are hard to overcome and I simply find it easier to tell the customer to either buy the program or try something else.