Any way to transfer ENTIRE hard drive?

Is there a way to transfer everything on a hard drive -- as is -- from one computer to another?

For example, let's say you are moving from one Dell laptop to another. And let's say you want everything to be EXACTLY the same on the new laptop. Not just data files and pictures, but everything. The same OS (XP in this case), the same installed software, the same tweaked settings -- EVERYTHING.

Can this be done? Or do you have to re-install and re-tweak everything on the new laptop?

Thanks....

 

You have to reinstall. Windows REALLY hates massive hardware changes and I've never seen it end well. You can transfer all your files, and some of your settings, but OS/programs are all going to have to be installed manually.

If the laptop configurations are nearly identical (same model, maybe a different amount of RAM or HDD) then it might be doable. Might.

And either way you'll probably have to re-activate the OS too I think.

 

There are programs available that claim to be able to do this. I know of folks who've done it fairly successfully (a few issues to deal with) and other where it didn't work well at all.

There is Laplink's PCMover and there was a program called Aloha Bob that always got high marks, but I don't think it's around any longer.

I understand your feelings on this. Heck, I'd be happy if I could just duplicate all my toolbars, settings, button/shortcut locations exactly from one machine to the other. (E.g., all the shortcuts in Firefox appear in exactly the same place on each machine without having to move them around.) While many programs allow you to export/import settings, they often don't exactly recreate it on the other machines.

 

Exactly. There are soooo many little tweaks, changes, shortcuts, modifications, etc, etc, that we all make... it would be great to not have to re-do all that stuff when moving to a new computer. In fact, I seriously doubt I'd even remember every little tweak or download I've made over time!

 

Hey, I've been looking into that PCMover software.

It looks pretty good!

 

Why would you want to do that?

I would just do a new install.

Did you know a new install computer is super fast?

Life would be hard if you dont have the CD.

 

Well, you'd want to do that for the reasons discussed above.

By the time you do a clean install (speaking just of Windows), install all the patches, re-install all your software (along with license codes and tweaks), update all your software, clean up, and defrag, you've spent a ton of time (maybe even several days).

A clean install really might only be recommended in two situations: virus/malware infection or on a new computer. And even then, if you use a good backup program, you might not need a clean install to recover from a virus/malware infection..

If you keep your computer cleaned up, learn which programs/apps can be disabled in startup, run an antivirus program, run a firewall, and keep the system patched, it's just more time consuming to do a fresh install and get everything back for a little gain in speed.

My 2-year old desktop with a Pentium D and 3GB RAM still boots up to the desktop in 15 seconds. It actually boots faster now than when it was new. Having it boot up any faster is meaningless to me.

Program-wise, I usually have 8-10 tabs in FF open, Word, Excel, Outlook, streaming radio (occasional video), a chat program and several other things running simultaneously. There's no lag in program switching, no drops in the audio/video signals, and it's never crashed on me.

Good housekeeping beats rebuilding the house 99% of the time. IMHO.

 

try paragorn drive backup, its great and works on all partitions settings and os's