Comments on: Moving to a New PC

By: Jack Klaber

Jack Klaber — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:09:44 +0000

I do most of all the things listed above. And more:
I change the location of “My Documents” to a second partition on my HD (Easily done with the MS Powertoy “TweakUI for Windows XP”). I also change the “Favorites” folders to a folder inside the new “My Documents” location. The location of my Outlook Data Files and also the account-folder of my Email program are also changed to a folder inside the “My Documents”. A DVD disk backup of “My Documents” is performed at least weekly. I found out that even in case of HD crashes, most recovery software can get to data on a second partition….

By: Larry Brunson

Larry Brunson — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 18:24:31 +0000

Here's an even easier method that I use. Simply install the HD from your current PC as a slave into the new unit. Everything is there at your fingertips. You can leave the two drives for as long as you want, or eventually suck everything off the old drive and repartition and format it. Or move it somewhere else.

Larry Brunson

By: Snafu999

Snafu999 — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 16:05:55 +0000

Rather than a snapshot of your desktop, why not just copy the desktop folder to a cd or floppy. that way you have all of your icons and shortcuts.

By: Steve Dolyk

Steve Dolyk — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 15:58:54 +0000

Ahh yes. I remember doing some of the things you described….. and maybe they worked
… but then, yep, you guessed it, just when I was in the middle of something important, an error showed up. A few months ago I researched 3 or 4 s/w transfer programs and decided to try PCRelocate. I have used it 3 times to date and all the transferred programs work well. (it will not transfer all software but informs you regarding which programs it will not transfer. It even lets you know if a program is unsafe to transfer - i.e. corrupted file or potential virus. I usually do not comment on s/w - but this program has saved me many hours of time and is worth passing on.

By: ozfrog

ozfrog — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 09:30:30 +0000

Very thorough, but would it not have been easier to dump your partitiions to a CD with Norton’s Ghost, repartition your new HDD as was/ or bigger than the last one, boot from the Ghost floppy and dump everything back from the CD?
OS, software, personal data, all back where they were. All shortcuts, preferences, mailing lists, favorites reconstituted as were.
Dunno _ seems less hassle to me.
cheers & good luck whatever path you tread.