2 Hard Drives

[Troll]

I pieced together a PC from 3 with problems to make a decent desktop. What I want to do is somehow transfer some of the programs to one hard drive and format the other. They both windows and I only want one copy. I would like the extra hard drive space. Is there any way to transfer these programs extra programs I want?

[SufferWell1396]

Are you saying take one program and put it on the other hdd?

-Simple, if your gonna do that just copy and paste the folder from one drive to another, but i cannot assure that the programs will work, as it is another Windows installation that they are trying to work with...

-Then after all program folders are copied, just format the drive you want to use for extra space

[azzey]

If you're simply moving the installation folders, 9 chances out of 10 this will not work. You will need to reinstall the program. I have seen a handful of programs that do not modify the registry and therefore do not need to be reinstalled, but most programs do not fall under this category.

You will likely need the install disk or file.

[Sylvander]

Move Me copies all of the programs and data files from your old computer (including the Registry settings needed to make those programs work on the new system) while leaving all of the new computer's pre-installed software intact. (http://www.spearit.com/about_MoveMe.html)

You'd need to either...
a. Have each HDD running in its own PC [Windows installation "repaired" to suit] and install "Move Me" to each of those.
Or else...
b. Have both HDD's in the same PC and able to dual boot [Windows installation "repaired" to suit], and install "Move Me" to each of those.

I've never done it, so not sure of the details.

[Paul Komski]

After you slave the second drive see if you can run programs on it by opening their .exe files from the first drive. If it works then copying the folders is likely to be fine.

[mjc]

XP handles migration better than any previous version of Windows, so you may be surprised at how many programs will run. Even with that, when moving to a new system, I, usually, recommend fresh installs...OS, drivers, other software, etc.

[Troll]

Thanks guys. I moved the ones that worked and threw out the ones that wouldn't. It went pretty smooth. Thanks