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  1. My father-in-law just bought a new W10 desktop and is looking to migrate the software he uses on his old W10 PC to the new machine.
    He is not terribly organized with things and can't find most of his install disks. He also doesn't remember which ones he might have disks for and which ones were download installs.

    Anyway...
    My initial thought is to use clonezilla to copy the old HDD to the new HDD on the new PC and then install the drivers for the new system.
    But I'm wondering if there might be a better way?

    I came across programs like Zinstall and EaseUS ToDo Pc Trans. Which claim to be able to migrate the software from one machine to another. These programs are not free, which is fine; my bigger concern is if they work well or would be problematic?
    Also, if there is freeware that does the same job as them that would be great.

    So, I come to the hive mind...Any advice?

    Thanks in advance!!!
    "You can observe a lot by watching." - Yogi Bera
    http://www.areturningadultstudent.com
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  2. Pretty sure his programs have to be reinstalled on the new machine. The reason is when a program is installed some make changes to the registry. Just copying doesn't do that and those programs probably will not run.

    Maybe those programs you mentioned do a correct install but I have not used them. I always do a reinstall of each program when going to a new computer. It's the safest way.

    In the 'old' days, they used to sell a cable so that you could transfer programs from your XP computer to your new Win 7 machine. That never worked for me and I suspect it was the reason mentioned in paragraph one above.
    Last edited by TreeTops; 23rd Jan 2021 at 11:35.
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  3. Thanks for the response, True Tops. Yeah, I'm concerned the tranafer programs may only do partial moves.
    I think cloaning the old drive to the new and then setting up the driver is probably my best option so far.
    Tomorrow I'm going to help him rifle his office for install disks and registrations. But, I have my doubts they're there.
    "You can observe a lot by watching." - Yogi Bera
    http://www.areturningadultstudent.com
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  4. I'm a Super Moderator johns0's Avatar
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    Best thing to do is just install the programs and get the user files associated with the programs and copy and paste then to where they were related.
    I think,therefore i am a hamster.
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  5. Hi Johns0,
    Unfortunately, he's not sure where the install disks are.
    "You can observe a lot by watching." - Yogi Bera
    http://www.areturningadultstudent.com
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  6. I'm a Super Moderator johns0's Avatar
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    Try if you can get them online
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  7. Johns0,
    I hadn't thought of that possibility.
    Thanks!
    I'll see just what programs he needs and contact the vendors., etc.
    "You can observe a lot by watching." - Yogi Bera
    http://www.areturningadultstudent.com
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  8. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    There are a couple of other ways to do this, none of which are without their complications:

    Example...Move the existing drive to new computer. Boot up and let it acquire all the drivers for new equipment (needs multiple reboots). Then upgrade to Win10. Then copy the existing drive to the new one and put it back in the new machine, rebooting again.

    But, seriously, best option is uninstall and install on the new machine. My guess is that it probably is a good time to upgrade/update/migrate the apps anyway, as there are often differences with compatibility for Win10.


    Scott
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  9. Thanks Scott,
    The old machine is also W10. Not sure if that will simplify the process but I know the software he's using is compatible.
    I'm going to ransack his office tomorrow and hope to get lucky.
    "You can observe a lot by watching." - Yogi Bera
    http://www.areturningadultstudent.com
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  10. Just a follow-up and a resolution to this project.
    I couldn't find some of the software my father-in-law needs when we went through his office.
    I wound up using clonezilla to clone the drive but I couldn't get the clone to boot in his new machine.
    I wound up purchasing a commercial cloning/migrating software from Aomei. This did the trick and after a few hours of tweaking and uninstalling old drivers and installing new drivers his new computer is working exactly right, software and all.

    Thanks again for the input, feedback, etc.
    "You can observe a lot by watching." - Yogi Bera
    http://www.areturningadultstudent.com
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