COmputer question............

[FinanceDude]

My late sister had a guy build her a custom computer before she died. She also bought a 21 inch Sony monitor, subwoofer and Klipsch speakers, etc.

I want to load Windows on it (XP), and transfer all my stuff on my Dell onto it (desktop). My BIL is a computer geek but doesn't think the data transfer will go smoothly, since I don't back up my hard drive hardly ever.

Why can't I hook up the "new" CPU to the "old CPU and directly transfer all the data, programs, forever. Or is this a big cluster I am attempting??

Thanks..........

 

[steve88]

This is easy! Use a cat 5 cable and its very easy. Connect both computer to each other and transfer away. There is also a program that you can use but I forgot what its called if I remember I will let you know.

 

[retire@40]

Ghost?

 

[figner]

Yeah, I don't see why you can't just connect the two with a network cable and transfer your stuff. If connecting directly between the two machines without a router in between, make sure you use a crossover cable or crossover adapter (should be a few bucks). It shouldn't have anything to do with how often you back up your hard drive...

What do you mean by a "custom computer" though? What operating system is it currently running? If the hardware isn't mainstream, you might have to download some extra drivers from vendors' web sites, but probably won't be a big deal.

 

[retire@40]

The other one is Acronis True Image

 

[Nords]

Why can't I hook up the "new" CPU to the "old CPU and directly transfer all the data, programs, forever. Or is this a big cluster I am attempting??

It's a cluster. A really big one.

Do you want this board's experts to argue with your BIL about why PCs can't be more like we want them to be, or do you want to have a computer working the way you think it should work?

If you want kvetching and an argument then, as you know from experience, you've come to the right place.

If you want to learn more about how to do the work then perhaps your BIL is the right guy to give you the hands-on tutoring. It's almost certainly the right price.

Or if you just want to get it done without having to devote a lot of time & effort to gaining all the necessary knowledge and dirty hands, then hire a computer service to do it for you.

 

[twaddle]

Transferring is the easy part. Getting stuff to work after the transfer is the impossible part.

Windows is a mess. Some stuff goes in the registry. Some stuff is installed as drivers. Various DLL version dependencies. Ugh. I don't even like to think about cloning systems when the hardware differs.

Good luck, though!

 

[RunningBum]

Transferring is the easy part. Getting stuff to work after the transfer is the impossible part.

Windows is a mess. Some stuff goes in the registry. Some stuff is installed as drivers. Various DLL version dependencies. Ugh. I don't even like to think about cloning systems when the hardware differs.

Good luck, though!

Yeah that. It'll never work.

We do full backups of our hard drives at work. I"ve had a couple of hard drive failures. They tell me to transfer the data part, mostly what's in My Documents, and to reinstall the programs from CDs/downloads/wherever I got them from. I asked once about trying to transfer a program because we no longer had a license to install it on new machines, and the IT guy said Can't be done.

 

[Puzzley]

The only way to transfer everything so that it works on the new one just as it did on the old one is with one of the hard drive imaging programs mentioned above. If you do that, everything will be as it was on the original computer, and I mean everything, including any problems and issues. The best way is to reinstall all the programs, and transfer only the data. It won't be fun....

 

[FinanceDude]

What do you mean by a "custom computer" though? What operating system is it currently running? If the hardware isn't mainstream, you might have to download some extra drivers from vendors' web sites, but probably won't be a big deal.

It was built by a guy she knows. It doesn't have Windows on it,since she was only going to use it for work on the University's network. However, if I want to use it for home use, I need Windows, as all the programs I have are Windows-based.

Sounds like a cluster, maybe I'll hire a computer geek to do it for me........O0

 

[Janet H]

Sounds like a cluster, maybe I'll hire a computer geek to do it for me........O0

Hmm.... get a quote first.

Consider that you can buy a really dandy new, fast, loaded with software PC for for around $600.00 (assuming that you keep your old peripherals). If you have to pay a couple hundred bucks to a pro, buy cables, parts or software to rehab a used PC the cost vs. benefit equation may render an unfavorable result.

Donate the PC you inherited to a school that is already networked, take the deduction, make a kid smile. Just saying......

 

[FinanceDude]

Hmm.... get a quote first.

Consider that you can buy a really dandy new, fast, loaded with software PC for for around $600.00 (assuming that you keep your old peripherals). If you have to pay a couple hundred bucks to a pro, buy cables, parts or software to rehab a used PC the cost vs. benefit equation may render an unfavorable result.

Donate the PC you inherited to a school that is already networked, take the deduction, make a kid smile. Just saying......

I have everything but the Cat 5 cable. She paid the guy $3000, I am assuming she got taken but according to my BIL it's a killer system.........

So, I may pay $200 or so, but I got everything for free, so why not?

I have another computer I am donating to a day care in my city........

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Doing an image will be a huge cluster----. Windows wont run because it was activated on the old platform and when it sees the new hardware it'll stop and make you call microsoft and explain to them why the old license has been moved to the new platform, and what you're doing with the old platform. After a while you'll probably be allowed to change the windows key on the new machine but only if it has one. You said there wasnt any windows product loaded on it before, so I presume theres no key.

Next, all the drivers will be wrong and you'll have to remove all the old devices and have windows look for new ones, supply driver disks or downloads for all the stuff in the 'new' box.

Next, you'll have to reinstall all of your applications. There arent many products that can lift apps and settings from one machine and carry them over to another intact.

Next you'll have to root out all your files and settings and copy those over. Windows Files and Settings Wizard can do a lot of that but I wouldnt bet on it getting everything.

Solution:

Wipe the "new" machine. Obtain a new windows key for it. Install windows. When it quacks for a driver for something, go make a cd on your other machine and insert it. When thats done, install all your applications. When thats done, use windows file and transfer wizard to copy your settings and files to an external hard drive or burned dvds and use the files and settings wizard on the "new" machine to put them back. If you've got gigabytes of files and settings you do NOT want to use a cat5 network connection to transfer them, it'll take hours and hours and hours.

Then keep the old machine or put the old machines hard drive into an HD enclosure and retain it for the time six months from now when you go looking for a file and discover that the wizard didnt copy that directory or files.

On the new machine, unless its a 3GHz quad core extreme edition machine with 8GB of ram, a terrabyte of raid 5 disk and has latest generation dual SLI video cards, it wasnt worth 3000.

At this point you can buy a desktop from the dell outlet for under $400 thats probably more computer than 98% of people really need, it'll already come with windows installed, and it'll have a fresh warranty.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I'd need a little more information to understand whats going on, but a FIOS install usually involves running the fiber to a box on the outside of the house and attaching the existing twisted pair in the house to the FIOS box. Unless you ordered a fiber drop inside the house for an internet connection, or they're prewiring your entire building (if its a building) for fiber.

Big expense for the landlord to pick up or a curious move by verizon if they dont have a bunch of FIOS subscribers in the building.

I guess the one good thing I can say is that FIOS internet is really, really fast.

 

[FinanceDude]

Doing an image will be a huge cluster----. Windows wont run because it was activated on the old platform and when it sees the new hardware it'll stop and make you call microsoft and explain to them why the old license has been moved to the new platform, and what you're doing with the old platform. After a while you'll probably be allowed to change the windows key on the new machine but only if it has one. You said there wasnt any windows product loaded on it before, so I presume theres no key.

Next, all the drivers will be wrong and you'll have to remove all the old devices and have windows look for new ones, supply driver disks or downloads for all the stuff in the 'new' box.

Next, you'll have to reinstall all of your applications. There arent many products that can lift apps and settings from one machine and carry them over to another intact.

Next you'll have to root out all your files and settings and copy those over. Windows Files and Settings Wizard can do a lot of that but I wouldnt bet on it getting everything.

Solution:

Wipe the "new" machine. Obtain a new windows key for it. Install windows. When it quacks for a driver for something, go make a cd on your other machine and insert it. When thats done, install all your applications. When thats done, use windows file and transfer wizard to copy your settings and files to an external hard drive or burned dvds and use the files and settings wizard on the "new" machine to put them back. If you've got gigabytes of files and settings you do NOT want to use a cat5 network connection to transfer them, it'll take hours and hours and hours.

Then keep the old machine or put the old machines hard drive into an HD enclosure and retain it for the time six months from now when you go looking for a file and discover that the wizard didnt copy that directory or files.

On the new machine, unless its a 3GHz quad core extreme edition machine with 8GB of ram, a terrabyte of raid 5 disk and has latest generation dual SLI video cards, it wasnt worth 3000.

At this point you can buy a desktop from the dell outlet for under $400 thats probably more computer than 98% of people really need, it'll already come with windows installed, and it'll have a fresh warranty.

What a pain the arse............ Could I just buy XP for the "new computer", and let me kid use that. Plug in the "smaller" (19) monitor for him to use, and leave it at that?

He has some PC games he likes to play, so I could let him have fun with the subwoofer and Klipsch high out put speakers. I am sure the 21 inch Sony would look nice as I am getting older and the eyesight is waning.............

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

You can buy XP for the new machine, but that'll cost you around a hundred bucks unless you buy an "OEM" version thats bundled with a piece of hardware. Some...umm..."smaller" companies will bundle the OEM version with a $5 piece of hardware and sell it to you cheaply, even though its supposed to be bundled with a whole new computer.

You'll still need to do the "driver hunt" for all the parts.

 

[REWahoo]

You can buy XP for the new machine, but that'll cost you around a hundred bucks unless you buy an "OEM" version thats bundled with a piece of hardware. Some...umm..."smaller" companies will bundle the OEM version with a $5 piece of hardware and sell it to you cheaply, even though its supposed to be bundled with a whole new computer.

Are these two computers both desktops? What about moving the hard drive to the "new" computer as a secondary drive, then buying a new hd with bundled XP for the "old" one?

 

[FinanceDude]

You can buy XP for the new machine, but that'll cost you around a hundred bucks unless you buy an "OEM" version thats bundled with a piece of hardware. Some...umm..."smaller" companies will bundle the OEM version with a $5 piece of hardware and sell it to you cheaply, even though its supposed to be bundled with a whole new computer.

You'll still need to do the "driver hunt" for all the parts.

Thanks for the help...........I decided I'm not screwing around with all the data transfer stuff, so I'll buy the XP and load it on the new computer, and go on my merry way........

 

[Goonie]

Are these two computers both desktops? What about moving the hard drive to the "new" computer as a secondary drive, then buying a new hd with bundled XP for the "old" one?

That's what I was going to suggest. I've done that numerous times, that way ALL of your old files are right where they were, and are now still accessible.

Though I've not tried it with XP, I've also just swapped out the primary hard drive from one machine to another. It would whimpers for a few new drivers, but it was fairly painless, and I was back up & running pretty quickly.

I even have one that has 3 hard drives, each with a different operating system on it. I mounted a push-button selector switch on the front of the box (similar to the old car radio push-button station selectors) to choose which OS to boot. The other 2 hard drives then become secondaries, and can be accessed for files.

 

[Life_is_Good]

Though I've not tried it with XP, I've also just swapped out the primary hard drive from one machine to another. It would whimpers for a few new drivers, but it was fairly painless, and I was back up & running pretty quickly.

That's not likely to work with XP. When XP installs, it builds an inventory of the hardware profile for the machine on the drive. I think this is part of the genuine advantage licensing issue mentioned in other posts. If you try to put the hard drive into another machine that doesn't match the inventory profile, it won't boot up. Been there.... tried that.

 

[figner]

Thanks for the help...........I decided I'm not screwing around with all the data transfer stuff, so I'll buy the XP and load it on the new computer, and go on my merry way........

Maybe I misunderstood your original email, 'cause I assumed you meant you were going to install a fresh copy of XP, then just transfer over your data files. And yes, you'll probably need to install any apps from scratch. Sometimes I make the mistake of thinking everyone has enough of a geek background to know what I mean, not what I say.

Anyway, yeah, installing a fresh XP copy and just seeing if it works sounds like a good way to go. If it winds up being too much of a pain at that point (needing to download drivers, etc), I suppose you can appeal to the BIL. Like Nords said, a lot depends on how into tinkering you are - if you want to learn about how to set up your own system, just diving in and making lots of mistakes on a spare machine seems to work for a lot of folks. But if you just want it to work, get some local help.

 

[Nords]

I am sure the 21 inch Sony would look nice as I am getting older and the eyesight is waning.............

If my sorry experience is any harbinger, when you turn presbyopic then your life will suck. Without reading glasses even a 21" monitor isn't big enough to see both left & right sides of a web page on the screen at the same time. You'll either make the fonts bigger and do a lot of scrolling (while also annoying everyone else who uses the computer after you), or you'll be wearing reading glasses.

My eyes need 1.75s for a computer monitor and 2.00s for a book. For anything under 6-point font or in dim light I also need a magnifying glass. The "nice" thing is that reading glasses are a lot cheaper than prescription glasses or 30" monitors!

But, hey, your [-]ionizing radiation & UV exposure[/-] mileage may vary.

 

[Goonie]

That's not likely to work with XP.

That's what I sort of figured, but was unsure. In the past I had done it with Win95, Win98, Win2000, and a couple of LINUX distros....but the novelty had worn off by the time XP arrived. I even have a really nice machine that I built a few years ago, that the HD died on......now I just use a bootable Linux distro on CD, and to access my files on the secondary drives. I'm too lazy, and have no burning desire to rip out the dead drive, dump in a new one, and then install an OS. The bootable CD is soooo much easier.

 

[FinanceDude]

Everthing ended up ok. Turns out the custom CPU had Windows XP on it, so I didn't have to buy it. Wiped a bunch of programs and files off the HD that she used in her job.

Swapped the 21 and 17 inch monitors with my home office system. Man, 21 inch monitors are NICE!!!

So, as of yesterday, my 9 year old son has a 400GB HD at his disposal, with a screaming video card, Klipsch subwoofer and speakers, and a 17 inch flat panel. He had a friend over, and they played Madden 2008 football on it. Somehow, the kid's Gameboy was an afterthought..........