Gotta keep this forum awake and lively! :P

[Boomyal]

Moving a program from one physical hard drive to another? I guess by all accounts I am running my old Dell Inspiron on borrowed time. I inherited it from my father in law (may he RIP) back in late 2005. The single hard drive is bordering on being out of space. It is a 40ish GB drive. I want to install a second hard drive (have the drive, cable and brackets) and move the Windows Office 2010 to the new hard drive. I have uninstalled every other conceivable program that I can.

The question is when I do that, I assume I will have to re-install the program. There in lies the rub. The program was from a multi license package that was a gift. I still have all the codes but the copy was the last one on the package that had not been used. When I go to reinstall it I will get a message that there are no more slots available.

What to do?

 

[NYBo]

The last time I ran into this issue, during the activation process I had the option to call Microsoft. I explained I was recovering from a hard drive crash, and off I went. YMMV

 

[boatman37]

yes. you can usually call MS. the times i have done it i didn't even talk to a human. it was all 'push this key for this, etc...'

 

[thumpar]

I do this all time. When you call MS you now have the option to text the key in to activate if it won't already. My bet is that it will activate online though. After a certain time MS allows more activations on the same license number.

 

[GA_Boater]

If the 2nd drive is larger, use a program to clone the old drive to the new drive. The process will make an exact copy on the new drive and after it's finished, swap the cables so the new drive is now drive C and the old one will be drive D. Reboot and format D and then use it for any overflow.

If you can do that, no activation's are required and Windows doesn't even know there is a change except drive C has more capacity.

I can't count how many times I've gone through this.

Also, if this is your XP box, have you removed duplicate files, unneeded log files, emptied the trash and de-fragged the drive? You can gain a lot of room and speed up the box.

 

[sam am I]

no activation's are required and Windows doesn't even know there is a change except drive C has more capacity.

Well..........sometimes. I my experience anyway and aside from the Windows kernel, his Office and perhaps some other programs, it could be a crap shoot.....

Us tricksters sometimes make a hidden hash (non-smoke'able) file\s that represents the overall system picture from a HW standpoint as it existed when the program itself was installed.

The hash is a basically a digital signature the program itself makes each time it init's of motherboard\hardware etc.,......Includes things like chip sets manu sigs, hard drive numbers\types\sizes, ram size, cpu type\speed yada yada. Basically throw in the lot of acquired knows, shake it all up and create a digital file (MD5 type I've used). If he (we) changes too much (or anything at all) hardware, the hash signature changes from the previous install recorded hash and busted!!

The perfectly cloned HDD (bigger\smaller or the same size) with those "smarter" program\s now on a different HW system\setup upon execution re-hashes HW each init., thus it can detect how\too much (or any) hardware has changed from one init time to the next and won't run, depends on the engineer and how loose s\he allows levels of and\or numbers of deviations .......usually tells you this too.

Ya can get away with it 90% of the time if the clone\new HDD (bigger\smaller or the same size) is simply just install back into same (could be exact same built system sometimes, I got away with that a few times) system BUT, if you put the perfect clone into a new\different motherboard, etc.,........50\50 chance I figure.

Adobe Acrobat engineers usually bust ya..........

 

[JoLin]

Well..........sometimes. I my experience anyway and aside from the Windows kernel, his Office and perhaps some other programs, it could be a crap shoot.....

Us tricksters sometimes make a hidden hash (non-smoke'able) file\s that represents the overall system picture from a HW standpoint as it existed when the program itself was installed.

The hash is a basically a digital signature the program itself makes each time it init's of motherboard\hardware etc.,......Includes things like chip sets manu sigs, hard drive numbers\types\sizes, ram size, cpu type\speed yada yada. Basically throw in the lot of acquired knows, shake it all up and create a digital file (MD5 type I've used). If he (we) changes too much (or anything at all) hardware, the hash signature changes from the previous install recorded hash and busted!!

The perfectly cloned HDD (bigger\smaller or the same size) with those "smarter" program\s now on a different HW system\setup upon execution re-hashes HW each init., thus it can detect how\too much (or any) hardware has changed from one init time to the next and won't run, depends on the engineer and how loose s\he allows levels of and\or numbers of deviations .......usually tells you this too.

Ya can get away with it 90% of the time if the clone\new HDD (bigger\smaller or the same size) is simply just install back into same (could be exact same built system sometimes, I got away with that a few times) system BUT, if you put the perfect clone into a new\different motherboard, etc.,........50\50 chance I figure.

Adobe Acrobat engineers usually bust ya..........

Wow- you speak Klingon!

 

[sam am I]

No Title

wow-tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'

toH qatlho' HIja' 'ej astute Human. 'ach reH He'mIn'or veS wa'leS.

 

[GA_Boater]

Sam - I agree if motherboards, CPUs and the like are changed. I've tried that and my success rate is ZERO. But Boomy is asking about swapping a hard drive, not changing other hardware.

Swapping and cloning a hard drive is just like adding memory sticks. On those, it has always worked for me,

In past the I've installed larger capacity HDs by cloning and never had a problem. I have even converted from PATA drives to SATA by using the right cloning program. changing the BIOS boot parameters and rebooting. Windows didn't miss a beat because the cloned drive contains all the info Windows needs. Seagate, Hitachi, Toshiba, Western Digital, etc. all offer a downloadable cloning program to change from other manufacturers HDs to theirs.

As long as Boomy is only adding a larger capacity HD with no other hardware changes, it should be a snap.

 

[sam am I]

As long as Boomy is only adding a larger capacity HD with no other hardware changes, it should be a snap.

Yup, I concur, he should be okay if he stays on same motherboard/HW. It was late, might have missed that part.

However, disk signatures (unique to each disk) are used/hashed sometimes and are kept as part of the MBR to which of course gets cloned and can also bite ya, as again, some installed applications use a disk signatures for licensing and other purposes.....Crap shoot there too, some cloning apps allow you to clear this signature and create a new one, that'll work sometimes but I have had limited success there to as the hash now changes and the program knows it..

He just has to try, but like I said Acrobat (MS office might not though) will catch ya (I've not slid it by anyway) every time even if everything is the same and ya just use a new disk.

Its a funny thing, a $6K program won't detect a new disk but a $100 will, just depend on the engineers and how the program was wrote......

http://www.multibooters.com/tutorial...re-in-mbr.html

 

[Boomyal]

My head is spinning with all these possibilities. My current and only hard drive shows 37.2 GB with 5.6 GB available. I think hard drives like to have about 20% free space to be able to move things around and do defrags. At any rate, at these levels I keep getting a 'running out of room' message. I am even afraid that some of the larger updates, etc, may soon be in jeopardy.

My extra hard drive which I have not yet installed, is either a 60 or 80 GB. Considering the age of the current, original HD, I would probably be well served by making the new 60 gig drive, the primary drive. I do have an unopened copy of Acronis True Image Home 2009 but I have never used it.

Maybe I should take the 'puter down to the local shop and pay them an hour to make the data transfer?

 

[GA_Boater]

What brand is the 60 or 80 gig drive, Boom?

 

[sam am I]

Acronis I'd recommend..........I currently use Acornis 2014, 2015 and 2016. The 09 I have never used but, I'd think if the 09 was anything thing like the newer vers., you have a good chance at just making a entire disk backup and copy that image to the prepared 60G/80G. Your Acornis should allow you to put the image on the 60G/80G with full use the freed up space 60/80 - ( 37.2 - 5.6)

Put a "entire drive/system" image on say a USB HDD for example, boot to the Acronis CD with the prepared 60G/80G online, tell Acronis to "recover", point Acronis at the "entire drive/system" image to recover (the USB HDD), point Acronis to where to recover to (the 60G/80G) and stand back!!

 

[Boomyal]

What brand is the 60 or 80 gig drive, Boom?

I just dug them out GA. One is a 40 gig and the other is an 80 gig. They are both Maxtors.

 

[GA_Boater]

Seagate bought Maxtor a while back. But Seagate still supports the cloning of any HD to a Maxtor drive. The program is called DiskWizard and you download it here - http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/discwizard-master-dl/

It has all the instructions to clone a disk onto a Maxtor drive. DiskWizard is a Seagate/Maxtor version of Acronis - PDF Instructions here - http://www.seagate.com/files/www-co...ownloads/discwizard/_shared/docs/dw_ug_en.pdf

Look at Cloning A Hard Drive starting on page 89, section 6.2. I find these manufacturer programs a little easier to use because they have programming to select the right disk, in this case either a Seagate or Maxtor as the destination drive. So there is less chance of eating the drive you are using as the source.

 

[thumpar]

I use ghost to clone hard drives. It is fast. I have it on a bootable dos USB stick. The only other one I like is Apricorn, it is a little more novice friendly but it takes longer and has to boot from CD. I have never been a fan of the drive manufactures cloning tools. With ghost I can make an EXACT copy even though the drive is bigger the data sits in the same space respectively.

 

[GA_Boater]

I use ghost to clone hard drives. It is fast. I have it on a bootable dos USB stick. The only other one I like is Apricorn, it is a little more novice friendly but it takes longer and has to boot from CD. I have never been a fan of the drive manufactures cloning tools. With ghost I can make an EXACT copy even though the drive is bigger the data sits in the same space respectively.

The drive manufacturer programs do make an exact copy and the additional space is in the unallocated or free area. Same as Ghost.

 

[Boomyal]

Seagate bought Maxtor a while back. But Seagate still supports the cloning of any HD to a Maxtor drive. The program is called DiskWizard and you download it here - http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/discwizard-master-dl/

It has all the instructions to clone a disk onto a Maxtor drive. DiskWizard is a Seagate/Maxtor version of Acronis - PDF Instructions here - http://www.seagate.com/files/www-co...ownloads/discwizard/_shared/docs/dw_ug_en.pdf

Look at Cloning A Hard Drive starting on page 89, section 6.2. I find these manufacturer programs a little easier to use because they have programming to select the right disk, in this case either a Seagate or Maxtor as the destination drive. So there is less chance of eating the drive you are using as the source.

I'll read the info, GA but in the meantime give me an overview of what to do. I assume I mount the new drive as a slave? Then download the program to the current HD, then run the program, directing the data to the new 80 gig slave? Then physically swap the drives making the new Maxtor the primary? Then if everything works, should I leave Windows on the slave drive or delete it? I guess it should retain all of the drivers, etc?

 

[NYBo]

Once you get the new primary drive working properly, delete everything on the old drive to recapture the space.

 

[boatman37]

good info here. in the future install and run ccleaner about once a month. it will help to free up space