Transfering whole applications from one hard drive to another

[DHF]

I just did a clean install of Windows 7 64 bit on my system. unfortunately I misplaced the box of CDs with most of my applications. I still have the hard drive where all the apps are installed. is it possible to extract the entire application from the old HD and install it on the new one? I have all the License numbers and activation codes , I just don't have access to the install CDs.

any help would be appreciated,

Don

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I wouldn't rule it out, but I figure it will be expensive. Doing it yourself will be messy and time consuming. The problem is you have lots of missing registry entries and sometimes different folder locations.

 

[DHF]

That is what I was afraid of. thanks for the reply.
I have looked everywhere and cannot find the original CDs. it is really upsetting because I just upgraded and now I do not have access to any of my software unless I boot from the old drive, in doing so however I cannot take advantage of the majority of the hardware I just purchased.

Thank you again though for confirming my fears,

Cheers,

Don

 

[r4z0r84]

Files and folders are a simple transfer, applications however as stated above require a lot more information such as registry keys and file locations are different with 64 bit windows vs 32bit. some programs may copy over and work but majority will require time effort and know how to find all the parts of the program including registry keys cookies and app data, some even require the mac address to be the same and can not be copied without copying the mac address from the source computer.

So it all "can" be done, it just depends on the programs and the amount of time you want to consume in doing so.

 

[HowlerMonkey]

If you have the licensing and codes, you should be able to find a file on the internet you can then burn to a cd of the same version/build and just use your codes.

Some software might run without registry entries but not many will.

You might be able to use some software by copying the folders to the same places as in the original system and simply (not really simply) use the registry editor on the registry from the old hard drive so you can duplicate the entries on the new system...but many software packages have important registry entries hidden where you would least expect it.