Putra Jaya Komputer (PJK)

Every time you’ve bought a new PC, the chances are that you’ll have spent hours, days or even weeks transferring all of your old files and software by hand. If so, you’ll appreciate that the task is an effective way to waste time that could be spent more productively. There are several options that are faster and more convenient than doing everything yourself. Some of these are more adventurous and DIY-oriented than others. We’ve listed all of them here, so that you can pick the technique that’s most likely to work for you.
At this point, we’ll assume you have two PCs: one holding all your old software and data, and the other one clean and empty. For some of the techniques that follow, you don’t even need to have Windows installed. In fact, you may not even need a system disk installed in the new PC.
Before you startAlthough this step is optional, it’s recommended because it can speed up the transfer process and improve the chances of success. Before trying to set up your new machine, delete unwanted files from the old machine using Windows Cleanup. It’s also a good idea to clean up the registry – for example with Registry Mechanic. Use this step as an excuse to remove anything from your old PC that you don’t need or want, including old software.
The disk swapOf the four techniques you can use, this is the simplest. You physically swap the hard disk out of one machine and install it into the other. You might think this is a recipe for disaster, but in fact the chances of a terminal error aren’t all that great. Windows XP does a reasonable job of working out which drivers to install in a new hardware environment.
As a rough rule of thumb, the chances of a non-booting error are around one in 20 – less if your hardware configuration is fairly standard, but more if your PC is unusually esoteric. You can improve the odds significantly by stripping down your new PC to its core, removing any hardware that isn’t essential for the boot process, then re-installing these extras later once Windows XP is running again. The drivers won’t usually need a re-install because they’ll already be on the disk.
In practice, there’s not much more you need to do – pull the system disk out of the old machine, and install it in the new one. Power up, and boot. Wait for Windows to reorient itself. And you’re done.
So what about downsides? The first is if you’ve just bought a new machine, you’ll be voiding your warranty if you do this, simply by opening the case. If you’ve built a homebrew machine from scratch, this isn’t an issue. The other problem is that if you do get a showstopper boot error, there’s not much you can do. Sometimes you can rescue your installation if you move the disk back to your old machine and boot again. But this doesn’t always work. Overall, this is an adventurous DIY option, to be used at your own risk.
There’s also a more subtle drawback. Windows never cleans out the registry, so once hardware has been installed, it always stays there. This means that when you move a disk to a new machine, all the hardware settings from the old machine are copied too. But you won’t see them unless you boot in Safe Mode and select the Device Manager. If you do this after a transfer, you’ll be surprised how many unnecessary entries there are.
Using Device Manager in Safe Mode gives you a chance to delete these spare entries by hand. If your disk swap results in a non-booting PC, it’s always worth going through this step to see if something in the device list could be causing a problem.
Partition cloningThis is similar to the first technique, but instead of physically swapping your disk, you copy the system partition to a different disk first, then install that in your new machine. The advantage of this approach is that you’re not risking your original system folder, and you’ll be able to continue using your old PC. It also means that if for any reason you end up with a non-booting new PC, you haven’t lost anything except some time.
You may be wondering why you don’t just copy all the files across to the new disk, instead of cloning the partition? The problem with this approach is that it won’t copy across certain system files, and it certainly won’t copy the boot sector. So you’ll end up with a disk that looks a lot like a Windows system partition, with all of the software in place, but won’t boot properly. Partition cloning avoids this by copying everything. The only downside is that it suffers from the same registry issues as a straight disk swap. For maximum efficiency, you’ll need to go into Device Manager and clean out unnecessary entries by hand.
A new disk is less likely to die than an old one, so this technique will improve the likely longevity of your new PC more than a straight disk swap would. You can also use your partition manager to increase the size of your system partition – even up to the 127GB that’s the maximum possible in Windows XP.
Copy a partition
If you want to copy a partition, you’ll need a suitable spare hard drive that’s at least as big as the system partition you’ll be copying. You’ll need to install this drive in the source PC. You can copy a partition to a FireWire or USB2 drive, but of course you’ll then need to work out a way to copy it again to your destination PC. It’s easier to do the copying in situ and swap the disk physically.
Next, you’ll need a partition copying utility. This feature isn’t built into Windows XP, so you’ll need to buy a third-party tool. We’ve chosen Paragon’s Partition Manager here (included on your SuperDisc), although there are plenty of alternatives that all work more or less the same way. In many cases their interfaces look very similar too, so you should be able to follow these steps.
Install your new hard drive, boot Windows and start your partition management tool. You’ll see a list of partitions similar to that shown in the Windows disk manager. Select the system partition you want to copy, then right-click and select the Copy option or select the Copy option from the menu. You’ll see a dialog that asks you to specify a destination disk. Select your newly installed empty disk. Click on a confirmation, and wait… Once the copy has finished, you’ll have an exact clone of the original partition, complete with all hidden files, the Windows swap file, and a working boot sector.
Files and Settings Transfer WizardIf you’ve already upgraded from an earlier version of Windows, you may remember that Windows XP includes a Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. This is a slightly random but effective tool for copying information. It was originally designed to work with a direct serial link, which is far too slow to deal with the tens of gigabytes in a modern Windows XP installation. With a little lateral thinking, however, it can work over a network.
We’ll assume at this point that your source and destination PCs are connected to a network, and you’ve run the Network Setup wizard on the new PC so it’s visible over the network from the old one. If not, open Network Places on the new PC, select ‘Set up a home or small office network’, and follow the steps. The most important thing is to make sure that you use the same network name for both old and new PCs. MSHOME, the default, is fine for most uses. If you use different network names the PCs won’t find each other.
Start with the new machine. Create a folder called Transfer, or some other uniquely memorable name. Make sure that both the folder and the disk it lives on are enabled for Windows file sharing over the network. Now run the wizard on the old machine– it’s under Start Accessories System Tools. As you work your way through the steps, select the Other option and choose the Transfer folder on the new machine. The direct network copying option that’s offered doesn’t actually work, so we have to take this slightly roundabout route instead.
Tick ‘Let me select’ and Next. The key point here is that by default the Program Files folder won’t be included in the copy, so you need to add it by hand. Select Add Folder, work your way through the file system to Program Files, and select OK. Now check to make sure it’s in the list that appears. Once it’s added, Windows will transfer your installed software as well as all your other settings. Now move to the new machine, select the wizard, point it at your transfer partition, and it will integrate the old software and settings onto the new machine.
The wizard is the only way to copy an installation from an older version of Windows to Windows XP. However, it doesn’t seem to be absolutely reliable, and using a spare folder limits the maximum size of the files you can copy to 64GB. That’s enough for most installations, but occasionally this limit can cause you problems.
Laplink PCMoverLaplink’s PCMover is a handy transfer utility that’s very much like a sophisticated version of the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. It has no problems working over a network, so it gets around the file size limit that the wizard enforces.
To use PCMover, you’ll have to install it on both old and new machines. On the old machine, follow the prompts up to the point where it asks you to stop and start PCMover on the new machine. Once you’ve switched, start PCMover on the new machine and follow the steps again. You’ll see your new PC’s name appear in the selector window. From there, it’s a simple matter of selecting some copying options and choosing to include or exclude certain files and disks. By default it copies everything, but it’s usually better just to copy the system disk.
PCMover is the easiest and most efficient way to copy everything to a new PC without having to open the case. It’s not fast – a complete system copy will take a few hours – and some of the selection options are a little quirky. But overall, it’s the simplest solution for anyone who doesn’t want to get their hands dirty by physically installing or moving hard drives.
Tidying upAs a final stage in the transfer process, you’ll want to make sure your working files are also copied. Email and web cache files will usually be transferred over with your system partition. If you work with sound or video, you’ll usually have working files on a separate disk, but copying these over is easy. You can again either swap the disks across physically or do a simple network copy using the Network Places browser. Make sure you create a similar file structure in the new PC with the same drive letters, otherwise your newly installed software may not find the working files it wants.
Software activation
Older software that’s been through a registration process is usually keyed to a specific file that’s created after activation. You’ll usually find this is copied across as part of the transfer process, so your old registration and activation should continue to work on your new machine.
When newer software is activated, it’s often keyed to specific hardware, so if you copy it to a different PC, it won’t work without reactivation. The details will be specific to each package, but a common rule is that you’re allowed two activations – nominally one on a desktop PC and one on a laptop – before online activation stops working.
What happens next depends on the software you’re using. Some packages do allow more than the nominal two activations – even though this isn’t admitted in public – so it’s worth trying to activate online first. Others offer assignable activations, where you need to find your registration details on the manufacturer’s website and delete an old activation before you can enter a new one.
Still others give you the choice of which hardware to key to. If you lock the software to a network card, you can move the card to your new machine: the activation comes across with it. The final option is a call to the software company’s customer services to arrange for a manual activation: you’ll need to persuade the representative that you’re not illegally trying to run more than two copies at once. Software activation isn't just restricted to programs, of course. Media files, such as audiobooks and music files, are generally more lenient, giving between three and five activations across your PCs and gizmos - on anything else, it's just bytes.