program to backup programs???

csi1189

csi1189

New Member
i know it sounds kindof odd, but is there a program out there that allows you to backup allready installed programs on your computer that were downloaded (and the setup file deleted long ago? I ask this because i hope to get a new laptop and my old one has many programs that were downloaded without getting the actual disk shipped to me. I do not want to pay for the downloads again (mostly for adobe photoshop/premiere/etc. and microsoft office) seeing as they cost a bunch in the first place. all i really want is some way to transfer programs, whose setup files have long since been gone, to another computer without having to spend more money.
 
if the programs were actually purchased you should have acquired a cd key or serial or some sort. other than that you need the install files.
 
darn, just wondering - i thought i saw something like this in a web banner somewhere, but maybe not...
 
You could try using Ghost to copy your existing HDD data to the new one. How ever this would then mean that you will need to install the drivers for the new laptop on it afterwards and if you want a newer version of windows then you would have to BUY the "Upgrade" version of windows.
 
would this copy my user data too? right now, my laptop is kindof screwed up because it onced died so bad i had to get it fixed by some local shop guy. when i got it back, there was about five extra users under 'docs and settings' and only one of them was the active one (not the one i originally made) its called something like owner-NCE334i9FJFJoij....so on and so on... yet it still shows up in the welcome screen (of xp home) as my original username. so it's all screwed up under 'docs and settings' and i really don't want this probelem to copy over. do you, by any chance, know if this program will do it?
 
if you use ghost all of the components have to be the same, you cant use it to transfer the image from one computer to another, because i've tried this before and it didnt work. You might be able to just copy the program folder of that program on a dvd or something. Some programs can run without anything in the registry, others you need the registry files in order for it to run.
 
Hi!

By the way, Acronis has a product to do just this called Acronis Migrate Easy.

Well, if you don't want to pay there are other methods using linux which are free but they do require a bit of playing around. The solution from Acronis is a lot easier. The linux solution would involve booting into a linux live cd setting up a partition of the same size as your current one on the new drive then copying the data into that new partition off your old drive. Then using a freeware ntfs partition resizing tool to increase the size of the drive. Then you would have to rewrite the MBR with the windows XP cd's recovery console....so as I was saying the solution from Acronis is a lot easier.

As to your documents and settings you can just remove these users previously under administrator account and only after it create hard drive copy.
 
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