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May I ask a computer related question?
It has to do with moving programs from one hard drive
to a new one but on the same computer.

I had the MS Office Student version on my old hard drive running Win XP.
My hard was dying so I went and buy a new one.
I took the old hard drive out and installed a larger one (500Gb)

However, when I moved the Office folder files into another folder, copied it to a 16Gb SanDisk thumb drive and moved it over to my new hard drive, it wouldn't work.
I suspect I may have missed something?  :276-

I tried to throw the old hard drive back on for awhile by using it as a "slave" but it still wouldn't work - now that old drive is totally dead and the motor doesn't spin the HD disk anymore...it was over 11 years old!
I took back out and now only have the one master drive in.

Every time I try to open up an Excel ( .xls) sheet, I get a message saying that my "computer is not configured to use the program".
I have a lot of .xls stuff and I'd like to be able to read them again.

What did I do wrong?  :103-

First thing you did wrong was start with a WinBlows based computer. :208-
I have been using Drive Image XML to clone hard drives. It's easy and reliable.
The only way I know how to move an executed program is to clone the entire drive. There use to be a program in Ghost that would re-package and executed program to move to another computer. They removed it after software manufactures complained that it infringed on the one time use for a single computer crap.
Ever since then when ever I install a program on my computer, I save the packaged program and any user key info. This way if I loose a hard-drive I can open up my file with packaged programs and re-install them.
Once a program has been executed it places crap ALL over your computer. To gather up all the required files is impossible.

Bunker,

Due to the registry in Windows, it is almost impossible to copy a "program" from one drive and use it on another. User data is one thing, but the actual program is another.

Even if you do a complete back up/ghost, chances are it will not run correctly. You will need to re-install office on your new drive.

Hope that helps...

Using Ghost will always work (I use it all of the time).  Just copying the program won't. As noted there are a million registry entries that need to be moved too. A lot of hard drives will come with some 'migration' software that will also work.

Thanks guys.
I think it's too late to try ghosting that hard drive and it's contents as it doesn't even spin anymore.
It's a good thing I had saved my data to a thumb drive before it died.
I lost a lot of short video clips though...those were handy.

Anyways, I think my best bet at this time is to go ahead
and try to use my original MS Office disk to see if I can install it
one more time onto this newer hard drive.

I still retain the original user key info number that I'll need to use
when I'll be on the horn with some Microsoft tech from India I'm sure...  :5-

if you have the original disk and keys then reinstall it, if it doesnt activate call microsoft and explain to them the harddrive crashed and they will give you another key to activate it.

You can always throw your "dead" drive in the freezer for a day and try it again. You might be able to get it to spin up long enough to get a disk image of your old disk.

Its worth a try, worse case it doesn't work but the drive is already dead at this point.

Throw the dead drive in the freezer in a baggie for 20 minutes, then pull it out and use the software that came with the new drive to clone the old to the new, or use DriveXML to do the same thing. I only recommend the sw that comes with the new drive because it's usually a 1 click operation and your time will be limited..

Don't laugh folks, it has worked for me in the past! :89- Also I think that it is important to highlight what Bill added as it is important to put the hard drive in a SEALABLE ZIPLOCK BAG with as little air as possible.

CH :95-

All great suggestions guys!  :3-
I saved what I could really...especially those that I thought that would be difficult to find again.
Programs are not a biggie to re-install.

I didn't want to "clone" the new hard drive for a couple of reasons.

1). I don't know how...never did it before... :72-
2). The old drive was far too corrupted with more errors contained on it than anything.
    I'm pretty sure it had a virus too.. as it was just becoming a real tough time trying to get it to work right.  :7- :277-


    I have to stay away from those porn sites! :182- :200-  :25- :265-  :5-  :96-

You just need to find the correct porn sites... thats where you have failed
 :72-

:206- :206- :206- :293- :295- :211- :262- :280- :262- :208- :279- :208-

CH :95- Just Joking Around!!! :88-