Win Doze Experts, Could use some help here..... Options

[Bleyseng]

Got a question...how can I copy the registry from one hard drive and install it on another so I can just copy all my programs/files onto the new hard drive?
And, where the heck is it? in System32?

I am installing a 60 gig hard drive on the laptop replacing a winnie 20 gig one.

[ArtechnikA]

QUOTE (Gint @ May 9 2005, 11:38 PM)

...it will take a little work on your part. http://www.sysresccd.org/

i can still find my way around in *nix even though i've been away for a long time, but even though i downloaded that stuff, made the cd, and read all the documentation, i was still never able to get anywhere with that stuff. for one thing, NONE of my USB devices worked, so i had to go get a wired keyboard even to get past the boot sequence, then the USB port where i'd plugged the drive in question didn't seem to be there.

i'm sure there are magick incantations to turn all that stuff on but i was just interested in results (this time) not a trip into Operating Systems 101...

so i went back to the CompUSA to buy Ghost (if i had to...) and found "Acronis True Image" for less with the notation that a "recent" PC Mag review preferred it to Ghost. got off to an inauspicious start, with undocumented exceptions and internal failures. downloaded the product updates, tried a less ambitious set of command options and -- it worked just fine. copied off an image, swapped drives, restored an image, plugged the new imaged drive into the HP, hit the switch and watched it boot. success.

so - i can qualifiedly recommend "Acronis True Image" for doing this kind of thing for people (such as myself) who really prefer to avoid any Symantec stuff. and it was cheaper. CompUSA was really pushing the Ghost/PartitionMagic bundle, but by looking around i was able to find it separate -- didn't need it tho.

i bought both the CompUSA brand USB 2.0 aluminum enclosure and the ribbon-cable adapter. i tried the USB first because i preferred to avoid opening the case; it worked fine. now that i have a backup image, i may try using the 80G "flaky" drive as a temp volume in the Compaq "game" machine - i think it may just have got heat-sensitive in the HP - there's plenty of ventilation in the CPQ case, and the drive itself (a Toshiba) functioned just fine in "external" mode during the imaging process.