99% Upgrade

[Kareeser]

My parents would like to upgrade their computers, but keep all networking information intact. (Settings, passwords, the works).

I would essentially be building a computer from scratch, and then copy the information from the hard drive to a newer one.

I just want to ask if it were possible to do a complete transfer, operating system and all, with ALL settings intact, to the new computer?

[bailey]

I am gonna stick my neck out and say yes it is possible, you can clone the old hard drive to the new hard drive, but, you will need to install the drivers for the new motherboard, reactivate windows, because it will be a major hardware change, if your running xp, you will more than likely need to call MS for the new code, there may be some other things that could pop up unexpectedly too.

the best and recommended method is to install the O/S first and then the drivers for the motherboard and any updates you may need then reinstall the software.
do write down any and all data that you may need to save first and back-up any data that you feel is important before doing anything as the unexpected may happen.
you also may just move the old hard drive to the new system and go from there, motherboard drivers may be all that is needed to update.

[rjfvillarosa]

If you are upgrading from scratch why not just build one whole new machine and use the "files and settings transfer wizard" within XP to export all the settings on one of the machines to the new one, then rebuild that machine and transfer everything from one of the other old machines to the freshly rebuilt machine and so on.

[glc]

If you clone the hard drives, you will probably have to do a repair reinstall of the OS if it's 2K or XP.

If all they need to preserve is settings, it may be easy enough just to copy them down. Starting fresh will be better in the long run. The file and settings transfer wizard may be helpful here.

[Kareeser]

you also may just move the old hard drive to the new system and go from there
That would most likely be my Plan B, as one of their complaints include loud noises coming from the hard drive. In case a hard drive clone does not work, I will probably try to keep the original hard drive.

The computers are isolated (no internet), and running Windows 95 or 98, which may complicate things a little bit.

The reason why my parents want to preserve their network settings (and programs) is twofold:
1. I don't know how to set up the network (including passwords)
2. The billing and scheduling software they use was installed by somebody, who didn't give us the disks.

I suppose that given time, I could learn the network settings, but there is still problem 2 to deal with... without the install disks, I'd have no program to reinstall. I was hoping that a direct hard drive copy could skip that step.

Looks like I can use North Ghost 2003 (with a Windows 95 or 98 system) in order to clone the entire hard drive. I suppose if that works, then I could upgrade the OS to Windows XP.

Does that make any sense, or am I yammering? :)

[glc]

Best thing to do is *keep* the old computer and use it for running just that software. Set up a new computer for everything else.

[rjfvillarosa]

How many machines are we talking about?
How are they networked?, via ethernet cards and CAT5 cables?
Is there some kind of router involved?
What is the software they are using for the billing and scheduling?

[edfair]

With 98 things are easier. Best to set the menuing system up first (msdos.sys addition for bootmenu), clone the drive and plop the new one in the new system, boot to safe mode, regedit to remove the enum key in HkeyLocalMachine and reboot and let the hardware redefine itself. You'll probably need the CD that came with the motherboard for the drivers, assuming that they are still provided.

[Kareeser]

There are 5+ computers to upgrade, but I would like to upgrade 1 or two as a test. It is not imperative that I succeed, however, it would be nice.

The program is WinMed CS or WinMed Professional, which does have a website, but (contrary to the name) doesn't look very professional.

The computers themselves do not have drivers, disks, manuals, anywhere, that I could find.

They are networked through ethernet card, Cat5 cabling, and a router.

If it were up to me, yes, I would follow glc's advice, and leave the program alone, but the program is pretty much all they use on their computer. Without it, there wouldn't be much else to do on the newer computer :)

edfair - your reply looks promising, but at the same time, cryptic. :)
The last time I heard the word "menu", was back when the OS was DOS 5, and menu was a primitive GUI. :)

P.S. This isn't a rush job, it will be several weeks before I will begin working on the computers. I'm just discussing options first. Thanks! :)

[rjfvillarosa]

What sort of a budget are we on here?
Is this upgrades only or can you build new ones?

[Kareeser]

Budget < $1500 CDN

I'm planning on building an entire computer from scratch, and basically cloning the hard drive to a newer hard drive, as was discussed above. :)

[edfair]

The bootmenu with 98 is generally a 7 item choice with the setup you describe. Primitive but effective. 95 is an 8 item menu. You get it by:
get to command prompt start > programs > msdos
cd \
attrib -s -h -r msdos.sys
edit msdos.sys
add a line "BootMenu=1" with the other boot stuff
save & exit edit
your next boot will have the menu. You can fancy it up with default choice and time delay.

[Kareeser]

I read another thread in this forum, and it occured to me that making an image of the C: drive on the older hard drive, then restoring that image on the new hard drive would effectively do what I want.

Is this feasible, and would there by any hiccups along the way? (Missing MFT comes to mind...)

[glc]

Most image creation and restore software has the ability to create a partition as part of the restore process.

[Kareeser]

Thanks for the reply glc.

If I were to do the aforementioned upgrade of the work computer, which software would you recommend I buy in order to make a good image of the hard drive?

I figure that if I make a clone of the hard drive as it is &mdash; If it doesn't work, I can just plug the old computer in again, no productivity lost, no harm done.

Edit: I've just realized that I would most likely have to install Windows XP (or another OS) to get the restore program working... and restoring the drive image would cause two OS's to appear, complicating issues further. Any suggestions?

[glc]

No, you can ususally restore images from a boot CD.

I'd recommend Acronis True Image for a program that can both clone and image.

[Kareeser]

Thanks, glc, that's good news. I'll post any questions I have here, as well as any results.

Thanks again