Preparation for Reformat, and ?'s about afterwards...

[kisk]

I'm fixing to reformat and reinstall WindowsXP SP1...

The way I have it setup now is I have two drives -- the first drive is a 90gb used for the OS and misc program files. The second drive is 120gb and for downloads/backup purposes.

Instead of erasing my main OS drive (the 90gb), I plan to erase my backup drive and us it as the new main drive... I'll wipe the backup drive (the 120gb), then reinstall XP onto it and setup the old main drive (the 90gb) as my secondary so I can pull program data from it onto the newly installed OS drive.

My question is:
Once I switch the drives and have the new OS running from the new drive, are there any programs out there I can use to access the registry from the original drive (the 90gb)? Obviously I'll need to pull a good bit of data, including keys from within the old registry, from the old drive. What's available?

Any other suggestions or cautions I should consider before I start the switch?

Thanks much!
kisk

[Force Flow]

The registry is on the drive with the O/S. If you want to save some of your registry settings, you will have to do it before you format. I don't suggest it unless you really know what you're doing.

As a side note, you will have to reinstall all your programs. You cannot simply "move" a program and have it work. As for data, what programs are we talking about here? With most programs, you should have the option to export or backup your data from within the programs if you cannot simply to a file > save as.

[ghost2003]

Maybe if he clones the 90GB HDD to the 120GB, then he wouldnt need to reinstall anything.

[fudtone]

I recentley moved a OS with the WD new HHD setup programs... very easy

[Force Flow]

Originally Posted by ghost2003 Maybe if he clones the 90GB HDD to the 120GB, then he wouldnt need to reinstall anything.

Anything on the drive he is cloning to will be wiped out because of the cloning (unless there are seperate partitions). The O/S would not need to be reinstalled, but the programs would.

Unless...

If you had a third drive, you could play musical chairs. Backup the drive with the programs to a third drive. Next, clone the O/S drive to the programs drive. Clone the third drive to what was the origional O/S drive and stick it in as the secondary drive. So, you will end up with the two origional drives' data switched around (O/S now on the programs drive and programs now on the O/S drive).

Sounds good in theory, but I'm not sure if it would actually work 100%.

[kisk]

Yes, I know what I'm doing in the registry and I'm aware I'll need to reinstall everything on the new drive... in fact I prefer to do this.

There are certain things I'll need to access from the old registry such as game cd keys, certain app profiles, etc -- I've got a list of stuff I'll export before the switch. However, I'm almost sure I'll forget a few things and I'd like to be able to access the old registry if needed.

One thought I had would be to setup a dual boot... one for the new drive and one for the old. Now I know you can setup dual boots from separate partitions on the same master drive, but can you have a dual boot from two separate drives?

If I could do this then if I needed anything from the old drive I could simply restart, reboot to the old OS, export keys, then reboot again to the new OS and import.

[Force Flow]

Open up regedit and go to file > export. Under "export range" select "all", then save it somewhere. You can then later go through it with a 3rd party reg editor or notepad/wordpad/textpad.

One thought I had would be to setup a dual boot... one for the new drive and one for the old. Now I know you can setup dual boots from separate partitions on the same master drive, but can you have a dual boot from two separate drives?

Yes. Durning the install procedure, make the install drive the 2nd drive.