Which option - Clone disk/swap disk/other?

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pleb5

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(Edit: Apologies if this is a crossover between forum subject areas, I couldn't really decide which one it fitted into best)

I have an old Dell desktop which I'm going to be upgrading shortly. I've got some software installed which I got through a student licensing system which I would like to have on my new machine. The problem I have is that I don't have access to the install disks or the money to pay for a full licensed version.

Possible solutions I've been thinking of:

1) Physically remove the hard drive from the old machine and install it on the new one (far beyond my previous hardware hacking experience which is limited to installing new RAM)

2) Physically remove the hard drive from the old machine and set it up as an external drive.

3) Clone the old hard drive (OS and all) and install it as a partition (or virtual drive?) on the new machine.

A possible problem with the first solution is that it would restrict me to a desktop afaik (not that this is a definite deal breaker, but I'd like to keep my options open). A second problem is that I assume I'd have to boot into that drive and use its OS (Windows XP) if I wanted to access software on it.

A problem with the second option is that its messy - I'd prefer not to have an external unit.

Option 3 is the one I know least about.


Can anyone give me advice on the following:

1) Options 1 & 2 - if I have use the old disk as a second physical drive (internal or external) am I correct in thinking that I'd have to boot into it to use software installed on that drive?

2) What are my options regarding cloning the old drive and installing it as partition on the new system? Would I be able to boot into the primary partition containing my new OS and documents etc and still be able to run the software on the clone whenever I wanted without having to reboot into the second partition containing the clone?

3) Is there some way I could set up a virtual machine using the clone and something like VMWare?
 
If you are useing the old drive in your new system it won't work unless it's very close to the hardware in your old system as the OS tries to load drivers at boot an you will get endless BSOD's.

Cloneing the drive with a program such as ghost will lead to the same issue. As will running the program from a external source so a USB caddy is out of the question. Although you might get one to run but I can't guaranty this.

What software is it you are trying to use anyway? May be we can point you in the direction of some ligitemtly free software to help you out.
 
If you are useing the old drive in your new system it won't work unless it's very close to the hardware in your old system as the OS tries to load drivers at boot an you will get endless BSOD's.

Yeah I've since found this out, and I've managed to find a guide to swapping motherboards/drives without an OS reinstall, but to be honest the idea of using my old relatively small drive on a new system isn't the most attractive.

Cloneing the drive with a program such as ghost will lead to the same issue. As will running the program from a external source so a USB caddy is out of the question. Although you might get one to run but I can't guaranty this.

This is disappointing, but thanks for the info.

What software is it you are trying to use anyway? May be we can point you in the direction of some ligitemtly free software to help you out.

Visual Studio 2005...I was planning on doing some freelance work for a while to see if it was viable, but right now budget is seriously tight, and unfortunately the dying of my old machine is forcing that money gets spent on a new one.

Any thoughts on whether I'd be able to run a virtual machine and use an image of the old drive as the vm? Probably something I should ask in the VMware forums I guess...
 
I am sure I saw something about retrieval of keys with a tool called The Magical jelly bean try that. But if your version of Visual studio is the home an student version EULA might prevent you from selling any work any way. I am sure there is a open source version of the MS-VS check a sticky in the programming area (possibly the sub forum) I know it was posted by Emily might provide a opportunity for you.
 
I am sure I saw something about retrieval of keys with a tool called The Magical jelly bean try that. But if your version of Visual studio is the home an student version EULA might prevent you from selling any work any way. I am sure there is a open source version of the MS-VS check a sticky in the programming area (possibly the sub forum) I know it was posted by Emily might provide a opportunity for you.

Yeah there's express versions of some of the components which can be got for free, but I really like the neatness of the full package.
 
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