POSSIBLE TO COPY PROGRAMS FROM OLD DAW OS DRIVE TO NEW DAW OS DRIVE?

[jlotto]

hope im explaining this correctly. I purchased a new DAW. On my o/s drive of old daw samplitude, installed plugins, and other video programs, etc.

Is there any way to transfer all of these programs to my new DAW (both xp) without having to reinstall all of these programs?

[George Necola]

no

[jlotto]

i thought so. im rounding up serials and passcodes now. thanks

[gsilbers]

i was able to make some vst work just by dropping them into the new computer vst folder

[temetrepo]

I used a program called aloha bob a while ago to do this exact thing your asking, and it worked real nice. it copied all my settings and files and monst of the programs I had installed in my old machine. this was a regular internet usage pc I haven't tried on a daw machine. the program's about 70 bucks, you might find it cheaper in amazon or ebay.

good luck

[DivideByZero]

Norton Ghost. Does the whole drive image; settings, programs, registry, et al. Works as long as you're just swapping drives.

[wyndrock]

why would you be trying to circumvent authorization? dont you have your install disks? if not, try to get in touch with your developers and explain your situation. theyll send you a new disk i you are registered.

[quincyg]

norton ghost. you will have to update hardware drivers and reauthorize some apps, but not all.

[Igotsoul4u]

if you have a mac you can use the migration assistant. You will have to reautherize some programs. Just make sure you're old computer is in tip top shape as far disk managment and maintenence is concerned, because you can copy over old problems to your new computer.

[KingDaddyO]

This post is specific to the PC platform.

Ghost is useful, but on a new system with different hardware, it's always best to have a fresh installation, which is specific to the installed hardware. Using Ghost to clone yoour old drive to a new system, may result in an unstable new system, since you will be copy old drivers that may not be completely compatible with your new system hardware. However, there is one technique that may be of interest to you ...

If you had many programs that took you a considerable amount of time to configure, tweak to your liking, or bring up to date using multiple 'download update sessions' (think Adobe Acrobat, ughh!), and your goal were to reduce the installation & setup time for all your programs, you might be able to save some time by trying this approach:

* Start with a fresh, stable Windows installion on your new DAW. Get all system updates necessary to bring that OS to the point where you are ready to install applications programs.

* Make a backup of your complete system before installing anything else. With this backup, you can restore a fresh stable copy of Windows (should your system suffer some catastrophic failure) without having to go through all the endless Windows updates again ... just the ones that were released after your backup.

* Install each program merely as a formality, so that each program's settings are entered properly into the Windows registry. Be sure to install each program into the exact same drive & path location, as it was on your old drive.

* Enable the "Show hidden files and folders" setting in the Windows Explorer 'Tools - Folder options - View' window, on your old system, so you don't miss copying any of the files to your new system.

* Copy the complete old folder structure for each program, over the newly installed one. Note that you can copy these folders directly from your old drive, if you install it as a 2nd drive in your new system. It will be the 'D' drive if you only have a single hard drive.

Personally, I just usually bite the bullet and do a fresh install of everything.