Norton Ghost 2003

"will Norton Ghost save this information and allow me to load it onto another computer and hard drive. My primary concern is to still be able to use the program."

No. Here's why. The windows os's don't boot up and run when moved from machine to machine. Your post left out important details about what version Windows (I'm guessing you are going to use Windows) as well as the size of the hard disks.

There is hope, but with what you wrote, it will not work.

Even once we tackle the OS issue, such tends to frustrate those that "just want it to work". I have no "click here" solution but can offer ways to duplicate the drive (you have that) and then ways to repair the OS, then install drivers for the new machine. All this will take about a day for the move and can be easy or hard depending on many factors.

Even after a successful move, it will not be "perfect". If you want perfect, then this discussion is done.

Bob

Yes, you can do a direct copy of your old drive to new drive, as long as the new drive's size is the same or larger.

Yes. norton ghost can do that. I did it lots of times. The only problem is that the new computer has different hardware. When you boot your transferred system for the first time the os will find hardware it was not used to. But with the installation cd's at hand most of them will be recognised and installed.
The settings for your favotite ptogram should remain intact.

To add to what the others have said ...

Copying the contents of your drive (by whatever means) to a drive in a new computer, or moving your current drive to a new computer for that matter, may or may not work. If the hardware in the new computer is different, Windows will need to install new drivers. If the hardware is too different, Windows may not be able to adapt.

However, even if your Windows copy does work, that doesn't mean the software you mentioned will. It depends on how the software handles the "activation" you mentioned. A copy may work fine. Or it may, for example, see that it's installed on different hardware and require you to activate it again. If you'd post exactly what software it was, someone may know how its activation worked and whether or not a copy would be likely to work, or how to fix it if it didn't.

James

i have just used ghost to do the same thing 98% of your programs wont be afected ghost makes a copy of the drive your programs stay on the old hdd why not use your old drive as slave as for program activation yes you will need to reactivate just put user id and password {www.cracks.am for key gen} if you keep the old drive as slave you wont need to reactivate

I have found that using a Norton Ghost Floppy boot disc copying Drive to drive or partition to partition is not an issue with Windows 98/98SE.
But Windows XP is a different ball game, if you just trying to copy then a number of errors or unexplained things can happen! But to resolve this you need to use Sysprep. A useful web site I found that allowed me to get up to speed fast is http://www.uea.ac.uk/itcs/software/xp/xp-sysprep.html When following the instructions substitute your details where applicable.
Oh... and a note on the other posts, I have succesfully cloned to drives and partitions both larger and smaller than the original.
Also I found passwords were not retained (server logon, dial up, email, wireless network etc) so make sure you know these before hand.
Hope this helps.

I will assume you are working with Windows(?)
"Will Norton Ghost 2003 enable me to copy my current hard drive and install the information on a different hard drive?" Yes, I do it almost daily as a software tester. Takes a little practice, but it works great.

"Also, can the Ghost copy of my hard drive be loaded onto a different computer (& hard drive) and have all programs work just as they did on the previous hard drive?" A definite MAYBE. The trick is to have the second machine as identical as possible to the first machine. You can have a faster CPU and more memory and a bigger hard drive, BUT each and every device in the computer needs it's own driver and chances are the ones you used on the old computer won't work correctly on the new computer.
What I have done is to place the old machine image on the new machine and attempt to boot. When Windows came up, I had to be ready to find (usually via a second machine connected to the internet) the necessary drivers whenever Windows 'found' a new device and needed that driver. Motherboards come with a CD that has important drivers also, so use that as your first source.
I wish you well.
- - -Jim

I being using Acronis Trueimage it does a great job in all those areas check it out

Try Acronis True Image. We use it to clone drives for new computers. It makes an exact copy.

To your first question, "copy my current hard drive and install the information on a different hard drive?"
Yes, but if your new drive does not have the same file system of the ghost image, NTFS or FAT32, the copy of the image will not install. I had that problem. We had a one-of-a-kind computer, Win98, and the hard drive failed. We had a used spare drive, NT4.0, and the installed failed. So I had a Win2000 CD ROM and reformatted the hard drive to FAT32 file system. (Win2000 CD asks if you want to format in NTFS or FAT32.)

Your next question, "can the Ghost copy of my hard drive be loaded onto a different computer (& hard drive) and have all programs work just as they did on the previous hard drive?"
Yes, BUT only if the new computer is compatible with the hardware devices listed in the ghost image. Ex. If your Ghost image has a driver for a Hitachi CD ROM, and your new computer has a Sony CD ROM, most likely your CD ROM will not work.

Two things have to match:
- File system of new hard drive and Ghost image
- Hardware devices of new computer and Ghost image.

Good luck,
Sergio

Whilst the program you mention is able to do the type of transaction you wish to do, there are additional tasks that you will have to complete before the new hard drive will wholly operate your pc, however, I would suggest that you consider using a program called "Drive Image" as a better alternative.
This will enable you to make an exact copy of your existing hd including the os.

Hello,
There's alway a better way to transfer data from one computer to next computer, it would be a great ideal to purchase, the (USB DATA TRANSFER, HUB AND BUFFER FOR BOTH UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM) in other words, the usb data transfer cable, will download programs from the old PC to the new PC, I feel this is most safes way to deal with any data transfer. I can't tell you were to purchase the item, but, "I will say, I hope everything works out for you.

I had a similar problem with some editing software. I found Norton Ghost skips over certain programs such as this. These programs must have some copy protection written into them.

My solution, while a little pricey, did the job. A hard drive duplicator (www.corpsys.com) @ $995.00 worked just fine. I can totally duplicate any hard drive down to the last detail including all programs, files and even OS.

You can get a refurbished unit from SurplusComputers for $399. The $399 unit works just fine. (http://www.softwareandstuff.com/TOL10248.html)

Another software program that claims it will do what you are looking to do is at http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/ Other than what I read, I have had no experience with this product. It is somewhat cheaper at $49.00Hope this helps.

Yes the image can be copied to any hard drive the easiest way i have found to do this when i have had a problem with simply to put the second hard drive in as secondry slave and copy 1 to another using the ghost software and will copy exacly the way it was when you created the image.

You can copy a hard drive very fast with Nortons Ghost,
and you should have no problem doing so. I usually use Nortons Ghost when of course the two hard drives are setup as Master and Slave. The only problem that you will have a big problem with is when you switch hard drives into another machine.... Reason; is the other computer exactly the same,, I doubt it, and this is what causes the problems... You can still use it in another machine, but be prepared to do some leg work re-installing some drivers.. When you take out a cloned hard drive, it is basically only good if the other machine is identical to each other,, usually big companies may have this setup, as you may have purchased a 100 computers all the same. The biggest problem when switching hard drives is the Mother Board drivers in the other machine, the other computer may have a different mother board, have the mother board drivers handy when doing this, another problem can be, in the operating system when trying to log in, lets say; Windows 2000, The user names can usually get screwed up when signing on, as the software also detects different hardware... The hardware is the biggest problem, if you have a different sound card, video card, modem (if used today), and also to take into consideration, is your other computer proprietary, versus the other computer, proprietary; meaning all hardware is built into the motherboard, video, network card, etc. if so, you are going to have a great time reinstalling all hardware drivers. It can be done, but also can be a pain in the ***... Just be prepared with all drivers, go on the internet for the most updated ones, or let XP install it's own version. Also, Be prepared after doing all this, you may have to re-install XP, or whatever operating system you are using. Good Luck...
LURCHisLURCKING