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General discussion

Will this reinstall lose my software?

by biggstopher Dec 13, 2007 2:28AM PST

Hello! I really need help with this one!

I have XP installed on DRIVE 1. It has two partitions... C: is where XP currently resides... and E: is where my data and software is installed.

This DRIVE 1 is beginning to click and I have to save my data without losing my installed software by doing a clean install on a brand new drive - DRIVE 2 (recently purchased).

I have already backed up my E: to H: on DRIVE 2 including my software directories.

I also backed up my old Windows XP registry from C: on DRIVE 1 for importing into the new install of XP on DRIVE 2 into a G: partition.

C: and E: = DRIVE 1
G: and H: = DRIVE 2

Here's the issue.... will my software from E: still work with a new install of XP????

I have tried Norton Ghost and also a basic copy of my C: to G: on DRIVE 2 but I get Cyclic Redundancy errors, etc. It will not copy over cleanly but I can copy over most of the data from Program Files, etc.

If I install a clean XP to G: and then change the drive names back to C: and H: to E: to mimic my old configuration, while also merging in the backed up registry, will my software work? If not what can I do?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Peace.