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Thanks in advance for any help. I have a hdd which has windows 7 installed along with LOADS of programs. I have just bought a new SSD and installed a new install of windows onto it as the main drive. I am going to install most programs on to the old HDD anyawy so i don't actually need to move them, but registered programs and serials and bookmarks and settings are not working, is there any easy way of transferring all the relevant information from the windows on the HDD (drive G) to the new SSD (drive C)?

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    No, don't waste time. Reistall is the best way.
    – Steve
    Apr 27, 2012 at 20:30
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    Just reinstall. It's fairly common that configurable program information isn't stored in the program's directory; it's usually in the registry, Common Files, AppData, PATH entries, etc., etc., so usually it's impossible to just copy a program's folder from one place to another.
    – Cᴏʀʏ
    Apr 27, 2012 at 20:33

2 Answers 2

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You could use disk imaging software to overwrite the contents of the new disk with that of the old disk.

Or you could boot your old disk, create a full backup, then restore to your new disk.

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  • There is a risk with imaging a drive relating to partition alignment, so something to keep in mind. If the old drive isn't partition-aligned, the new one won't be either, which will lower the lifespan of the SSD and possibly decrease performance.
    – user3463
    Apr 27, 2012 at 20:36
  • I did think that, but then it would copy all the program files, documents etc tec, which wont fit. The HDD is 2T the SSD is 64G so I was only going to move the operating system.
    – Dan
    Apr 27, 2012 at 20:36
  • @RandolphWest It might depend on the imaging software, for instance I know of imaging software that realigns unaligned FAT partitions when they are copied so that they can be efficiently converted to NTFS.
    – Neil
    Apr 27, 2012 at 20:46
  • We are talking of Windows7. So don't do that. When Win7 installs it recognize an SSD and many things are done differently. Windows 7 will disable disk defragmentation, Superfetch, ReadyBoost, as well as boot and application launch prefetching. With a restore from your old disk you risk to have less than optimal performance.
    – Steve
    Apr 27, 2012 at 21:08
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    @Steve That's interesting; I don't suppose you have a link for that?
    – Neil
    Apr 28, 2012 at 22:47
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Change the letter of your boot drive.

It is possible to have your windows directory on something other than C. That way your existing HDD can remain being C:

(now if anybody figures exactly how to do that, I'm interested, because that is what i am trying to figure out now)

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