I just bought an external hard drive for extra space. I want to transfer a few programs and files from my c-drive to the external drive. Is there a way to do this without uninstalling the programs and reinstalling them on the new drive?
2006-06-14 15:38:06 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
You can't just MOVE the programs. So you would have to UNINSTALL the program, then REINSTALL it, and pick the external drive.
But I recommend that you move ALL of your data to the external drive. Uninstall programs that you don;t really use.
Be sure to keep the original disk that came with every program. if you downloaded the program, be sure to make a CD of that original installer.
Good luck
2006-06-14 15:45:15 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
You might also consider the performance implications of installing programs on an external drive. Access to that external drive will be significantly slower than access to the internal drive. The internal drive is plugged right into the motherboard's buss. That's good!
When a program is executing, only the active portion is in memory. Everytime the active portion changes, a different part of the program has to be loaded into memory from the hard drive. If the hard drive is external, everything could slow down.
External drives are best suited for data storage.
2006-06-14 16:26:37 · answer #2 · answered by fredshelp 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Simply copy or cut the files from C:\ and paste to your external drive in Windows Explorer.
Oh, I see...you have already installed the proggys on your internal drive and don't have the original *.exe installation proggy!
No way, dude.
For example, lets say you had a program that U d/loaded to say..My Documents or Desktop - and then you clicked on it and installed. Then you deleted the install prog once you had finished (to save space). Proggy installation extracts files to various folders on hard-drive.
Imagine this - You have just bought a new dinner set, including knives, forks, spoons and all the crockery items.
Right - it is still in the box, so fine. Move the complete box where you like in the house.
But, open the box, and put the cutlery in their relevant places in the kitchen drawer and all the cups plates and the rest into the cupboards. Then you have just 'installed' your new dinner set!
Only difference is - the dinner set can be put back in the packaging container it came in.
A software program cannot.
2006-06-14 15:52:33 · answer #3 · answered by Kewl Dude Ganda 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Moving a program from one drive to another can be very difficult at best. Uninstalling it and reinstalling it as you suggest is probably the best way. I have used a program called Partition Magic that had a feature to do this for you, but it's been a couple of years since I've used it.
2006-06-14 15:44:49 · answer #4 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you can copy the program files, but you wont be able to run most programs. when you install a program, it is registered in windows.
in order to use the program correctly from an external hard drive, you need to install it on the external hard drive.
2006-06-14 15:44:23 · answer #5 · answered by ledezmajr 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unlikely. Most programs install links and hooks that are tied to the location the software is already installed to. If you move the program folder to a different location, the program will most likely fail.
2006-06-14 15:42:19 · answer #6 · answered by candl91402 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Let the program in windows xp transfer them for you.
2006-06-14 17:34:44 · answer #7 · answered by tarheelfan 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
some programs store their paths in the registry so you can move the files and edit the registry to the new path
2006-06-15 11:07:03 · answer #8 · answered by ninjapanda500 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋