[SOLVED] Old drive programs accessible or not?

[Super14730]

My friend has just purchased a new prebuilt pc and would like to take his hard drive from the old pc and install it as a second drive.
Will he be able to access and run these programs or is there something that needs done to make them work?

 

[kanewolf]

My friend has just purchased a new prebuilt pc and would like to take his hard drive from the old pc and install it as a second drive.
Will he be able to access and run these programs or is there something that needs done to make them work?

It depends on the program, but most programs have to be reinstalled because the Windows registry entries they require are gone. Downloaded game files can be reused but the launcher has to be reinstalled.

 

[Alabalcho]

Some game platforms would let to re-direct the location where games are located, without requiring these games to be re-downloaded.

But for majority of applications: Unless these are specifically made to be "portable" - most probably not, they have to reinstalled.

While that old PC is still working, your friend should

• pay particular attenetion to any application with activation, license codes etc.
• check whether these applications allow for "settings transfer".

 

[Super14730]

It depends on the program, but most programs have to be reinstalled because the Windows registry entries they require are gone. Downloaded game files can be reused but the launcher has to be reinstalled.

That's what I was afraid of. He has I believe, WordPerfect with a lot of files for his church and labor work.
I asked him if he had the install disk and although he does have the packaging he said he will do some searching.

 

[Super14730]

That's what I was afraid of. He has I believe, WordPerfect with a lot of files for his church and labor work.
I asked him if he had the install disk and although he does have the packaging he said he will do some searching.

Some game platforms would let to re-direct the location where games are located, without requiring these games to be re-downloaded.

But for majority of applications: Unless these are specifically made to be "portable" - most probably not, they have to reinstalled.

While that old PC is still working, your friend should

• pay particular attenetion to any application with activation, license codes etc.
• check whether these applications allow for "settings transfer".

He wants to recover files from I believe his WordPerfect program which contains his wife's church work and his labor union work. He said that it was purchased at BestBuy but as of right now he's not sure if he had an actual install disk or did it via download.

 

[Super14730]

That's what I was afraid of. He has I believe, WordPerfect with a lot of files for his church and labor work.
I asked him if he had the install disk and although he does have the packaging he said he will do some searching.

So, if he does find and install the program will he then be able to access the files on the old drive or would he have to copy them onto his C: drive into the WordPerfect program?

 

[Alabalcho]

So, it seems that he should also locate where these document files are located (and best to make a backup onto USB drvive or online storage like DopBox/GDrive/OneDrive/etc)