Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Transferring files from one PC to another is an important part of moving to a new PC. Unfortunately, it's not the only part.
Recently I needed to purchase a new computer. I arranged for all of the data from my old computer to be placed on an external drive. When I open a file, it says that there is information there, but the programs will not run.
It is my assumption that the program, which was originally on a C drive is looking for information on a C drive instead of E where the information actually is.
Is there some way, other than purchasing the programs again that I would be able to make them work?
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It really all depends on what you specifically mean by "open a file".
Placing all of your old hard drive's contents on an external drive is an excellent approach to moving from one computer to another.
But it's not the only thing you need to do.
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Documents and Data
If by "open a file" you mean you have a document - say a Microsoft Word document - which you locate on your external drive and double click on, then Microsoft Word or some compatible program that understand's Word documents must be installed on your new computer.
It's not enough that the Word program files might be on the old, now external drive. The program actually needs to be installed on your new computer - which typically means installed on the new computer's hard drive.
If you have the original installation media that you used to install Word onto your old computer you can just use that again to install it on this new computer.
Remember, Word here is just an example. I have no idea what kinds of data documents you might be working with. The concept applies though: your external drive contains your data files, and to open them you likely need a program installed on your new computer that knows how to work with whatever type of file it is you have.
And yes, if you don't have the original installation disks for the programs that were installed on your old computer, you do need to go out and get replacements. Remember, though, replacements don't have to be the exact same program - using Word as my example, that ".doc" file can also be read by the free Open Office Suite. It has its pros and cons, but it is free and might be a viable alternative. What alternatives work for you will depend once again on exactly what types of data files you're working with.
Programs
If by "open a file" you're attempting to run a program - perhaps you've found Word.exe on your old drive and are trying to run it from the old drive, then no - most of the time that will simply not work.
The rule of thumb is that if a program needed to be "setup" when it was first installed on your old computer then it will need to be set up again to work on the new. That means you'll need the original installation media in order to perform that setup.
That's why getting and keeping the original installation media is so important.
In short: data files work just fine from old hard drive, as long as you have some program installed on the new computer that knows how to open them. Program files typically do not work, and usually have to be reinstalled on the new computer.
Article C4353 - June 25, 2010
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
With later versions of Windows, Vista forward, moving your files to a new PC may result in the loss of so-called Windows "permissions." For example, a member of my family received an error message from her laptop OS that she should back up hard drive files immediately. We did so, using an included utility from the PC's maker, H-P. We were forced to reinstall the Vista OS, reformatting the hard drive on the machine, but we had that backup of my family member's files. I restored them all on her laptop after a getting the OS back up. Word processing files and other personal files opened up as normal, but almost all of her digital photos would not. I eventually figured out that under Vista, the photos were for some reason perceived as belonging to another user (the one, no doubt that we had destroyed when we reformatted the hard drive and reinstalled the OS). I also found that I could adjust the permissions of each of these JPG files by going to file properties and wading through three or four popup windows, making some non-intuitive choices which after trial and error changed the file to a readable/editable state. Ah, but this process took a couple minutes per file, my family member had hundreds of image files. Then I went looking for batch routines and utilities that could operate on the whole lot of them at once. I found several such help programs but none succeeded in batch-altering the images. We're still going through them, one by one, and adjusting their permissions, as we have time. Ridiculous!
I suspect that unless the new PC or repaired PC has an exact one to one match of owners (as defined under Windows), permissions will be a problem. Why in our case this only affected image files and not other user documents and files I am still trying to figure out.
30-Jun-2010
Posted by: Ron Legro at June 29, 2010 5:59 PM
I learned 20 years ago to not only always keep installation media, but also programs downloaded from the Net. Keeping them on acouple of external HDs has saved my butt a dozen or more times. Who wants to purchase programs you already bought?
Posted by: GuitarRebel at June 29, 2010 6:25 PMMay I suggest you also consider setting up a folder to have the setup files on it ... as well as a download folder. if possible download the setup file and copy that file to the setup folder ... then rename the setup file to it's current version for instance say you use AVG you can download the setup file ... rename it AVG number Setup and then copy that to your setup folder. Click on the setup program and setup the AVG version on your hard drive ... this works in most cases ...
it is my experience that Windows 7 has a few quirks one has to get used to, but in my opinion doing this especially in transfer of old hard drive contents to new hard drive or new system it would be wise to reinstall most of the programs from a CD or the copy you downloaded from the internet. Where possible copy the download in its original place downloaded to this setup folder. Do not RUN it from the INTERNET.
Another thing I do is keep all the tools in one folder called My tools. Inside this folder I have sub categories like AV tools, Download Tools, Chat tools, internet search tools, office tools, Maintenance and security tools ... after I get the icon of the tools on the desktop I move it to the appropriate folder in the tools section! I keep the desktop clean from 50 icons or more to a few that I use frequently
Posted by: David Aharon at June 30, 2010 7:16 AMLeo, you are right about having to have the original copies of the "Word" app, but he is not dead in the water yet. If he has a friend that is Windows savvy. They could transfer the old registry (back up the new registry on a thumb drive or a 3.5 disc first) from the new external to the C:> hard drive and the "Word" app to the C:> drive. Then once this is all done successfully open "Word" and the "options" and reestablish "Word" where to find the files on the external drive and to save them there.
01-Jul-2010
Posted by: Richard at July 1, 2010 7:00 AM
so what is some file "*.doc" work fine with admin user , but other user "limited" not working, i already copy the files from admin user to other, but it doesnt run.
hope to hear from u.
Posted by: alnuaimi at July 6, 2010 12:51 PMregards