Old to new computer question

[Robert Donithan]

Don't wanna learn a bad lesson so...<br />I have a hard drive in one computer pc that I use mainly for cubasele8 and abelton live lite9 on windows 10.Then I bought another computer pc windows 10 with no hard drive ssd 250 instead.<br />My question is can I physically put the hard drive out of the old computer into the new , it has an extra bay? Also without erasing anything on the drive I want to keep projects and audio files on the hdd. I installed cubasele8 on the new computer on the ssd.My thinking is like when I changed smartphones some of the stuff worked and some didn't. Will this pick up where it left off because it's still interacting with cubasele8 and both in windows 10 and both dell computers(not the same model)?

 

[Steenamaroo]

Really just echoing what's been said in the other thread but the new computer should be viewed as a new computer, with a new install of windows; A fresh start.



Any programs that you used to have and would like to have again would need to be reinstalled.
Not copied/moved/backed up...Reinstalled, using the manufacturers installer from their website, or from discs.
That would include any plugin suites, virtual instruments, recording programs, etc.



Any data you have on the old hard drive can be manually copied across, leaving the original where it is.
That's where plugging the old drive into the new computer comes in.
You should be able to copy your cubase sessions, music, pictures, videos, documents etc.

When you're finished, unplug the old hard drive and either put it back in the old computer or store it somewhere safe.

 

[Robert Donithan]

Really just echoing what's been said in the other thread but the new computer should be viewed as a new computer, with a new install of windows; A fresh start.



Any programs that you used to have and would like to have again would need to be reinstalled.
Not copied/moved/backed up...Reinstalled, using the manufacturers installer from their website, or from discs.
That would include any plugin suites, virtual instruments, recording programs, etc.



Any data you have on the old hard drive can be manually copied across, leaving the original where it is.
That's where plugging the old drive into the new computer comes in.
You should be able to copy your cubase sessions, music, pictures, videos, documents etc.

When you're finished, unplug the old hard drive and either put it back in the old computer or store it somewhere safe.

I mean just the cubasele8 audio files and cubasele8 projects-and maybe the setup or exe. files for vsts and plugins (programs)...I transferred a couple and they work transferred. But my thinking is the computers are same make, windows 10 and interact with cubasele8 both now on old and new computers. I have already installed some programs on my new computerblike license managers and cubasele8 like everyone said here.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Audio files and projects can usually be moved around between computers without issue.
Setup files/installers can be moved from one computer to another, but will need to be run on the new computer in order to install their software there.
Pre-installed programs and applications generally can not be moved. Those would need to be reinstalled.

Re-reading your first post, are you asking "Can I plug the old drive into the new computer, keep it plugged in, and access my data on it directly".
The answer to that is yes, but I wouldn't.

This old disc is the system disc from some other computer. If you want that computer kept it working condition, you'd want to take backups of the things you need and then put that old drive back.
If you don't care about the working condition of the old machine then that's fine, but I still wouldn't want to permanently keep its hard drive in a new computer.
As Dave (ecc83) discovered in your old thread you can run into issues there where the computer tries to boot from the wrong drive etc.
Not exactly a big deal but better to avoid.

My advice is to plug in your old drive, copy what you need from it, then put it back where it belongs.

If you want a second drive in the long term for data management or backup purposes, that's a good idea.
I'd buy a new one for that purpose, though. Preferably external so it's only connected when needed.

For the windows savvy amongst you, is there no automated migration tool?
Even if it only covered a user account; Settings, preferences, files within mydocuments/mypictures etc. Is that not a thing?

 

[Robert Donithan]

Audio files and projects can usually be moved around between computers without issue.
Setup files/installers can be moved from one computer to another, but will need to be run on the new computer in order to install their software there.
Pre-installed programs and applications generally can not be moved. Those would need to be reinstalled.

Re-reading your first post, are you asking "Can I plug the old drive into the new computer, keep it plugged in, and access my data on it directly".
The answer to that is yes, but I wouldn't.

This old disc is the system disc from some other computer. If you want that computer kept it working condition, you'd want to take backups of the things you need and then put that old drive back.
If you don't care about the working condition of the old machine then that's fine, but I still wouldn't want to permanently keep its hard drive in a new computer.
As Dave (ecc83) discovered in your old thread you can run into issues there where the computer tries to boot from the wrong drive etc.
Not exactly a big deal but better to avoid.

My advice is to plug in your old drive, copy what you need from it, then put it back where it belongs.

If you want a second drive in the long term for data management or backup purposes, that's a good idea.
I'd buy a new one for that purpose, though. Preferably external so it's only connected when needed.

For the windows savvy amongst you, is there no automated migration tool?
Even if it only covered a user account; Settings, preferences, files within mydocuments/mypictures etc. Is that not a thing?

Earlier windows had Easy Transfer.
By the way this is an old computer that's been refurbished..

 

[witzendoz]

Here is something if you can be bothered trying, I have not done this on windows 10.

Clone the drive on the old computer to a new drive. Remove the drive from the new computer and install the cloned drive. When you fire it up you will get some kind of message about windows not being genuine. It should then ask for s serial number which you use the serial number from the new computer. Hopefully it will install. If not you could try inserting t5he windows disc from the new computer and doing a repair.

Even after all this some of the software may not work as it may ask for a serial number. If this happens you could try entering the serial numbers that belong to your copy.

I don't know if this will work but nothing to loose except time.

Alan.

 

[jimmys69]

Here is something if you can be bothered trying, I have not done this on windows 10.

Clone the drive on the old computer to a new drive. Remove the drive from the new computer and install the cloned drive. When you fire it up you will get some kind of message about windows not being genuine. It should then ask for s serial number which you use the serial number from the new computer. Hopefully it will install. If not you could try inserting t5he windows disc from the new computer and doing a repair.

Even after all this some of the software may not work as it may ask for a serial number. If this happens you could try entering the serial numbers that belong to your copy.

I don't know if this will work but nothing to loose except time.

Alan.

I did that myself but with Windows 7. And new motherboard. Ironically I was asked once to register Windows, but never saw it again. Not even the same MOBO manufacturer and it was an OEM Windows install. Sometimes it just works.

Windows 10 I have no clue about other than it pisses me off on my wife's laptop....

Sorry, nothing to add here other than get the data you need from the old hard drive. Install programs fresh. Do it and be done without worrying if it will work. Nothing worse than having to second guess any future issues because of not starting fresh.

 

[rob aylestone]

I have a continual upgrade policy. I buy usually once a year when I know how much money I need to spend, the latest mid-spec (by computer standards) computer that is appreciably better spec than my current 'best' one. This becomes the computer in the edit suit. The edit machine turns into the audio machine, the audio one goes into the touring rack and so on. All my video and audio software is always the latest version on the three machines, and it's simply a case of on-line authorising or moving a dongle. All my data files are on separate internal drives, which I simply remove and move across. Never have issues. Much though now resides on external USB3 drives which make this even easier. When you have multiple identical computers, I found the ghosting software pretty effective, but as soon as they have different motherboards and OS versions it became less successful, because BIOS differences and some software checking the hardware spec made reliability more troublesome.