Moving Applications To A Separate Partition

Hi,

Is there a clever way to move applications to another partition without having
to reinstall them? I have walked through the registry changing partitions with
some success but I had fewer and simpler applications back then.

Similarly, in a multi-boot configuration with each OS and applications in
separate partitions, is there a way to avoid installing applications for each
OS?

Thanks,
Gary

I've heard of installing applications to the same dedicated partition from
each OS and then sharing the dedicated partition.
for example:
C: Win XP
D: Vista
E: Programs

boot into Win XP and install the app on E:, then boot into Vista and again
install the app on E: but overwrite the files from when you fist installed
the app with XP. That way Win XP and Vista have the registry entries but
are sharing the same installed files on E:. The biggest problem might be
that saved preferences are stored in the My Documents folder for each OS and
aren't shared. There might be a way to get the two OS's to share a My
Documents folder.

I haven't tried it but it sounds like it would work in theory.

"Dad" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hi,
>
> Is there a clever way to move applications to another partition without
> having to reinstall them? I have walked through the registry changing
> partitions with some success but I had fewer and simpler applications back
> then.
>
> Similarly, in a multi-boot configuration with each OS and applications in
> separate partitions, is there a way to avoid installing applications for
> each OS?
>
> Thanks,
> Gary
>

"Dad" <> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Is there a clever way to move applications to another partition without having
>to reinstall them?

No.

>I have walked through the registry changing partitions with
>some success but I had fewer and simpler applications back then.
>
>Similarly, in a multi-boot configuration with each OS and applications in
>separate partitions, is there a way to avoid installing applications for each
>OS?

No

1. No, except for earlier, simple games like Solataire, etc.

2. No.
--
Mad Mike


"Bill" wrote:

> I've heard of installing applications to the same dedicated partition from
> each OS and then sharing the dedicated partition.
> for example:
> C: Win XP
> D: Vista
> E: Programs
>
> boot into Win XP and install the app on E:, then boot into Vista and again
> install the app on E: but overwrite the files from when you fist installed
> the app with XP. That way Win XP and Vista have the registry entries but
> are sharing the same installed files on E:. The biggest problem might be
> that saved preferences are stored in the My Documents folder for each OS and
> aren't shared. There might be a way to get the two OS's to share a My
> Documents folder.
>
> I haven't tried it but it sounds like it would work in theory.
>
> "Dad" <> wrote in message
> news:...
> > Hi,
> >
> > Is there a clever way to move applications to another partition without
> > having to reinstall them? I have walked through the registry changing
> > partitions with some success but I had fewer and simpler applications back
> > then.
> >
> > Similarly, in a multi-boot configuration with each OS and applications in
> > separate partitions, is there a way to avoid installing applications for
> > each OS?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Gary
> >
>

"Bill" <swooshy1976-> wrote in message
news:...
> I've heard of installing applications to the same dedicated partition from
> each OS and then sharing the dedicated partition.
> for example:
> C: Win XP
> D: Vista
> E: Programs
>
> boot into Win XP and install the app on E:, then boot into Vista and again
> install the app on E: but overwrite the files from when you fist installed the
> app with XP. That way Win XP and Vista have the registry entries but are
> sharing the same installed files on E:. The biggest problem might be that
> saved preferences are stored in the My Documents folder for each OS and aren't
> shared. There might be a way to get the two OS's to share a My Documents
> folder.

It does work. That is what I did when I ran multiple OS's in the past. And it
is what I would like to avoid. In the early days of Windows, when you installed
an OS, it OS would look for apps and install most of them for you.

At one time I could keep track of our applications and drivers and do a complete
reinstall in an hour. The PCs and apps have multiplied since then.

> 1. No, except for earlier, simple games like Solataire, etc.

> 2. No.
> --
> Mad Mike

That is what I thought. But it was worth a try.

Thanks,
Gary

Dad wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Is there a clever way to move applications to another partition without
> having to reinstall them?


No.

In fact, there's very little point, under normal circumstances, in
having a separate partition for just applications. Should you ever have
to reinstall the OS, you'll still also have to reinstall each and every
application anyway, in order to recreate the hundreds (possibly
thousands) of registry entries and to replace the dozens (possibly
hundreds) of essential system files back into the appropriate Windows
folders and sub-folders.


>
> Similarly, in a multi-boot configuration with each OS and applications
> in separate partitions, is there a way to avoid installing applications
> for each OS?
>

No.

However, it is also possible to have a 3rd partition for shared
applications, but it would be necessary for such a partition to be
formatted in the common file format. The applications would
also have to be installed into each OS (to ensure proper system file
placement and registry updates), one at a time, but the bulk of the
program files could be located on this common partition. I do not,
however, actually recommend doing this as, if you were to uninstall
such an application from one OS, you may not be able to gracefully
uninstall it from the second OS, having already deleted crucial
installation data during the first uninstall action.


--

Bruce Chambers

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Dad,

The easiest, fastest and best way to avoid reinstalling applications is to
invest in a backup imaging application such as Acronis True Image 9. It will
recover a partition perfectly in a 45 minutes or less depending on the size
of your partition. Mine takes 25 minutes. I wouldn't do without it.

www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/trueimage

Note that you can use the fully usable trial for 15 days but if you decide
to buy it, I believe you can't recover from with a backup image
created with the trial. Maybe someone can confirm this.

Drew

"Dad" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hi,
>
> Is there a clever way to move applications to another partition without
> having to reinstall them? I have walked through the registry changing
> partitions with some success but I had fewer and simpler applications back
> then.
>
> Similarly, in a multi-boot configuration with each OS and applications in
> separate partitions, is there a way to avoid installing applications for
> each OS?
>
> Thanks,
> Gary
>
>

"Drew T" <> wrote:

>The easiest, fastest and best way to avoid reinstalling applications is to
>invest in a backup imaging application such as Acronis True Image 9.

2009, not 9.

9 was replaced by 10, then 11, then 2009.