Upgrading comp. Best way to move LR and CS2? Can I keep presets and actions intact?

Hi all! I'm about to do a major comp upgrade (mobo, chip, ram, vid card) and I'm really dreading re-installing all my programs. What I'm dreading more though is getting them all back to the way I had them set up. Is there a way to make an "image" or something so when I re-install the program all the pre-sets and actions will be there? Also (not photography related) is there a way to do the same thing for my bookmarks, etc.? I guess I'm just trying to make a painful process a liitle less painful. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

Not sure about saving the PS data but sure some of the experts will know how, however for the bookmarks, cookies and email contacts all you do is click on File > Import & Export in Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. Save it to a disk or external drive.

are you upgrading your Hard drive as well? if not, you can leave your existing OS installed on your current HD, install all of your new parts, when you boot, it won't work because Windows will not be able to adapt to such a major system change, BUT, if you still have your original OS boot disc, you can boot from the disc, and instead of a "clean" install, you can do a "repair" install, this will reconfigure windows to your new hardware setup and you will still retain all of your personal settings as well as programs.
I did this last year when i upgraded my mobo, worked beautifully.

Of course, just to be safe, i would back-up all important files before doing this.

I thought about doing that (have done it before) but honestly I think it's time for a clean install anyway. I figured I'd just kill two birds with on stone.

joseb552 wrote in post #2944551
are you upgrading your Hard drive as well? if not, you can leave your existing OS installed on your current HD, install all of your new parts, when you boot, it won't work because Windows will not be able to adapt to such a major system change, BUT, if you still have your original OS boot disc, you can boot from the disc, and instead of a "clean" install, you can do a "repair" install, this will reconfigure windows to your new hardware setup and you will still retain all of your personal settings as well as programs.
I did this last year when i upgraded my mobo, worked beautifully.

Of course, just to be safe, i would back-up all important files before doing this.

I did this as well and it worked great.

NWShooter wrote in post #2944602
I thought about doing that (have done it before) but honestly I think it's time for a clean install anyway. I figured I'd just kill two birds with on stone.

If you are doing a major overhaul get a new HD. Install your OS and Apps and get the PC going. Then once everything is the way you want it, hook up your current HD as a slave. Then you can copy whatever files you need.

One way around this is to save all your personal data on a seperate drive or partition. I also do this with my actions/presets/plugin​s. I have them in two locations: 1) Where Adobe tells me to put them, and 2) On the data drive so it is easy to reinstall later if needed.

You might also want to check out this thread:

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=236695

A little off topic, but check out Google Bookmarks for your bookmarks. It lets you have them on any computer, any browser, etc... very powerful and makes a computer move a non-issue.

I have 2 HD's now. One for my OS and Apps, the other for storage (photos, movies, etc.). Is there a way to move my apps to my storage disk, then move them back once I reformat/reinstall my os on the other HD?

NWShooter wrote in post #2944871
I have 2 HD's now. One for my OS and Apps, the other for storage (photos, movies, etc.). Is there a way to move my apps to my storage disk, then move them back once I reformat/reinstall my os on the other HD?

Not that I've heard of. Alot of necesscary stuff gets written to the registry when applications are installed... and that's one of the reasons a clean install is helpful (since it clears all the leftover junk from other applications out of there)

I know this won't help now, but after you have everything installed, new os, patches, all software, plugins, bookmarks, etc... I believe you can ghost that drive image for safe keeping... then next time you want to do a clean install you just format your drive and put that ghost image back on.

NWShooter wrote in post #2944871
I have 2 HD's now. One for my OS and Apps, the other for storage (photos, movies, etc.). Is there a way to move my apps to my storage disk, then move them back once I reformat/reinstall my os on the other HD?

You could use something like Partition Magic to create a new partition and then do a fresh install on that.

In my experience its always been best to do a clean install vs trying to use the recovery method. Not saying it won't work, just certainly not the preferred method for setting up a new gig.

I just reinstalled XP a few days ago and now realize I should have done it a while back. Windows loads up and runs very responsively now.

Sometimes when you do a repair, you will still need to re-install some apps since the registration data may get changed.
The best thing to do is run the MS program Sysprep before you replace all the parts.
I am still running a 6 year old XP install and changed mobo/video/cpu/ram about 4 times and Main OS hard drives 3 times using Sysprep and Norton Ghost (used ghost when changing drives)