Skip to main content

How To Move Windows Software To Another Hard Drive Without Breaking Anything



move windows softwareMove any Windows program to another hard drive, without breaking the program. If your primary hard drive is full, and what you’ve put on there is software, SymMover is what you’re looking for.
Many people add a second hard drive to their computer when the first one fills up. Moving files – such as music, videos or photos – is a simple matter. Moving software, at least on a Windows system, isn’t. Any attempt to manually move the folder containing the software will almost certainly result in software that no longer works.
SymMover solves this problem by moving the software, then using symbolic links to fool Windows into thinking your software is still located where it should be. And it’s not just for software – you can change the actual location of any folder without Windows noticing, making this a great tool for saving space on your drive.
SymMover only works on Windows Vista and Windows 7. Windows XP and 8 users are out of luck, at least for now. It also won’t work if your drives aren’t formatted NTFS, but if you’re using Vista or 7 that shouldn’t be a problem.

Warning!

Before I begin – a warning. This software is supposed to simply move things and add a symbolic link, but there’s always a chance something could go wrong when you’re messing around with system files like this. I’d highly recommend not using this for software you no longer have installation disks for, because there’s always a chance you’ll need to re-install something. You’ve been warned.
SymMover worked very well for me in my tests; that’s all I can say. Don’t write comments complaining that you broke something and are angry with me and/or the creators of this software.

Using SymMover

When you start up SymMover you won’t see much of anything, other than the space you currently have left on your two drives or partitions:
move windows software
To make use of this program you first have to add some applications or programs which you’d like to move. Click the “Add” button and you can get started.
move software from hard drive to another
You’ll find a list of programs installed on your computer, or you can manually browse to any folder. Be sure to set your destination as well; by default it will simply move everything to a “SymMover” folder on your “D” drive.
Once you’ve added some folders you can go back to the main window. From here you can start the moving process by clicking the green arrow. As you can see, I’m going to move a few of my biggest pieces of software.
move software from hard drive to another
For best results, use Nyan Cat Progress Bar. Otherwise you’ll simply see the usual green progress bar, which is boring and stupid:
move software from hard drive to another
When SymMover is done moving your software, you’re done! Open your software to make sure it still works, and feel free to browse to the destination folder if you’re curious about where everything is.
move windows software
As you can see, my test program (Boxee) is working just as it did before.

Download SymMover

Want to try this out? Click here to download SymMover. Like I said previously, this only works for Windows Vista and 7; XP users are out of luck, as are (currently) people testing the unreleased Windows 8.

Popular posts from this blog

How To Hide Text In Microsoft Word 2007, Reveal It & Protect It

Sometimes what we hide is more important than what we reveal. Especially, documents with sensitive information, some things are supposed to be ‘for some eyes only’. Such scenarios are quite common, even for the more un-secretive among us. You want to show someone a letter composed in MS Word, but want to keep some of the content private; or it’s an official letter with some part of it having critical data. As important as these two are, the most common use could involve a normal printing job. Many a time we have to print different versions of a document, one copy for one set of eyes and others for other sets. Rather than creating multiple copies and therefore multiple printing jobs, what if we could just do it from the same document?  That too, without the hassle of repeated cut and paste. We can, with a simple feature in MS Word – it’s just called Hidden and let me show you how to use it to hide text in Microsoft Word 2007. It’s a simple single click process. Open the docum...
1 comment
Read more

Boom, the startup that wants to build supersonic planes, just signed a massive deal with Virgin

Have you heard about Boom? Boom is a relatively new startup that’s aiming to build something pretty crazy. They’re not building an app… or a social network… or even some new gadget for the Kickstarter crowd. Boom wants to build planes. Really, really, really fast planes. Specifically, they’re trying to design and build a supersonic passenger plane that goes 2.2x the speed of sound. If all goes to plan, they’ll be able to shuttle people from New York to London in 3.5 hours, and SF to Tokyo in 4.5. Sound crazy? I wouldn’t disagree. It’s worth noting that the company is in the very early days for something as intensive, massive, and hugely expensive as designing and producing a passenger aircraft. They’re still working on their first prototype, and hope to fly it by late next year. But it’s also worth noting that the team behind the plane has some serious talent in its blood: the company’s 11 employees have collectively contributed to over 30 aircrafts — having worked on thin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Build Your Own Awesome Personal 3D Avatar with Avatara

Do you use social networks and want to build your own awesome 3D avatar? Maybe you want to send someone a cute cuddly image of yourself (kind of)? Or maybe you have your own ideas of what you would do with an Avatar… Well look no further than Avatara which I discovered from the MakeUseOf directory . You can create 3d avatars out of pre-set up templates or create your own from scratch. To start, visit Avatara’s homepage . You will see this screen: Click Get Started to umm, get started! That will take you to this screen: You see that you can build your own Avatar using an uploaded head shot like the Obama one above (just an example, guys). Or roll with one of their awesome avatars. I chose to start with a blank avatar by clicking Start with a blank avatar at the bottom of the screen. That takes you to here: I clicked on the filter at the top and told it to filter out everything but male characters and then I saw this: I rolled with Buck and continued. You need to click Select...
1 comment
Read more