Moving hard drive from computer to computer?

[Eric R Snow]

To the group,
I have software that is licensed for only one machine. Extra licenses
are expensive but I'd like to use the software at home also. Instead
of buying a laptop (also expensive) could the software be put on a
hard drive (cheap) and moved from machine to machine? I know that
this is possible if all machines are using the same windows version
and the same processor but the three machines are all different. One
machine has the celeron chip and runs windows XP, another has a
pentium 2 and is only running DOS 6.22 (which is all the software
requires), and the last machine has an AMD athlon chip and is running
windows 98. I was thinking the drive would be designated F because my
camera is designated E.
Thank You,
Eric R Snow,
E T Precision Machine

 

[the Wiz]

Eric R Snow <etpm@whidbey.com> wrote:

To the group,
I have software that is licensed for only one machine. Extra licenses
are expensive but I'd like to use the software at home also. Instead
of buying a laptop (also expensive) could the software be put on a
hard drive (cheap) and moved from machine to machine? I know that
this is possible if all machines are using the same windows version
and the same processor but the three machines are all different. One
machine has the celeron chip and runs windows XP, another has a
pentium 2 and is only running DOS 6.22 (which is all the software
requires), and the last machine has an AMD athlon chip and is running
windows 98. I was thinking the drive would be designated F because my
camera is designated E.
Thank You,
Eric R Snow,
E T Precision Machine

Possible - yes

Practical - maybe

I use a drive carrrier to change the secondary hard drive in a Win98 PC that is
used as a test server and a backup machine (backup 30GB laptop drive to 30 GB
secondary drive over the network).

The configuration works OK most of the time, but Win98 doesn't like having
drives added after it's booted (a capability 98 is supposed to have).

There may also be a problem with the configuration of the primary drive on the
controller. Some drives can be configured as master whether there is a slave
device or not; others need to configured as stand-alone if there's only one
drive and master if there are two drives (on that controller). If the master
drive is one of these, it may not work well when the second drive is not
present.

The designation of the drive is usually determined by the PC (as found during
boot), although some OS versions allow setting the drive letter.

Another possibility is how the vendor defines the license. Is it per machine or
per seat? If it's per machine, then the movable hard drive will meet that
requirement. If it's per seat, then they may allow installing the software on a
second PC, as long as both PCs won't be in use at the same time (Borland had
this policy on some of their development software). This is something that only
the vendor can answer.

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Drivers for Pablo graphics tablet and JamCam cameras: http://home.earthlink.net/~mwbt/
johnecarter at@at mindspring dot.dot com. Fix the obvious to reply by email.

 

[Ian Gowen]

Eric R Snow <etpm@whidbey.com> wrote in message news:<uu4m50h20ntqkuq6tlm9snvipl7321v8qt@4ax.com>...

To the group,
I have software that is licensed for only one machine. Extra licenses
are expensive but I'd like to use the software at home also. Instead
of buying a laptop (also expensive) could the software be put on a
hard drive (cheap) and moved from machine to machine? I know that
this is possible if all machines are using the same windows version
and the same processor but the three machines are all different. One
machine has the celeron chip and runs windows XP, another has a
pentium 2 and is only running DOS 6.22 (which is all the software
requires), and the last machine has an AMD athlon chip and is running
windows 98. I was thinking the drive would be designated F because my
camera is designated E.
Thank You,
Eric R Snow,
E T Precision Machine

Eric, since the program runs in DOS, it probably doesn't have the
product activation "features" that modern Microsoft, Symantec, and
Intuit products have. These programs require you to connect to the
company's website and punch in your serial number. The program then
takes a hardware profile of your computer, uploads it to the company's
server, and attaches your serial number to it. This causes the software
to only be able to be installed on the same computer.
If the software isn't like that, you can go ahead and install the
software on as many computers as you like; even though it's only
"licensed" for one computer, the maker of the software's never gonna
know, right? Licensing agreements are mostly BS anyway.
However, if you want to be totally kosher, you can buy hard drive
enclosures that fit in an 5.25" drive bay that you hook up your IDE &
power cables to, and another doohickey that fits over the hard drive
itself that allows it to slide in and out of the enclosure easily. Just
stick it in the hole, start up the computer, and your drive is ready to
go. Just make sure you turn the computer off before inserting/removing
the drive.
The drive letters are pretty much irrelevant.

Hope this helps

--Ian

 

[Jerry G.]

You can install a carrier adaptor in each machine, known as a removable hard
disk kit. The disk position in the machine's set-up must be set up to be
removable.

As for the software, it normally would install with particular indexing and
pointers in its initiation and system files, to match the particular
machine. This is for especially something like MS Office, or others on that
level of sophistication. These software's also make keycode and set-up
entries in the registry of the particular machine. I have my doubts that it
will run properly, unless it is a simple program.

If the program is an old DOS type program that is not registry depended,
then it would most likely run. It may need some configuration set-ups if
anything, depending on what it is. In the DOS machines, I don't think having
a removable disk drive will be an easy task. In the Windows based machine,
this can be done. Depending on the set-up, and controller the machine must
be shut down. In XP, you must go in to the set-up and tell it that the disk
drive is to be removed. If you want to spend a few extra dollars, you can
install a controller that will allow a hot removable external drive. The
cost of this would most likely be more than buying another copy of your
software.

Since you are a single user, and not distributing the software, I doubt very
much that there would be any contest to copyright infringement. Companies
will normally get aggravated when copies of their software are made for
distribution, or use on multiple machines at the same time. You are
however, allowed to make backups of a software for yourself, and to test it
on other machines to verify that the backup is in fact working properly.

As for myself, I would find a way to have the software installed on both
machines, even if it means another license. If this is for a business
application, the cost should able to be written off anyways.


--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"Eric R Snow" <etpm@whidbey.com> wrote in message
news:uu4m50h20ntqkuq6tlm9snvipl7321v8qt@4ax.com...
To the group,
I have software that is licensed for only one machine. Extra licenses
are expensive but I'd like to use the software at home also. Instead
of buying a laptop (also expensive) could the software be put on a
hard drive (cheap) and moved from machine to machine? I know that
this is possible if all machines are using the same windows version
and the same processor but the three machines are all different. One
machine has the celeron chip and runs windows XP, another has a
pentium 2 and is only running DOS 6.22 (which is all the software
requires), and the last machine has an AMD athlon chip and is running
windows 98. I was thinking the drive would be designated F because my
camera is designated E.
Thank You,
Eric R Snow,
E T Precision Machine

 

[Art]

Get a USB Hard Drive Kit for each machine and install the drive into this
device for the business machine. Then just unplug it from that machine and
take it to your residence. BTW you may be able to use the same USB Hard
Drive Kit for both machines if you install the appropriate drivers on the
machines. Circuit City has a fair price on the available hardware, inclusive
of a new hard drives if interested.
"Jerry G." <jerryg50@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c3g8ko$630$2@news.eusc.inter.net...

You can install a carrier adaptor in each machine, known as a removable
hard
disk kit. The disk position in the machine's set-up must be set up to be
removable.

As for the software, it normally would install with particular indexing
and
pointers in its initiation and system files, to match the particular
machine. This is for especially something like MS Office, or others on
that
level of sophistication. These software's also make keycode and set-up
entries in the registry of the particular machine. I have my doubts that
it
will run properly, unless it is a simple program.

If the program is an old DOS type program that is not registry depended,
then it would most likely run. It may need some configuration set-ups if
anything, depending on what it is. In the DOS machines, I don't think
having
a removable disk drive will be an easy task. In the Windows based machine,
this can be done. Depending on the set-up, and controller the machine must
be shut down. In XP, you must go in to the set-up and tell it that the
disk
drive is to be removed. If you want to spend a few extra dollars, you can
install a controller that will allow a hot removable external drive. The
cost of this would most likely be more than buying another copy of your
software.

Since you are a single user, and not distributing the software, I doubt
very
much that there would be any contest to copyright infringement. Companies
will normally get aggravated when copies of their software are made for
distribution, or use on multiple machines at the same time. You are
however, allowed to make backups of a software for yourself, and to test
it
on other machines to verify that the backup is in fact working properly.

As for myself, I would find a way to have the software installed on both
machines, even if it means another license. If this is for a business
application, the cost should able to be written off anyways.


--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"Eric R Snow" <etpm@whidbey.com> wrote in message
news:uu4m50h20ntqkuq6tlm9snvipl7321v8qt@4ax.com...
To the group,
I have software that is licensed for only one machine. Extra licenses
are expensive but I'd like to use the software at home also. Instead
of buying a laptop (also expensive) could the software be put on a
hard drive (cheap) and moved from machine to machine? I know that
this is possible if all machines are using the same windows version
and the same processor but the three machines are all different. One
machine has the celeron chip and runs windows XP, another has a
pentium 2 and is only running DOS 6.22 (which is all the software
requires), and the last machine has an AMD athlon chip and is running
windows 98. I was thinking the drive would be designated F because my
camera is designated E.
Thank You,
Eric R Snow,
E T Precision Machine

 

[Dimitrij Klingbeil]

"Art" <stubby@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:u7GdnR_nLq7GgMHdRVn-tA@comcast.com...

Get a USB Hard Drive Kit for each machine and install the drive into this
device for the business machine. Then just unplug it from that machine and
take it to your residence. BTW you may be able to use the same USB Hard
Drive Kit for both machines if you install the appropriate drivers on the
machines. Circuit City has a fair price on the available hardware,
inclusive
of a new hard drives if interested.

And how is software for DOS supposed to work with USB? Unless the software
is not to be used with the DOS 6.22 machine any longer, USB is out of the
question. After all, since the software is probably not especially new, and
has most likely no online activation features (hard to imagine with DOS),
why not trash the license and use the prog where necessary. Since the
intention is not to sell copies by the thousands and there is no
registration info transmitted to the company, one copy for personal use
should be pretty much safe.

P.S.: Legal notice to all lawyers lurking on the usenet: I do not encourage
anyone to do as described above.

 

[Watson A.Name \"Watt Sun]

Eric R Snow wrote:

To the group,
I have software that is licensed for only one machine. Extra licenses
are expensive but I'd like to use the software at home also. Instead
of buying a laptop (also expensive) could the software be put on a
hard drive (cheap) and moved from machine to machine? I know that
this is possible if all machines are using the same windows version
and the same processor but the three machines are all different. One
machine has the celeron chip and runs windows XP, another has a
pentium 2 and is only running DOS 6.22 (which is all the software
requires), and the last machine has an AMD athlon chip and is running
windows 98. I was thinking the drive would be designated F because my
camera is designated E.
Thank You,
Eric R Snow,
E T Precision Machine

It will not work. Post your questions to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc
or whatever newsgroup.

 

[Dr Engelbert Buxbaum]

Eric R Snow wrote:

To the group,
I have software that is licensed for only one machine. Extra licenses
are expensive but I'd like to use the software at home also. Instead
of buying a laptop (also expensive) could the software be put on a
hard drive (cheap) and moved from machine to machine? I know that
this is possible if all machines are using the same windows version
and the same processor but the three machines are all different. One
machine has the celeron chip and runs windows XP, another has a
pentium 2 and is only running DOS 6.22 (which is all the software
requires), and the last machine has an AMD athlon chip and is running
windows 98.

There are IDE hard disks available that can be slotted into special
racks in a computer. They are used for work with very confidential data
(i.e. in banking), the drives are kept in a vault over night. However,
these solutions are expensive.

For anything running Win98 and higher, you can use hard disks that
connect to the USB port. Win98 will need a driver for them, and the
computers will not be able to boot from USB devices. Younger computers
can do that, and younger win versions have the driver for USB storage
devices build in. This solution will not work with DOS, however.

 

[Tim Auton]

Dr Engelbert Buxbaum <engelbert_buxbaum@hotmail.com> wrote:

Eric R Snow wrote:

To the group,
I have software that is licensed for only one machine. Extra licenses
are expensive but I'd like to use the software at home also. Instead
of buying a laptop (also expensive) could the software be put on a
hard drive (cheap) and moved from machine to machine?

There are IDE hard disks available that can be slotted into special
racks in a computer. They are used for work with very confidential data
(i.e. in banking), the drives are kept in a vault over night. However,
these solutions are expensive.

Removable IDE caddies are cheap. Perhaps 20-40 euros/dollars. They're
just a drawer which holds the drive (which costs extra!), a holder
which fits into a 5 1/4" bay (you'd need two - one per machine - so
you'll probably have to buy two caddies) and a couple of connectors.

You might have to take the OS along with the software you want to
shift (ie boot from the hard drive you carry around), it depends on
how the software is integrated with the OS. Registry keys indicating a
valid registration spring to mind.


Tim
--
Love is a travelator.

 

[Tim Auton]

Tim Auton <tim.auton@uton.[groupSexWithoutTheY]> wrote:

Dr Engelbert Buxbaum <engelbert_buxbaum@hotmail.com> wrote:
Eric R Snow wrote:

To the group,
I have software that is licensed for only one machine. Extra licenses
are expensive but I'd like to use the software at home also. Instead
of buying a laptop (also expensive) could the software be put on a
hard drive (cheap) and moved from machine to machine?
[snip]
You might have to take the OS along with the software you want to
shift (ie boot from the hard drive you carry around), it depends on
how the software is integrated with the OS. Registry keys indicating a
valid registration spring to mind.

Ooops, I forgot the bit about DOS. Copying (pirating!) it will likely
be trivial in that case. If I were you I'd just install it on both and
then not use them both at once. Not legal, but surely no more
dishonest than shifting it around on a disk. You could argue the one
you weren't using at that time was a backup (which is legal in most
places), but I doubt it would stand up in court!


Tim
--
Love is a travelator.

 

[Bill Vajk]

Tim Auton wrote:

> wrote:

Dr Engelbert Buxbaum <engelbert_buxbaum@hotmail.com> wrote:

Eric R Snow wrote:


To the group,
I have software that is licensed for only one machine. Extra licenses
are expensive but I'd like to use the software at home also. Instead
of buying a laptop (also expensive) could the software be put on a
hard drive (cheap) and moved from machine to machine?

[snip]

You might have to take the OS along with the software you want to
shift (ie boot from the hard drive you carry around), it depends on
how the software is integrated with the OS. Registry keys indicating a
valid registration spring to mind.


Ooops, I forgot the bit about DOS. Copying (pirating!) it will likely
be trivial in that case. If I were you I'd just install it on both and
then not use them both at once. Not legal, but surely no more
dishonest than shifting it around on a disk. You could argue the one
you weren't using at that time was a backup (which is legal in most
places), but I doubt it would stand up in court!

I wouldn't hesitate for a second putting it on two computers. The
implication in copyrights (regardless of the purbisher's attempts
at selling more copies) is "used on one computer at a time."