Registar on Linux. How to replace hard drive.

[david13]

We have an old computer with a store program, Registar. They system runs on Linux or other non dos system, and the company is long out of business.
How can we replace the ancient hard drive?
And get the operating system off it, as well as the program?
We have the set up disks from another store, is there any way to get into that to change the address to the right store?
We haven't been able to do that either.
We tried a computer store, and he couldn't do it. Apparently the previous owner from the computer store knew who to sent it to, or where to get it done, but ...
What about a transfer program? Is there one that would transfer the os and the program, and still have them work?
We don't know a lot about computers, and have never had good luck getting people who do know to work on our systems.
dc

[Dead_Parrot]

1. Could run through that again?

It sounds like you want to put a new hard drive in, copy everything over from the old drive, then take the old drive out and run from the new drive - which I can run you through easily enough, but I'm having trouble imagining a computer shop that can't do it (unless it's one of those retail box-shifters filled with spotty imbeciles).

Is that about right?

[struggle4progress]

2. Learn about the dd command. I bet you could pull the old drive and slap it into an

usb enclosure; install the new drive; boot from a Live CD in order; and then clone the old drive to the new one

http://www.backuphowto.info/linux-backup-hard-disk-clone-dd
http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid39_gci1244256,00.html
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/how-to-clone-an-ubuntu-linux-drive-using-dd-and-is-it-the-same-as-ghost-700926/

[david13]

3. The major problem we had was that we could not access the hard

drive. However, we did get that to work again.
The store could not access the hard drive either. They could only send it out to someone else. And they didn't know who could do that, as he is a new owner.
Apparently the old owner knew who to sent it to.
A lab, I guess. But which one?
dc

[Occulus]

4. Yank the hard drive, put it in a PC that's running linux, and copy it to a new drive

Be VERY careful. I would strongly suggest making a mirror of the hard drive in question, preferably before you touch the hardware, although that may not be possible.

Your best option by far is to upgrade to something modern. The name "Registar" suggests retail use to me, and there are surely several (open source, even!) contemporary options available that run in a linux environment.

I suggest an upgrade to something commercially or professionally extant every time someone says "the company has gone out of business". Upgrade to something new NOW. Your support for your system no longer exists and I bet you don't have the source code.

Just my $.02 advice.