Windows 7 forum: Migrating Classic Collector Program

All of my favorite programs as far back as Windows 2000 run fine on XP, Windows 7, and Windows 8.
Microsoft at Windows 2000 started using a new hard drive format called "NTFS" which prevented a lot of crashes and allowed for bigger hard drives.

Windows 7 home premium, and Pro both support running XP in a "virtual environment". Even for DOS programs.
Good news with NTFS.
The programs that ran well on Windows 2000 with NTFS formatting on the hard drive, have been moved by my reinstalling them on XP, Win-7, and Win-8; because they (Originally) ran on NTFS formatting.
Windows 7 Home Premium allows a right click on a program to run as: [Windows 2000], [xp], and others.
Therefore, your [Classic Collection] should run fine.
Here are several more suggestions for how to move and run your favorite program (programs):
1) Purchase an external USB floppy drive for your (all-in-one desktop).
2) Purchase several (at least 2) 16gb, or 32gb thumb drives; that will support "Ready Boost" They are rated the fastest if they will support ready boost.
3) Use one 32gb Flash drive as "Ready Boost" or a place to run "stand alone programs".
4-a) Drag and drop the contents of each floppy disk into a corresponding floppy disk folder on a thumb drive.
Make a folder on your flash drive called (Classic_Collection_Install) for an example; and inside that have a separate folder for each floppy disk. Example: FD_01, FD_02, FD_03, etc.
4-b) As you stated, the Classic Collector developer has made it available as a free download.
My option would be to obtain the free download, and burn it onto a CD/DVD and another for backup.

5)-a Now, on XP you will need to find your (Classic Collection) folder and any affiliated sub folders.
5)-b Copy the complete Folder, (or set of folders) to an external hard drive. This may run for several hours depending on the size of your collection.
5)-c On the XP machine "Copy" everything to an external drive, vs moving data. Everything will be intact on XP, in case of a power failure or a glitch.
6)-a Install the [Classic Collector downloaded] {program} on your new (all-in-one desktop).
6)-b The Classic Collector downloaded {program} should have used the same default directories on Windows 7, as it did on XP. Therefore find the folders on Windows 7, with the same names as the folders you just backed up by copying to your external hard drive. Be careful here: Both sets of folders have the same name; the external copies from your XP machine with all your precious data, and time involved: and, - on the Win-7 machine empty folders, or just 'sample data'. You should copy the data from (inside the folders) on the external drive, into the same named folder on the new (all-in-one desktop).
7) Now, start the Classic Collector program the same way you did on XP; and it should run fine. You may have to wait for it to index all the data you copied into it; because it installed using original samples, and doesn't know what you dropped into it. So, don't panic if doesn't seem to be doing anything at first.
Note:
If you have trouble finding where directories, or files are stored; setting for both operating systems are the same.
XP and Win-7. In each [windows explorer] go to the top line, click >>[Tools], >>[Folder Options], >>[View];
>>[Advanced Settings] box. Now check the circle - [Show hidden files and folders].
Uncheck [Hide extensions for known file types]
Uncheck [Hide protected operating system files]
[Apply]
Go back to the top of the page and click on the tab [Apply to all folders]. Answer [Yes]
Perform this operation on both machines. Finding names and files of you collection on XP should now be easy.
Once you collection is moved to Win-7; test everything. Then reverse the [Explorer Folder] settings to hide system folders and files.
Done.
There are many [Stand - alone] programs that run inside a directory, with sub-directories. They do not install into the windows registry; or into the program files area. They may send an icon to the desktop to start a specific program each time it is wanted. These are the easiest programs to move. Just copy the complete [Directory] set from one computer to another. The ReadMe file would have you send an icon to the desktop and the program is ready to use.