How do I move my expansions downloaded to my pc, to origin? [ Edited ]

[BabyyBluuu]

I've already had issues before but, to make a long story short, my old pc had the sims 3 and every expansion and some stuff packs. However my motherboard got fried and the computer was completely gone, however luckily I still have the hard drive and when I looked, you can see the expansions I downloaded directly to my computer that failed to show up on origin which is why I wasn't getting any receipt and I was not going to pay $60 to replace all of the lost expansions. However I've run into a new problem, I have no clue how to transfer these files to origin so it can show up! I did the process where you insert the disk and put the code in which is why it was directly on my computer, it was only later that I started to get codes or purchase directly through origin. So can anyone help me get all of my expansions onto origin? And is it even possible to play the sims 3 on an external hard drive?

[puzzlezaddict]

@BabyyBluuu  You could transfer the installed data to your new computer, but the problem is, there are additional registry entries necessary to validate your install.  Without those, the game won't run no matter what kind of install you have.  Adding those entries basically requires installing the game, since you can't just copy and paste registry entries across computers.

If you still have the discs with their codes, you can register those codes in Origin now, provided you never did so before.  Then you could download the packs directly from Origin.  You could also install via disc and hope Origin recognizes those packs, although it doesn't always.  If you don't have the codes, you may be able to find them on your old hard drive.  This is the normal approach, when you're looking on the computer that has the registry entries:

https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2013/09/how-to-find-your-serial-number.html

It would be more complicated to find them on your old hard drive, but at least that should tell you where to look.

[BabyyBluuu]

Yea, I just got an enclosure today to hook up my old internal hard drive and make it a new external hard drive, hopefully, there's some kind of solution out there because instead of it being on my c drive its on my d drive so I hope that doesn't make it hard for my computer to find it. I found a couple of papers but the others are long gone. This new pc doesn't have a disk drive so I just have a bunch of cases with disks and nothing to do with them

[puzzlezaddict]

@BabyyBluuu  Each computer has its own distinct registry, and your new one won't be able to use the entries saved on the old hard drive, if they're even still there.  Without those entries, the packs won't be validated, and they won't load.

There are ways to try to access the registry entries on a recovered hard drive, although I'm not sure exactly how to go about doing it.  And the product codes are included, so if you do find them, you can easily register them in Origin.  Otherwise, this setup isn't likely to work.

The other option you could try is temporarily borrowing a disk drive from a friend and installing the packs that aren't registered in Origin.  As long as your newest pack (by the date EA released it) is installed from Origin, you shouldn't need a disc to play.

[BabyyBluuu]

There has GOT to be something, maybe I'm not putting in the right keywords when I'm searching this up because there is no way I'm buying these packs again when there's proof that I have bought them before and they were on my old computer. But the EA servers are apparently down so they can't help. When I try to look it up it's just not what I'm looking for.

[puzzlezaddict]

@BabyyBluuu  You can try these approaches to finding the data on your old hard drive:

https://www.poremsky.com/windows/how-to-open-a-registry-file-from-a-crashed-computer/

https://jchornsey.wordpress.com/2015/03/11/accessing-another-windows-computers-registry-from-a-disk-...

I've never done it myself, so I can't tell you whether these work.  Whatever you do though, back up your own computer's registry before messing around.  With the registry editor open, click File > Export, then save the entire registry to Documents or someplace else safe.

Again though, it's not a good idea to try to import the registry keys from your old hard drive directly to the registry on your computer.  This is just so you can grab the product keys and add them to your Origin account.