Restore to new PC

[bobspeck]

Can I restore my backup'd pc to a new pc? I have the backup file on an external hard drive.

 

Bob Speck

[tbrewst]

True Image will work well.Not sure you need the Workstation version but it will work.It will also create an image just like you were trying to do.Any time you restore using an image you are wiping out your existing installation and replacing it with the installation on the image.This puts the Windows installation from your old machine on your new one.

What the others were saying is that if you use an image on a different machine then the hardware is different and when Windows tries to start it may not be happy.This is very common like they said

[bobspeck]

What do you mean by reactivate Windows? What is meant by BSOD? What do you mean by doing a backup restore on a different motherboard? If I'm restoring to a new PC, wouldn't I be restoring to a different motherboard?

I backed up with Backup MYPC, version 6.

The two machines are very similar. The are both IBM Thinkpad laptops with XP. They both have logical partitions C to L made by Partition Magic. I would be restoring to the same partitions. I organize my applications by logical drive. I have 114 programs installed on the old laptop so you can see why I would like to avoid having to reinstall all of them. I'm sure reinstalling files is not a problem. The problem, if there is one, is will the programs run OK.

Why would I have to reinstall the drivers, and why would the registry entries for the drivers be wrong?

 

Bob Speck

[gi7omy]

BSOD = Blue Screen Of Death (what you see when Windows decides to crash)

 

XP alwaye required online or phone activation on installation and also when there were major changes to the hardware.

 

'Similar' doesn't mean anything really - unless they are IDENTICAL, your system is almost certain to fail because of fundamental differences in the chipset. Every chipset has specific drivers, usually optimised for a particular motherboard and these aren't interchangable and a straight transfer from one board to another is almost certain to fail.

[marlinsinger]

Can I restore my backup'd pc to a new pc? I have the backup file on an external hard drive.

 

Bob Speck

 

It will depend. What did you backup with? What OS is on the new system?

If you used BUMP and have Win XP, you should be able to as long as Windows and BUMP are installed first. Be aware, that you will probably have to reactivate windows after the install as it will look like a different system to the old windows.

Myself, I would probably just reinstall everything and clean out some of the junk that has accumulted from installs/uninstalls. Then just restore those data files I need.

[gi7omy]

As marlinsinger says, you should do a fresh install of everything.

 

The problem with using backup, ghost, etc on a new machine is that all the drivers and their corresponding registry entries will be completely wrong and, even if you are lucky enough to get it to boot (which is, at best a 10% chance) you will have to install all the new drivers anyway. In my experience you are far more likely to get a BSOD by doing a backup restore on a different motherboard.

 

It's fine if you are using a few machines that are identical but not if they aren't

[bobspeck]

I have found a program that will allow me to transfer the contents of my old pc including programs to my new pc: Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation. I have not tried it yet, but the sales rep in a live chat assured me this program would allow me to transfer the contents of my old pc to my new pc.

 

Bob Speck