New Computer help

I have replaced my old computer with a new much more advanced computer. I have installed Windows XP. I would like to image or transfer all information from my Back Up drive to my new computer without transfering my old operating system. I am very much a novice in this area. I have True Image 9.0 as my back up program.

It there any place I can go to inorder to get the information I need in "laymans" langauge??

Thanks, John

 

Download the User Guide and look at Mounting image.

What you want to do is Mount your backup image. TI mounts it such that the image looks like it is another disk drive. You can then use Windows Explorer to locate and copy the desired folders/files to your new drive.

 

Thanks for your help.

John

 

There must be an eaiser way. How would you handle this problem? I am going from an old computer with Windows XP to a new computer with a much faster CPU. I know. I want all the information I have transfered but I know the new computer will have trouble with the Way Windows is setup. I tried to transfer the old drive but the comuter would not recognize Windows.

I really need an easy solution or should I just go to the GeekSquad and let them do it for $100.00??

 

Johnshaw101

I am a new user also. I used the process described by Seekforever and it is very straightforward. If you take a few minutes to read the documentation about imaging, I'm sure you'll agree.

 

Perhaps this may be what you need.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/deploy/mgrtfset.mspx

 

I don't understand why I have to go to all this trouble. I already have all files stored on my external backup hard drive and in my old computer. It seems that I should be able to hook up my external drive and transfer the file that way. What would happen if I clonned to my new drive and then reinstalled Windows?? Not that seems eaiser.

JOhn

 

John,
What is that you have on your external backup drive? Is it just your data files, images made from backing up your old drive, a mixture of both? I assumed you had images since we are in the TI forum and you mentioned Back Up drive and you mentioned you didn't want the OS recovered.

 

The alternatives you seem to have in mind all seem like more work and trouble than merely copying over the files you want form one drive to another. That's easily done by copying them from the image file, using the Mount selection in ATI.

It would be very messy at best to restore the entire image onto your new system drive. If you tried reinstalling windows again afterward, I think you would end up losing all the data files on the target drive anyway.

You could also do a files and directories restore from within ATI and specify new locations as appropriate, but mounting and copying is, imo much easier.


One of the great things about ATI images is that you can treat them just like a disk and read and copy files from them. All you have to do is have the file on a disk the computer can read and from within ATI Mount the image.

sh

 

Are the files you want to transfer in an image? If they are not in a image and you want to transfer them from one drive to another simply right click the file click copy then go to the drive where you want to put them right click then click paste and the files will be transfered. If they are in an image you will need to mount the image.

 

Hi jonshhaw101.
I am trying to work out what the problem is here. Could it be when you say you want to transfer information, you mean transfer applications which were installed on a previous operating system - rather than just data files.

If this is the case you will find it easier to reinstall the applications from scratch on your new OS. Because of the way (pre .Net) Windows works, applications and OS are intertwined.

If however by "information" you are talking about data which you have created using applications, all you need to do is mount your image in Explorer identify where the files are and copy them. This really is very straightforward.

Perhaps you could provide a bit more info about the obstacles you are hitting ?

F.

 

John, the data is there. But you'll need to find what you want, and move it to your new hard drive(s) and system manually. Step by step. Don't restore your old image to the new system, other than to an empty partition, from which you can mine data.

When I purchased TI after a hard drive failure (second internal HD containing boot files needed to load Windows) I hoped that the TI program itself would be capable of migrating data such as Outlook email folders, by using simple wizards, after I freshly installed Windows XP SP2 and MS Office. Of course, such automated search and restore capabilities are not part of True Image. The user needs to know exactly which files they want to restore, to where, and, to some extent, how.

As John seems to be pointing out, TI isn't an automated data recovery program, with wizards, search tools, and other options that work on a file-by-file level. Nor an automated data or program migration program that works on a program-by-program level, without clear user direction and management. John, in case you are asking this, TI can not restore your programs to your new computer, since Windows needs to have those programs installed and entered into its registry to run properly. You'll need to restore your programs one by one on the new system. Then add the data you want, such as emails, Word documents, etc.

Which is fine. Acronis, stick with the core capability of TI, imaging drives and partitions, and restoring those, but please spend less time promising the bells & whistles, like automated recovery, which only works in some cases. And not to a new system, for us normally competent Windows users.

 

If one may consider the information in the most recent post to be correct you may want to look into a PC to PC transfer program. In the past, I have made use of StompSoft's Easy PC Transfer http://www.stompsoft.com/easypctransfer.html to facility the exchange of information between my old and new PC. I mention this only because with it you are able to to selectively choose what you want to transfer and what you don't. This may make what you are trying to to a bit easier as there is a easy to use interface and the transfer can be done via cable or to a CD/DVD if you prefer.

 

Although you can permanently move your Email files(emails, address books), IE files (Favourites, History, Cookies, Links), My Documents, Desktop shortcuts etc onto a dedicated partition which can be backed up using ATI on a scheduled basis. This makes restoring this data following an OS reinstallation a piece of cake.

F.

 

Agreed. Of course, if you have done so before you crash. A well organized computer, with fully tested images and backups, is so nice to have. Now. But, I wasn't always so well prepared.