Install to New Computer Hard Drive

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by Bagalot, Aug 8, 2009.

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  1. Bagalot

    Bagalot Registered Member

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    Being somewhat of a novice with the use of Acronis True Image Home, my question is rather basic;

    If I back up my current computer hard drive to an external hard drive (using Acronis True Image), can I then transfer that data to a new PC which I intend to purchase shortly? Secondly, can I just select certain documents/programs for transfer to the new PC?:rolleyes:

    Thanks,
    Bagalot
     
  2. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    If you make a "Data" backup, rather than an image of the disk, you can select what you want to include in it and also restore from it. Note that you cannot move any programs that are installed in Windows by copying - they have to be installed from the original installation program.

    Easiest way to move the data files you want is to just use Windows Explorer to copy them to the external drive and then use it on the other machine to copy them from the external drive.

    Although it can often be done, it is not a good idea to make an image of your HD and then restore it to the new PC (it will overwrite whatever was on that partition on the new machine) since the drivers will not be the correct ones for the new machine.
     
  3. Wandering2

    Wandering2 Registered Member

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    Further to the above. The default for Windows during boot is to load all drivers before loading Windows. If the driver does not work in the system, it presumes something went wrong with the boot, and reboots. If it is the wrong driver, and it will certainly be so if you load an image to a different machine that is not identical in all respects to the original, it will simply refuse to boot at all or lock into an endless reboot cycle. The odds of it working are very tiny, and even then things will be broken.

    Good luck
     
  4. TheWeaz

    TheWeaz Registered Member

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    Can be done with a Windows Repair install after the restore.
     
  5. Wandering2

    Wandering2 Registered Member

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    You've been lucky. A Windows repair install will not replace missing drivers that are unique to a particular machine. It's not reliable.
     
  6. TheWeaz

    TheWeaz Registered Member

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    I was under the impression that was exactly what it did.
     
  7. Bagalot

    Bagalot Registered Member

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    I apologize for not responding earlier, but I really appreciate the information you've all provided - particularly from seekforever and Wondering2. Thanks a lot.

    Bagalot
     
  8. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello Bagalot,

    Thank you for using Acronis True Image

    I would like to add, that if you want to transfer the operating system to a dissimilar hardware, you should use Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Workstation with Acronis Universal Restore

    Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Workstation has a feature such as Acronis Universal Restore. Acronis Universal Restore provides an efficient solution for restoration of a hardware-independent system by replacing the crucial HAL and hard disk controller drivers. In the case of motherboard and CPU change the replacement of the crucial HAL is necessary.

    Acronis Universal Restore is an optional program feature.

    Please see the article Transferring Windows to Dissimilar Hardware for more information.

    Thank you.

    --
    Oleg Lee
     
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