a good backup software for dissimilar & same hardware

If you need also a partition manager buy the bundle (= all their products) $49.98.

If you only need to backup and restore buy the Image for windows from bitsdujour $33.10.
With Image for windows, they'll also give you a license of Image for Linux, Image for Dos, and the deployment suite (for hardware independent restore).

Panagiotis

 

Interesting topic. I've always thought that certain products like Paragon Drive Copy might prove to be useful when you eventually need to purchase a new PC. However, I'd imagine most personal computers are running OEM licenses for their OS. Surely, you would not be able to migrate your existing Win 7 OEM-based OS to a new PC, because your OEM license is tied your motherboard? Has anyone had any luck doing this?

If you were to purchase a new PC (or replace your motherboard), would you have anymore success if you migrated your Win 7 OEM-based OS to a VM instead of a separate partition on the new PC? I've always assumed that you would need to purchase a new Win7 retail license.

I've always found it difficult to find this information on a software developers web-site or datasheet - Not even in a fine-print. They wouldn't want to discourage sales after all.

 

Volare,

if you replace an OEM license to a new motherboard, you have to buy a new license key. What you can do it reset windows back to a 30 day trial, then you are good to go.

All you do then is buy a new license and you have a full machine restored to different hardware.

We have had to do this a few times for some businesses, when the board dies etc, unless we get the exact motherboard along with a backup of the activation, the OEM will be still activated.

Now with a retail key, you can use this on different motherboards etc.

"A. Generally, an end user can upgrade or replace all of the hardware components on a computer—except the motherboard—and still retain the licence for the original Microsoft OEM operating system software. If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created. Microsoft OEM operating system software cannot be transferred to the new computer, and the licence of new operating system software is required. If the motherboard is replaced because it is defective, you do not need to acquire a new operating system license for the PC as long as the replacement motherboard is the same make/model or the same manufacturer's replacement/equivalent, as defined by the manufacturer's warranty."

 

Hi legacy

Thanks for sharing. Your explanation is just what I thought. Its good to hear it coming from someone who has experienced it.

I guess that would mean when I buy a new machine, which is likely to come with a Win 8 OEM license, in order to migrate/copy my existing Win 7 image over to the new machine and create a dual-boot PC (W8 & W7) , I'd have to buy a new Win 7 license to activate it again. What if you migrated/converted your W7 image to a VM so you can just load it when needed in your new PC? Would you still need to buy a new W7 license for a VM? I'm guessing the same concept would hold true.

I must say, I'm glad I never bought the W8 introductory offer - it makes more sense to buy a W8 system builder license.

Cheers,

 

OEM licenses generally cannot be transferred to another computer, or to a virtual machine. If you use the VMware Fusion Migrate Your PC feature to migrate one of these types of systems to a virtual machine, you might be required to purchase a second license (or product key) from Microsoft. If a second product key is required, you can get that through the Microsoft representative when you call Microsoft Support to activate the operating system now residing in the virtual machine.
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With a retail license, when you buy Windows from a vendor, the license enables you to change platforms as often as you want. In this case, you can reactivate Windows over the Internet, or by phone with Microsoft Support.
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With an enterprise license, you can move the operating system around freely.

best regards



Legacy

 

As Windows 8 built-in many new hardware drivers, generally it can restore to different PC without any special steps.
Therefore, you just need to use dissimilar restore feature when it cannot restore directly. But I think it is not much chances in Windows 8.

 

You don't need a special image/restore app to do this. Use your favourite app. Before booting the restored OS, run the OSD Tool Script from TBOSDT Pro.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/tbosdt.htm

Instructions are in the pdf.

As a test, I created an image of a Win8 OS on a SSD. The MB in the source computer is an Asus Z77 Sabertooth. The image was restored to a 7 year old Dell Dimension 9150 with conventional HDs. Win8 on the Dell works fine but it is certainly slower than Win8 on the SSD. As expected.