Restore to a new PC

When I build a new PC with a later model motherboard and CPU, I will still want to run my current version of Windows XP Pro. I'm using TI8.

What's the procedure to restore windows XP to a new PC from TI8's tib file? Is it written up somewhere? I did a search but did not find a procedure.

Thanks,
Skyhawk

 

Change the display adapter on the present system to Standard VGA, then make an Image of it. After you have the Image you can then change back the display adapter to what it was.

When you restore that Image on the new system and boot, it will go through a whole slew of "Found New Hardware" pop-ups. Let it complete that.

After it is done with the "Found New Hardware", check in Device Manager for the display adapter and do the Update Driver thing using the driver you have for the actual display card on the new system.

 

How does one do that?

Thanks,
Len

 

If you uninstall the current video driver (NVidia, for example), Windows will revert to the standard VGA driver.

 

Trying to understand the procedure.

I have a TI8 rescue CD that was created on my current Asus P4C800E motherboard with a P4 CPU. I do all of my backups as the entire system hard drive to a different data hard drive saved in a tib file.

If I build a new PC with a different manufacturer's motherboard and a Core 2 Duo CPU, will that rescue CD boot and do the restore from the data hard drive to a new system hard drive error free? And then the restored hard drive boot WinXP and reconfigure itself with all of the slew of "Found new hardware" pop ups?

Thanks for the help,
Skyhawk

 

The more different the hardware is, the less chance of it working in this type of a switch. TI 8 may not see the hardware on the new board. You may need to use the TI 2009 trial version, for example.

If you can't set the VGA driver to standard, you may be able to boot into Windows Safe Mode after the restore and uninstall an existing video driver and, possibly, any other drivers that may cause problems.

If it works, there will be a bunch of found hardware pop-ups and drivers will need to be installed. If you get to that point, it will probably work out okay for you. One of the biggest problems is the chipset controller and especially the drive controller. Those can cause lock-ups or a BSOD on boot-up.

 

The "If it works" sounds about what I was afraid of. Maybe I should forget about restoring from a backup and just bite the bullet and do a complete new install of WinXP Pro and all of the drivers and software I use on the new PC. From past experience this will take at least 2 or 3 full days to do with a lot of waiting for loading though....sigh.

Thanks,
Skyhawk

 

"If it works" is just that. However, keep in mind that you really don't have anything to lose by trying (except for the restore time). You're doing the restore to a different drive so the original is still safe and if it doesn't work, you can do a clean install.

There is also the option of doing a Repair Install of Windows that may allow the system to work correctly if the above method fails. Both are quick to try and a lot faster than starting from scratch if either works.

 

MudCrab and DwnNDrty,

Thanks for your suggestions. The repair install sounds like a good possible alternate method too.

Thanks again,
Skyhawk

 

BTW, there are two other options .... one is to use the free Microsoft tool called SysPrep which, I think, does essentially the same thing as changing the display adapter to Standard VGA plus some other things I'm not familiar with.

And the second option will cost you ... and that is to use Acronis Echo Workstation with the add-on called Universal Restore (an extra cost add-on).

 

Hi Dwn,

Thanks for those additional options. I'll probably try option-1 if I need to but, since I'm not rich (cheap), will do a new install of WinXP Pro instead of option-2.

Thanks,
Skyhawk

 

Let me just pop in here, having done this many times [but not with an image] You want to reduce your current machine to as low a performer, ie, bare bones vanilla, as you can.

go into device manager and right click to uninstall every driver you can, network, sound, printers, anything and everything you can.

pay close attention to getting the lowest VGA standard video display. Video drivers will cause more havoc than anything else on the transfer.

disconnect every toy you have, burners, printers, usd things, etc.

reduce the machine to bare bones.

copy that image.

on the new machine, as you build it, do the same thing:
begin with only the motherboard, cpu, ram, video card, disk reader, and hard drive

no toys, no usb things, no extra drives, nothing

use the repair mode in the XP disk; note, the option to repair actually comes up twice--very confusing, but you want the second one

on the first boot, go to safemode. If you cannot reach safemode, you will never reach normal mode.

if safemode okay, reboot to normal. solve all problems at that level before adding any more devices or fancy video drivers.

one tiny step at a time. If you try to gag everything at once, you could have problems that are really difficult to find

 

Hey Robert,

That sounds like really good advice! Thanks a lot for taking the time to post all of that good info! Makes total sense.

Skyhawk