Restoring Image To New System

Dear users,
I'd like to know if you can restore a full system image to a computer which is newer and has completely different hardware.
Basically, I have an old Dell Dimension 3000 with XP Home and I'm planning to buy a New DELL.
I'd restore with XP as I'm not fond of Vista and will wait for Windows 7.

 

With enough duct tape, you can. but might not want to. Generally it's a good idea with new hardware to install the OS fresh and start ove- avoiding those multitudes of errors that system has accumualated over time.

to do it, you need to use Universal Resotre (a pay for add on) or use windows sysprep, which removes the machine specific ahrdware dirvers and sutitutes some generic ones) and then add the hardware drivers before you run the restored OS.

 

Keep in mind also that some new systems do not have XP drivers for the various pieces of hardware inside it.

 

Also keep in mind that your current version of XP may be an OEM version and as such will be tied to your old hardware and will not be transferrable.

If your new Dell comes with Vista already installed and you blow this away with XP you may lose any support that Dell would normally provide.

Have you looked at Dell Outlets web site? There you can find re manufactured returns which are good as new. Some models come with XP installed. Good savings over full retail.

Also have a look at the official Dell support site and follow the links to the user forum where your kind of problem is almost certainly covered.

Xpilot

 

Hello all,

Thank you for using Acronis Corporate Products

ameneses54, if you are interested in transferring the OS to a dissimilar hardware and you don't expect any issues with Dell support, you can use Acronis True Image Echo Workstation with Acronis Universal Restore

Acronis True Image Echo 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.

Thank you.

--
Oleg Lee

 

I sort of had asked about doing the same thing (the thread that I started concerned copying image from eide drive to a scsi drive). In fact, I have XP and all of my applications and data working fine on my old machine but I have recently obtained a newer/better machine. My original intent was just to move my eide drive to the new machine, but I discovered the new machine has a scsi drive which, presumably, will perform better than the eide. So my plan changed to move the image rather than the drive itself.

Actually, based on what I have read at various other websites and forums, I believe this is doable and the steps are detailed at this website http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html Basically, whether moving a hard drive or moving the image of the drive from one machine to the other, it sounds like this can be accomplished using a repair/install of XP. Even without doing that step, the worst I would envision is that as XP starts up, it will find the different hardware and ask to install the devices and appropriate drivers. Am I wrong on this?

Doug

 

Hello Doug,

In my reply to the OP I was pointing out some of the problems that might make the transfer to a new computer very difficult if not impossible. In the absence of information as to whether the original installation was pre-installed by Dell which is the norm.

If your system was user installed from a retail XP CD and you have the CD available the M Steven's method can be used. Follow the steps carefully. In particular do not boot into Windows after you have transferred your system to the new computer. Instead you should boot from the XP CD and do the repair install and only after that boot into Windows.
Windows activation will be necessary though provided the XP you have has a valid license number this will not be a problem.

Xpilot

Xpilot