Using 'backup' of old to a new computer

I am very new to using ATI (11 build 8101). I have only done a back up on my old (5 years old) laptop (Win XP HE) once. My ignorance level on ATI is rather high as I have not had time to really familiarize myself with this wonderful product and I apologize for this. "playing" around with my data on my computer scares me too much to experiment which is why I would rather ask a question before I really get into trouble.
That said:
I purchased a used laptop with Windows XP Pro. I would like to use the backup on this newer computer. I am sure I can but not sure what I will find when all is done. One issue I had with my old backup software (a NERO product) was my AOL PFC was unusable and all my bookmarks in Firefox were gone. Will I have the same problem with my Acronis backup? If so is there a way to avoid this? No issues with backing up to this XP Pro O/S?

Thanks to any gurus who respond.

 

That old backup quite likely will not work on the newer laptop because of the different hardware on it. But there are some ways around this. One is to change the display on the old laptop to Standard VGA and then make a Backup.

You didn't say where you keep your Backup Images, but in the case of a laptop and for what you want to do, an external usb drive is the best option.

You should also make the bootable True Image Rescue CD in order to restore the Image to the other laptop. Once the Image is restored to the other laptop and it boots for the first time, it will go through a whole slew of "Found New Hardware" popups. Let it finish this procedure.

BTW, if you do restore that backup from the old laptop, it will wipe out XPPro on the other laptop and replace it with what was on the old one, XP Home.

In your situation, many people, myself included would prefer to reinstall the applications and just copy the data files over to the new laptop.

Another way to restore a backup from an old system to a new system, is to use SysPrep - however I don't have details on this method since I've never used it.

 

For desktops it might work, but not for laptops, also you will have to reactivate windows on the new laptop if it was successful. If you have the programs cd it might be easier to reload them on the windows xp pro laptop. True image is mainly for backing up and restoring an operating back to the same computer it came from.

If you have programs/settings on the old computer that you absolutely need to have on the windows xp pro laptop, you need to get a migrate program, pcmover or softrescue pro. That software will transfer programs/settings from one computer to another and leave the operating system behind.

 

Thanks for the advice about the backup wiping out the XP Pro and installing my old XP Home.

Yes, I have a 320GB external USB drive with the backup there.

If I just want to backup and restore the data files should I do only a "My Data (file-level backup of any set of files, folders, or an entire file category)"? I have all disks for my applications. That would take time but then I would save the newer computer's O/S which is certainly what I would want to do.

I have an older backup I did in July but I forgot which of the backup selections I used. How can I tell what I used? The backup file 'details' says "ToshibaA15Backup3.tib" (there are, additionally, 4, 5, & 6 listed, all done within 3 minutes of each other) Is this a "My Computer" backup?

My old computer, which has begun to act 'bogged down', I had thought to make a full backup and then to run its RESTORE disc then run the backup. Or should I really use that "MY DATA" backup? My older Toshiba A15 has plenty of HD space (110GB-91GB free) but it has been running sooooo sloooow lately. Maybe a reinstall of the O/S and restore the data or ?

 

For data files, just use Windows Explorer to copy them to the usb drive. No point making the process more complicated by using something like True Image for that. After you install the applications on the new system, then copy back the data from the usb drive.

Most likely all your data files are in the My Documents folder - it's a simple thing to copy that entire folder to the usb drive with Windows Explorer.

On the old system, if you have True Image installed there, you can use it to "mount" that image file to see what it consists of. If you no longer have True Image on it, then install it on the other computer, connect the usb drive, and use TI to mount the Image there. Mounting the Image will "open" it to let you see what is in it.

 

Hello all,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please accept our apologies for the delay with the response.

Acronis True Image Home can restore the image from one computer to another only if both computers have absolutely identical hardware configuration. If hardware configuration of your computers is different, we recommend you to use Acronis True Image Echo Workstation with Acronis Universal Restore option With this option you will be able to restore one image to computers with dissimilar hardware.

And you may also first prepare Windows using Microsoft System Preparation Tool (Sysprep)

Please also check this article for information about transfer onto dissimilar hardware.

Thank you.
--
Alexander Nikolsky

 

To make certain I understand--I have backed up my old computer's complete disk image on an external hard drive. That computer has now died totally.

I now have a new computer same operating system but different hardware- I plug in the external hard drive with my old computer's Acronis back-up image on it--I then do what?
Use the Acronis True Image Echo Workstation with Acronis Universal Restore option and install. Will the Aconis Echo recognize the old back-up Acronis True Image 8 on the external hard drive?

Sorry to be dumb here -- but I want to do it right
Thanks

 

Hello moethepig,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis Corporate Products

To recover the archive to a dissimilar hardware you should use Acronis True Image with Acronis Universal Restore. This will allow you to add the necessary drivers.

You can experience some difficulties during the recovery because of the version compatibility. Acronis does not guarantee backup compatibility for Acronis True Image products that are not within the same version, error-free data recovery is not guaranteed.

Thank you.

--

Oleg Lee