Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Transfer software

Anyone have experience with software transferring a hard drive AND operating system from one computer to the other? I want to replace my desktop with a faster unit (both HP business machines) yet I don't want to reload everything. I also don't want to use my IT person for it since the last time I changed out machines, I got charged for the entire time it took to transfer the data (2.5 hours) even though it is a passive process, and we still had to reload our radiology access program! Thanks.

Scott,

The easiest way is to use an image program to transfer the data or close the drive. You just need to make the new drive is larger than the other. The are several imaging programs out there (Google Imaging software), but the one I use and prefer is Acronis. It's newest version is Acronis True Image Home 2009. You simply can't go wrong with Acronis. Symantec makes Ghost, but you simply can't go right with Symantec.

You can do it directly from DOS, but it CAN BE more complicated, and I wouldn't recommend it. Also, if you are using WD hard drives, it comes with software to image the drive right over.

It is important to know if you are transferring IDE to IDE (the large grey ribbon like cables) or SATA to SATA (the newer smaller cables with the black ends), or a variation. Most likely if it is a variation, it would be IDE to SATA. They make some cables and hardware that allow you to connect via different connections if needed, even USB.

The whole process is rather straightforward. You just want to make sure you don't do anything to the old drive until you know the new one is working and bootable and has all the data. To that end, I would probably make a separate backup to an external drive or DVD if you can. Acronis will do the backup too. By the way, you will end up with great backup software with Acronis.

Alternatively, you could just reinstall the OS and transfer the data, but you would have to reinstall all your programs.

After rereading your question, I hope I am not misunderstanding what you want to do. I am assuming you want to transfer the data including the OS from the old drive to the newer one. If you simply want to move the drive from the old machine to the new one that is simple.

Let me know which one you are trying to do, and I can walk you through it.

HTH

There are a couple of considerations with your request. OS will transfer over but several things will happen with the first boot. First the OS will have to reconfigure any drivers since the hardware will be different. If you are lucky the drivers will self install but if not you will have to manually do so. That can be a difficult task for a novice but not impossible. Second the OS will invoke Windows Activation with a new motherboard / CPU. If your license will allow you to transfer to another machine, you should be able to activate on the new machine. However if you are using Vista from an OEM (preinstalled with computer) then you can not transfer it to another computer (unless you have a Vista install with a RETAIL version). Finally even if the OS boots correctly and can be transferred to a new machine there can be errors in the OS that can be difficult to solve and figure out. You may end up spending more time debugging the install rather than just starting from scratch.

You can certainly fire up the old OS and programs onto the new machine. If it works then great. However if you have problems, just give up and go for a reinstall. Remember that some of your programs may also invoke a product activation and may hiccup as well when you make the change. Windows Office will do the same thing as Windows OS when booted on a new machine but you can transfer those licenses to new machines (although you have to read your license).

Bert is absolutely right about the use of the imaging software. That is probably your best bet and the imaging software is a good product to have around. I would respectively disagree about Symantec Norton Ghost, I have found it to work well (but certainly the only Norton product I would ever use). Alternatively you can image into a virtual machine to run the old OS.

I personally think that you should just install from the ground up. Start clean with a new OS install, reinstall the apps and recover the data.

You can plug your old hard drive into the new computer and just access the data on the drive. Make sure that you image or back up the drive before booting onto a new machine. Alternatively you an get a USB hard drive kit and drop the drive into an external drive case to use.

Geoff

To start, I agree with Geoff. I would start fresh but still do a backup. I must say, though, that I don't what you are talking about many times and not had many, if any, driver issues.

Geoff is also right about Ghost being the "only" Symantec product I would ever use. Norton used to be great but when they became Symantec (confusing change), some products went downhill. They also tend to buy out products like GoBack and then ruin them. Geoff will tell you that XP has System Restore, and they do, but in my experience it works only 50% of the time, while GoBack works 99%. The biggest mistake I ever made was putting Symantec Corporate 10.1 for antivirus on my server. It basically takes over, and uninstalling it even at the registry level is nearly impossible.

Geoff is also correct about the licensing issues. BUT, for Office, XP and others, etc. if you call the vendors first (especially Microsoft) and tell them what you are doing, many times they will give you a new product key or activation whatever you may want to call it.

I doubt you will be able to image to a virtual machine. I mean you can, but it sounds a bit complicated compared to your question.

Again, if you are using Western Digital, it comes with Data Lifeguard Software that is 100% foolproof. Still need to do a backup, though.

Just a thought, if you have Vista upgrade disk and want to install it clean, it is easy to do with a workaround and, so far, it is legal.

Geoff and I need to know more about your setup, i.e.
What hard drive is in your old machine?
What hard drive is in your new machine?
Which cables are used in each? SATA and/or IDE?
Is the new hard drive bigger than the old drive?

It can be done with any of the above, but it is helpful to know.

But, ultimately, go with Geoff as he knows much more about computers than I do. I think in the end, though, if you are still intent on simple cloning to safe time (and you can try it and you don't like it, you can change it), then you need it may be easier to choose one of us to help as both of us will probably give you conflicting information (although both are probably helpful).

I would just PM one of us. Won't hurt my feelings either way.

There is an article in computer magazine that a subscribe to Maximum PC. It appears in the Feb 2009 issue cover title "Give Windows a Clean Start." They have a good article on making a clean install of the operating system. May be a little technical but easy to follow.

OS drivers should not be an issue if you install to an HP. I have had three HP computers in my life and the windows update installs the drivers just fine to boot the system. Once you install the OS the first time most drivers will install but any remaining drivers should install when running windows update the first few times. (Of course this is assuming your network driver installs.) You may need to go to the HP website support and type your model number into the search. The site will list any drivers that you need to manually install along with any extra HP software that may be useful. For example I have a fingerprint reader on my laptop that needs a manual install of the drivers. HP makes it relatively painless. By performing a base install of the OS from Windows install disk you can tailor the desktop to avoid the OEM clutter that typically comes with a preinstalled OS.

As Bert mentioned, imaging software is great and I would image the first time you complete the OS install and software base prior to putting data and setting it up.

Overall this is not as hard as it sound. Once you do it you will think that was really nothing. You will gain a better appreciation of what is going on at the OS level and how programs work and how their installation can affect the system. The only caveat is how much time do you have to spend? If your time is limited then you may need to outsource. This process is not necessarily difficult but can be time consuming.

Geoff

Thanks everyone for the input. I can't give hardware specs yet since I'm not ready to make the purchase (no time and trying to spend as little as possible right now). However, I figure I'll do it sometime by summer, and I like to plan ahead of time. I checked out the Acronis website, and I'm debating whether the Universal Restore program is the best one to get. It seems like it would sidestep the IDE vs. SATA issue.

In a standalone PC, I'm pretty comfortable "under the hood" and would probably be fine (yet frustrated) handling any driver issues. License wise, I'm pretty positive I can transfer the license on the machine I am going to retire, yet will probably have a Vista Business with XP downgrade on the machine I purchase. (I already have one of these left over from the new machine I bought back in Nov.). Hard drive wise, the new hard drive will be larger. Ideally, it is always nice to just start with a clean hard drive and install the operating system and any programs you like, yet my desktop CPU has some of my business programs on it along with 5 years of accumulated data, so I thought it might be less painful to just make an image of the drive. In the pre XP days, this was actually much easier, as you could just move the hard drive to a new machine and be up and running, yet the driver and hardware checking/ID issues make that impossible with XP.

With regards to Symantec, I ran it until late last year when I thought it was causing problems with my scanner being recognized by AC. It wasn't the problem, yet getting Symantec off of my server required a special program (which my IT people carried with them). I have a patient who builds systems and he recently shared a horror story about Ghost on a client's computer. Basically fouled up the copy and has made the data almost impossible to access. A good reminder why backing up is always important, and also why I'm glad to be away from Norton (after 20 years!). Thanks again for all the input and I'll update the thread when I finally open my wallet.

Scott,

Hopefully, we are helping. I am a little confused by your last post, but I will try to add some things. First, Universal Restore would not be a good option for cloning a drive. You have to use it with Acronis TI Workstation Echo, so you would have to buy that. It is really designed for a different purpose.

Certainly, Acronis' Imaging Backup software could be used. But, Acronis has one program which is specifically designed for transferring data as a bootable image.

http://tinyurl.com/Acronis-Migrate-Easy

It is rather likely that your new machine will have a motherboard that supports SATA drives along with IDE drives.

You lost me on your licensing. To transfer your license from your retired machine would mean being able to activate it. As Geoff says you won't be able to activate even though it is only being used for the new computer and not the old. Microsoft may allow it. You would have to call. But, you only change so many hardware devices (there are charts for this), before the OS will not recognize the other computer. You would be able to run Vista Business and downgrade to XP if you want. You can't run them both at the same time either on two computers or one. The main place you lost me was on the "I already have one of these left over from the new machine I bought back in Nov." Sure, you could install XP onto the new machine, use the CD key and then activate using Vista's key. But, then you would have no OS on your Nov. machine. Boy, this was much easier when you just had one license and one machine.

When you say your desktop CPU has some business programs and data on it, are you referring to the machine itself, e.g. the hard drive?

I am not sure that cloning your hard drive and transferring it is going to be the way to go. When I think of cloning and transferring it is more like when I upgraded my Seagate 7200RPM SATA drive to a WD Velociraptor 10,000RPM drive. (sweet drive!) So, here I am with a relatively new computer with two SATA drives, and I am cloning the Seagate OS/applications/data directly to the WD. So, after transferring in less than an hour and reformatting the Seagate, I am left with a much better hard drive with no activation or driver issues and even extra space with a second drive which is better for backups.

In your case, you are looking at transferring data from an older drive that is compatible with the hardware and drivers, etc of the other PC and swapping it over to the new drive in the new computer.

Personally, I agree with Geoff. If I am understanding correctly, your new computer will come with an OEM Vista Business. You could stay with that and just transfer your data. Yes, you would have to install your applications again, but you would have a clean machine.

Or, you could grab any XP Pro CD (if the retailer didn't include one) and install clean. It's not going to take that long to transfer your data whether it's 5GB or 15GB. Just copy it and go have a beer and come back.

We have all reformatted machines when the registry gets clogged and no I/We don't look forward to the install. But, it can be made easier.

I would simply partition the main drive into two partitions with the OS on the first and all of your data on the second. Install all your applications and get all the settings the way you want them and make an image of the first partition. You can go back to that image anytime you wish. Of course, new programs will be added, and it gets hard to keep up with them. But, you can leave the D:\ drive (partition) alone with all of your data and point My Documents to it. Make a list to every step.

Finally, and this is what I do, but you don't have to. I use a second 500GB drive or larger to put local backups on (as well as external). Then, I make a folder called Applications, and I copy EVERY CD to it and EVERY download with every license and key in the individual folders. This way you can copy that drive to another one when you build a new computer or use it if you reformat that one. You can do that to an external USB drive, but it is still faster to install from a direct drive, plus you can make backups of it. This means you do not have to hunt for CDs and open and close the CD/DVD drive every time.

So, in summary, I would start clean. But, you should learn to clone/image drives at some point or clone VMs, etc.

Have you tried Laplink PCMover? I use it when I feel lazy. It does require you have an OS on the new machine first, and it has to be the same or newer than the old machine's. That should not be a problem with HP if you have the restoring CDs. The software then proceeds to analyze your old machine and then ask you what you want to move over. I find that the simple programs move fine, but some programs need reactivation (e.g. Microsoft Office). Still, it saves a lot of human time compared to a re-install. I would use a registry cleaner or two before I start the process, though.

On the other hand, there is nothing better than a fresh install and reinstall all programs to get rid of all the baggage that even registry cleaners can't catch. Of course, I usually don't do that because there are to many programs, and too many that I cannot find install discs for.

On the third hand, I have also been lazy and used cloning software such as Acronis, especially when I can't find the original OS discs for the old machine and don't want to activate a new one. The trick is to uninstall and deactivate all machine-specific drivers before you clone, otherwise the old OS may not even boot except in safe mode.

Jack

Jack,

You're not being lazy. You're being smart!

Scott,

I am a little confused. First of all your new machine if you are going to buy a prebuilt HP will have an OS already installed. Starting clean with that machine will be relatively easy and with HP support tools the drive issue will be a piece of cake.

While I have not had any particular problem myself with Norton Ghost, Acronis sems to e gaining more traction as the product of choice to use. I might just try it after all...

The SATA and IDE is a non issue. Either your computer has an IDE port or you can purchase an IDE to SATA converter. If your computer is under 2 years old then it is most likely a SATA drive.

Geoff

I agree with Geoff completely. But, everything being equal, I think your best bet is keeping the OS that is on the new computer as Geoff pointed out and just reinstall your programs. Much cleaner that way.

If your old computer were actually "fairly new," then you wouldn't need a new computer. But, it is, as you say, old enough to be replaced and, hence, it is probably time for a reformat anyway. Unless I am missing something.

>>> Sure, you could install XP onto the new machine, use the CD key and then activate using Vista's key. But, then you would have no OS on your Nov. machine. Boy, this was much easier when you just had one license and one machine.

Actually, happily, that's not true. After 4 months, Windows XP activation will go back to "unactivated" mode... so you can set up the Windows XP on a new computer (or transfer over the clone)even though your old computer still has Windows XP on it.

Now, the Microsoft expects to get paid for all installations, so the EULA states that only 1 license per machine, but if you are going to use the old one temporarily to get to your old files while installing the new computer, I'm sure that it's OK.

Al