Will Win7 backup restore to new hardware?

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Hiyruu

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If I use the built-in Window 7 Backup, can I access the files on a new machine?
 
So the permissions issues are only a problem when using full images?
 
Can anyone else confirm?

Should I just start doing a Win7 'Files backup' using the standard Windows backup?

Easy transfer is apparently nerfed in Win8.
 
Hiyruu said:
Can anyone else confirm?

Should I just start doing a Win7 'Files backup' using the standard Windows backup?

Easy transfer is apparently nerfed in Win8.
Click to expand...

If you only backup files you'll still need to reinstall all your software that's made according to the very bad best practices of storing things in Windows registry. That is, unless the backup also backs up your registry (and if it does that it probably needs to back up the whole OS at its present state). You'll probably want to take a full disk image and restore that to the new hardware. Your OS will detect your new hardware during the first boot and reconfigure itself - in theory at least.

If just 'accessing files on another machine' is what you need, why backup? Why don't you just copy the files you need to a thumb drive.
 
It will restore, whether it will boot is another question.

Depends how different the hardware is.

If its e.g. from a old intel chipset to a newer intel chipset, probably ok.
 
I've taken HDD's with Win 7 on them, and moved them to new Intel boards with different chipsets and CPU's. When it boots the first time it will probably fail.

Boot to Safe mode, remove all the chipset drivers and reboot it then. It should make it, and when it boots, then you can refresh the hardware and let it search Windows update for new / necessary drivers.

If you do a bare metal backup in Win 7, you can install it to new hardware also. I still prefer 3rd party tools for it, but its possible.

O&O's Diskimage is $30, and it has the ability to create a bootable medium that you boot and reinstall your system with. I used this to move from a failed RAID0 to a RAID1 setup w/o an issue.
 
stiltner said:
I've taken HDD's with Win 7 on them, and moved them to new Intel boards with different chipsets and CPU's. When it boots the first time it will probably fail.

Boot to Safe mode, remove all the chipset drivers and reboot it then. It should make it, and when it boots, then you can refresh the hardware and let it search Windows update for new / necessary drivers.

If you do a bare metal backup in Win 7, you can install it to new hardware also. I still prefer 3rd party tools for it, but its possible.

O&O's Diskimage is $30, and it has the ability to create a bootable medium that you boot and reinstall your system with. I used this to move from a failed RAID0 to a RAID1 setup w/o an issue.
Click to expand...

It's a horrible idea to let windows update touch any of your drivers. Always download them directly from the OEM website. Everyone should disable the option of Windows update updating device drivers. WU often contains downright broken or old versions of drivers.
 
B00nie said:
It's a horrible idea to let windows update touch any of your drivers. Always download them directly from the OEM website. Everyone should disable the option of Windows update updating device drivers. WU often contains downright broken or old versions of drivers.
Click to expand...

The point is to get the system booted.

Its not implied that you should keep it that way, its a way to get it back to functional so you can then use the system and improve on what you have
 
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