Disk Clone to a New computer?

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mrpickles478

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I'm building a new computer for a friend. He's upgrading from an Athlon X2 based computer moving to a new Phenom quad core system new motherboard and everything and is using windows xp. Is it possible to use a utility like Norton Ghost to make a backup of the windows xp install and move it to the new system? He is mostly just worried about having to reinstall all his applications drivers and configurations.


any help appreciated.

-sf
 
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You can do this but XP has issues when being moved to a new motherboard. You can Bing around and find articles on how to do it however.

The obligatory Windows 7 pitch in 5,4,3,2,1... Seriously something that needs to be taken into consideration on nice hardware like this. Please disregard if it's out of the question.
 
mrpickles478 said:
I'm building a new computer for a friend. He's upgrading from an Athlon X2 based computer moving to a new Phenom quad core system new motherboard and everything and is using windows xp. Is it possible to use a utility like Norton Ghost to make a backup of the windows xp install and move it to the new system? He is mostly just worried about having to reinstall all his applications drivers and configurations.


any help appreciated.

-sf
Click to expand...

You use ghost if you have it or acronis(which I like better). If one of you has a seagate drive you can get a home type version of acronis (with a seagate label) for free. You create an image of the whole machine to a second hard drive or external drive and then just restore it after. It'll use a bootable cd to restore (migrate) the image to the new machine.
 
You're planning on using the image as a backup in case something goes wrong? Because you don't need to image the drive just to move it to a new platform.
 
With the hardware that's being changed out, it's time to start over with a clean installation - I'm completely serious here, the heart of the system, the mobo itself, is being swapped out along with other components, so... if you feel like making the attempt, go for it, but I can promise you it's not going to be anywhere near as cut-and-dried as you or your friend is hoping.

A clean install is the best possible solution, and anyone worth their salt would pretty much agree...
 
Acronis is made for moving from one system to another. If you can. I'd give it a shot.
 
Always been a fan of a clean fresh install myself. Install the OS, install the motherboard/chipset drivers to build a good foundation, and then install the rest of your drivers.

If you're moving the hard drive to a computer of VERY similar hardware...such as a motherboard with the same chipset or near identicle chipset...you can usually get by. But if you're moving the image to a totally different cpu/motherboard platform/different chipset...well, the first time you attempt to boot up she'll probably blue screen with some controller related error. Yes you can install the drivers for that new motherboard into the OS before you move it, but honestly that ends up with an OS filled with various drivers...it's sloppy. It'll probably run OK under light loads, but once in a while she may lock up on you..one a week, once a month, or fail to shutdown properly, or playing games she'll crash to desktop. Just isn't clean.

Yes each new OS is more tolerant of this...but still...
Esp looking at how fast Vista and Windows 7 install now...it's almost faster than cloning!
 
The cloning tools like Ghost or Acronis True Image are made for moving from one hard drive to another.
They are NOT made for moving from one system to another.

The system is changing dramatically. So, you will have to re-activate XP. You will also have to update the chipset and network adapter drivers at least.

You might as well start from a fresh install and re-install your applications.
Of course, backup all your data files first.
 
You're killing me. One of the Admins I know has done this multiple times, on servers no less.

If done properly using the correct mode it's like using sysprep on an image(might actually be sysprep... imagine that!)

OP. If your friend doesn't really want to reinstall or move to win7 then this is the best option. Get a hold of acronis. If all else fails he'll at least have an image of his machine.
 
Dallows said:
Acronis is made for moving from one system to another. If you can. I'd give it a shot.
Click to expand...

Acronis is NOT made for moving XP from one system to another, because XP is not made for moving from one system to another!

This is XP we're talking about, and with respect to motherboard transplants XP does NOT behave the same way as the Windows 9x family or as Vista/Windows 7 does. It's related to the fact that XP was the first Windows version to include copyright protection in its implementation, and the way that it was implemented, but bung an existing XP installation into a different machine and try to fire it up on completely different base hardware, and it most likely won't sit there locating and installing new device drivers to suit the new hardware. Instead, it's most likely to simply shit itself and refuse to boot to desktop. And there's no guarantee that a repair install will correct the situation. Sometimes a repair install will simply exacerbate the situation.


There are numerous 'workarounds' which could be used, all of which include some form or other of 'prepping' the existing install before the transplant attempt, but ultimately it's all more trouble than it's worth. Better to simply start over with a fresh install and get busy installing necessary apps over again.


Or, maybe, take the new machine opportunity to also change to an OS version which isn't bloody archaic!
 
Ok guys I really appreciate your input. Please cut me some slack on the account of i dont know anything about Windows 7 and the most I knew about windows vista was that it would not be popular for very long.

What is it about windows 7 that you keep talking about that would be the solution to this problem here? and where can i read about it.
 
mrpickles478 said:
Ok guys I really appreciate your input. Please cut me some slack on the account of i dont know anything about Windows 7 and the most I knew about windows vista was that it would not be popular for very long.

What is it about windows 7 that you keep talking about that would be the solution to this problem here? and where can i read about it.
Click to expand...

Windows 7 is just the latest Windows operating system. Vista sucks and I wouldn't use it anyway. I've found a few annoyances with Windows 7 so far myself.

But basically what they're saying is if you're going to a clean install that's the best option because it's the newest and takes advantage of the nice upgraded hardware. The official release isn't until october(right?) but if you have msdn you can get a copy. And I'm pretty sure the latest RC is the same as the release version. But I'm not sure about transitioning from RC to Retail. Could just be updating a license.

If you have the means though I'd still advise looking at Acronis. You can transfer XP from one system to another just fine. If you use the correct backup and restore method that is.
 
mrpickles478 said:
What is it about windows 7 that you keep talking about that would be the solution to this problem here? and where can i read about it.
Click to expand...

Nothing whatsoever about Windows 7 (or Vista) is in any way a 'solution' to the 'problem' you describe. Had Windows 7 (or Vista) been on the machine rather than XP then the problem wouldn't really exist. The drive could be bunged into the new rig and, after a while spent chugging, churning and locating/installing relevent device drivers, the rig would boot to desktop. The install would almost certainly be deactivated, but that's easy enough fixed.

People will be suggesting that you use a newer OS version on the new rig for several reasons:

  • You won't experience this specific problem in future.
  • A newer OS version will be more suited to extracting the best overall performance from the newer and more capable hardware.
  • A newer OS version will have included features amongst the feature set which make some, at least, of the currently installed 3rd party software redundant.


Many reasons, but they're all about it being a 'better way forward'. They aren't somehow the resolution of a legacy problem.
 
Dallows said:
Windows 7 is just the latest Windows operating system. Vista sucks and I wouldn't use it anyway. I've found a few annoyances with Windows 7 so far myself.

But basically what they're saying is if you're going to a clean install that's the best option because it's the newest and takes advantage of the nice upgraded hardware. The official release isn't until october(right?) but if you have msdn you can get a copy. And I'm pretty sure the latest RC is the same as the release version. But I'm not sure about transitioning from RC to Retail. Could just be updating a license.

If you have the means though I'd still advise looking at Acronis. You can transfer XP from one system to another just fine. If you use the correct backup and restore method that is.
Click to expand...


yeah but is that possible to do to a system with entirely different hardware, and still keeping all of your programs that you had on the old computer ?
 
Dallows said:
If you have the means though I'd still advise looking at Acronis. You can transfer XP from one system to another just fine. If you use the correct backup and restore method that is.
Click to expand...

Oh bullshit! Like any other drive imaging program Acronis is specifically designed for the task of making an 'image' of your entire OS installation, for the purpose of later restoring it to the SAME hardware in the event of need. To use such a program for the task of migrating an XP installation from one machine to another then the relevent course of action is to sysprep the image before deploying it to the new hardware.

http://www.acronis.com.au/homecomputing/products/trueimage/faq/clone-windows-to-hardware/


If you merely bung an image of an existing XP install onto new hardware then an extremely likely outcome is a bloody bluescreen when you try to fire it up.
 
mrpickles478 said:
yeah but is that possible to do to a system with entirely different hardware, and still keeping all of your programs that you had on the old computer ?
Click to expand...

Yes. All the backup would do is strip the OS of it's drivers. Thus when you boot up on the new hardware you install the new drivers and are done.

I don't remember the specifics on the backup/restore method. But I'm sure you can find it on the Acronis site or within the program itself.
 
Catweazle said:
Oh bullshit! Like any other drive imaging program Acronis is specifically designed for the task of making an 'image' of your entire OS installation, for the purpose of later restoring it to the SAME hardware in the event of need. To use such a program for the task of migrating an XP installation from one machine to another then the relevent course of action is to sysprep the image before deploying it to the new hardware.

http://www.acronis.com.au/homecomputing/products/trueimage/faq/clone-windows-to-hardware/


If you merely bung an image of an existing XP install onto new hardware then an extremely likely outcome is a bloody bluescreen when you try to fire it up.
Click to expand...


Zzzzz. My buddy went through all this. I'll find out tomorrow what he did specifically, okay. Will that make you happy?

You want an even better solution? Try this. Just install driver cleaner and take note of what drivers you want to get rid of. Boot to safe mode and remove them with driver cleaner then shut down, change out the hardware and boot up - install drivers. I did it and the system ran fine, for months and months. You could easily do this and then when Win7 releases do a backup then fresh install of Windows 7. Use that time to gain knowledge of all the procedures and it'll be a breeze.

I'm getting really tired of this thread though. I've made and deployed a thousand images before. You guys are making a big deal out of nothing.
 
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Which product of Acronis, under the home user category, is meant for bare metal restoration?

Keep mentioning "Acronis...Acronis"...but Acronis is just a software company that makes a lot of products related to images/hard drive management....which specific product of Acronis are you talking about?

True Image has changed from what it was a few years ago.

Doing thousands of images to totally different hardware in a corporate environment, you aren't in an environment that pushes the systems hard with blondie the secretary running Winword. For many home users/enthusiasts, especially gamers, overclockers....you'll find that systems which have been imaged from totally different hardware are not going to run as stable as a fresh clean install. "Why does my Crysis crash to desktop after 5 minutes? waaa"
 
As others have said, doing a clean install would yield the best results; however, If you're adamant about doing this, check out this software from laplink - http://www.laplink.com/pcmover - I've used it a few times with great results. I just recently used it to migrate an xp box to Win7.
 
Dallows, you've "made and deployed thousands of images before" yet you gotta quizz your 'buddy' tomorrow about specifically what he did to get XP successfully moved to another machine?

Don't bother. Your comments speak for themselves already. And migrating XP to new hardware is a 'hit or miss' endeavour anyways. Sometimes it works reasonably well, sometimes it doesn't. Often it doesn't.

I've done it successfully in the past too, by the way. I've written articles about doing just that and had them published in major publications, even. But the recommendation to somebody confronting such a move is still ever and always "Start over afresh!" Because that advice is 'good' advice rather than 'bad' advice.

It's as simple as that!
 
Catweazle said:
Acronis is NOT made for moving XP from one system to another, because XP is not made for moving from one system to another!
Click to expand...

See thats where you are DEAD wrong,

I keep saying this but no one seems to take notice. Acronis WITH UNIVERSAL RESTORE allows you to inject new drivers into your disk image.

I have used this method and XP transfers everytime, injecting SATA drivers into the build, works flawless.
 
Clean install ftw, there's just no getting around it. :)

Considering all the chatter this thread has provoked, nothing has been posted or even suggested that is as efficient, fast, and works better than just doing a damned clean install and getting it done with.

Oh, and then you make an image... so you don't have to do it again. :D
 
k1pp3r said:
See thats where you are DEAD wrong,

I keep saying this but no one seems to take notice. Acronis WITH UNIVERSAL RESTORE allows you to inject new drivers into your disk image.

I have used this method and XP transfers everytime, injecting SATA drivers into the build, works flawless.
Click to expand...

^This. I was looking for it last night but just didn't bother responding.


Catweazle said:
Dallows, you've "made and deployed thousands of images before" yet you gotta quizz your 'buddy' tomorrow about specifically what he did to get XP successfully moved to another machine?
Click to expand...

The reason I would "quiz" my buddy is because I haven't used the Acronis software explicitly as he has. I just KNOW what the software can do.

Don't bother. Your comments speak for themselves already. And migrating XP to new hardware is a 'hit or miss' endeavour anyways. Sometimes it works reasonably well, sometimes it doesn't. Often it doesn't.

I've done it successfully in the past too, by the way. I've written articles about doing just that and had them published in major publications, even. But the recommendation to somebody confronting such a move is still ever and always "Start over afresh!" Because that advice is 'good' advice rather than 'bad' advice.

It's as simple as that!
Click to expand...

Really? That's fantastic.
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
Which product of Acronis, under the home user category, is meant for bare metal restoration?

Keep mentioning "Acronis...Acronis"...but Acronis is just a software company that makes a lot of products related to images/hard drive management....which specific product of Acronis are you talking about?

True Image has changed from what it was a few years ago.

Doing thousands of images to totally different hardware in a corporate environment, you aren't in an environment that pushes the systems hard with blondie the secretary running Winword. For many home users/enthusiasts, especially gamers, overclockers....you'll find that systems which have been imaged from totally different hardware are not going to run as stable as a fresh clean install. "Why does my Crysis crash to desktop after 5 minutes? waaa"
Click to expand...

Not true. I did it on my home machine and I game (until just recently) a lot on it. I don't even remember if I cleaned with Driver Cleaner (though probably). I just slapped the new hardware in and booted up, installed the new drivers.

Only the recent versions of Acronis were used. And yes - Acronis. I say that because that's what the company does. Software for backup and management of discs. Sorry for not having the specific software, but like I said I was going to get it.
 
http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/snapdeploy/

I personally have never used it but it claims

"Acronis Universal Deploy®

Universal Deploy provides a simple way for you to deploy new systems to different hardware. A standard configuration image can easily be deployed to identical hardware. However, while this method works for systems with the same hardware, it can fail with machines running different hardware. Systems in such cases may fail to boot because the critical Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) and mass storage device drivers are missing. While Microsoft SysPrep technology allows you to import plug-and-play drivers, such as sound, video, and network drivers, it does not allow you to import the drivers required to boot the machine.

Universal Deploy provides an efficient solution for hardware-independent system deployment by allowing you to install the crucial HAL and mass-storage device drivers in an image. With this feature you can automatically or manually select the HAL and mass-storage device drivers to fit the target hardware, ensuring that newly deployed systems with different hardware are deployed properly."
 
Dallows said:
Not true. I did it on my home machine and I game (until just recently) a lot on it. I don't even remember if I cleaned with Driver Cleaner (though probably). I just slapped the new hardware in and booted up, installed the new drivers.
Click to expand...

That's the "dirty way" of doing it. You're left with an operating system dirtier than the toilet of a mexican restaurant after happy hour.

Versus the proper way (often referred to as universal restore or bare metal restore). Which replaces the HAL....allowing the operating system to be more receptive of all new hardware.
 
I wasn't looking at the Enterprise products. But SnapDeploy + Universal Deploy is basically an exercise in doing same job as I decribed above - imaging and sysprepping.

Sysprep is already on the XP CD by the way (in \Support\Tools\Deploy.cab) It's fiddlier to use, but it uses same principles as the paid-for single purpose tools. and like those tools, designed for use by sytem admins in corproate network environments. Sure, it'll be effective enough when used in a 'private user' environment for migrating an OS installation from one machine to another, but seriously? why on Earth would you bother forking over the dollars just for that one, very infrequently encountered task just to save the effort of reinstalling? It's a kinda ridiculous suggestion, IMO.

And the cost of it? Damned near as much as the 'Home' version of TrueImage, which also provides commercial quality backup and incremental backup facilities.


Joe Average has the sense of it. Do a clean install. Use a decently featured imaging and backup solution to make an image AFTER a fresh start install is successfully configured! That's the best and most sensible alternative, by far!
 
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