Windows 7 copy from old drive to new drive

thetylero · May 3, 2016

Context: my mother is stubborn about upgrading her system and losing the layout of things she has created within her OS currently. I told her i would try to find a way to make a copy of her system drive to a new one and make sure everything was the same when she booted it up.

Her current system is rather old and is running Windows 7, currently. I want to upgrade her system to a more current one(building a whole new system), but she wants everything softwarewise to look the same after i do that. My question is: is there a way for me to take everything she has on her old hard drive currently, move it to an SSD, build the new machine and the OS still boot up with everything in it's place? I should be able to answer any questions about the situation that could be asked.

Thank you.

bjornl · May 3, 2016

The easy way is to use a hardware independent restore such as Acronis True Image 2016 would let you do.

blazorthon · May 3, 2016

That can be tricky. The main thing is that the windows installation needs to support the new system's mobo and related drivers.

Acronis is fine if you are using the same system and only changing the storage. If the whole system is being upgraded, it is not necessarily going to work.

USAFRet · May 3, 2016

thetylero :

[strike]Assuming drive sizes are compatible, Macrium Reflect does exactly this.

What size SSD, and how much total used space is on the current C drive?[/strike]

Ignore. Completely glossed over "new system".

blazorthon · May 3, 2016

USAFRet :

OP is building a whole new system, not just upgrading storage.

USAFRet · May 3, 2016

blazorthon :

Ah, I missed the 'new system'.
That's probably not going to work.

USAFRet · May 3, 2016

My question is: is there a way for me to take everything she has on her old hard drive currently, move it to an SSD, build the new machine and the OS still boot up with everything in it's place? I should be able to answer any questions about the situation that could be asked.

Completely new system, a clean OS install is always recommended, often required. There is no magic bullet.
And of course, with a clean install, you have to start all over again with applications, etc.

thetylero · May 3, 2016

bjornl :

USAFRet :

That's quite alright. I updated the post to be clearer on that point. I figured the new system would be the hardest part of the problem.

thetylero · May 3, 2016

USAFRet :

This is the kind of response i was hoping to not receive, but, i may be left with no other options. Would copies of some applications and their data be something that i could move to the new machine? The apps/data that i would be hoping to copy(or just move entirely, if necessary) are the newest versions of the software.

bjornl · May 3, 2016

blazorthon :

The is completely wrong. Hardware independent imaging is not that tricky and does not mean just swapping out a disk. Swapping out a disk is not hardware independent. Neither is it "tricky". It is a standard practice in just about every IT shop.

SOP for most is that you get in a NEW PC and use a hardware independent image to deploy the standard image. Then adjust for department specific of job specific needs.

You will need the drivers disk which comes with the new motherboard as well as the video drivers, etc.. But again NOT tricky nor particularly difficult. Re-installing is always better but not because the hardware independent imaging (with Acronis of any of the other dozen tools that support it) is bad, scary, etc but because it is a good idea to re-install any PC (new hardware or not) from time to time.

burdenbound · May 3, 2016

thetylero :

This is going to be an application to application basis. Depending on what it is there might be an export settings option, you will probably need to do individual google searches on this topic though. Sorry.

bjornl · May 3, 2016

USAFRet :

When would it ever be required? A hardware independent image works because it is never required except in the case of a very old OS and very new hardware which does not have drivers which work in that very old OS, in which case you'll need a entirely new OS with driver support. There is a "magic bullet" in that you can always move the system to completely new hardware so long as you have the drivers for the new hardware and the very nominal expertise to use an imaging tool which supports hardware independent imaging.
Would I always recommend it? No, I always recommend re-installing but not because the imaging method is flawed or hard but because every system benefits from being re-intalled periodically

thetylero · May 3, 2016

burdenbound :

thetylero :

This is going to be an application to application basis. Depending on what it is there might be an export settings option, you will probably need to do individual google searches on this topic though. Sorry.

This is likely what i will have to do. I imagine this is going to be a much longer process than i first assumed.

USAFRet · May 3, 2016

bjornl :

USAFRet :

When would it ever be required? A hardware independent image works because it is never required except in the case of a very old OS and very new hardware which does not have drivers which work in that very old OS, in which case you'll need a entirely new OS with driver support. There is a "magic bullet" in that you can always move the system to completely new hardware so long as you have the drivers for the new hardware and the very nominal expertise to use an imaging tool which supports hardware independent imaging.
Would I always recommend it? No, I always recommend re-installing but not because the imaging method is flawed or hard but because every system benefits from being re-intalled periodically

Imaging an old drive to a new drive, and putting that in a new system, is exactly like putting the old drive in the new system
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

bjornl · May 3, 2016

USAFRet :

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever done a hardware independent image?

Because your answer strongly implies you have not. It does not work like you imply. We did three yesterday. They are not hard they are not fraught with failure. They are a basic IT tool.

It is not true for just workstations or PCs either; Even mission critical servers are done this way. Our physical servers are backed up with hardware independent images. In the event of a disaster these images are tossed up on a VM (which uses different drivers than the hardware in the server). Once the server is repaired or replace (with the same hardware or completely different hardware) a hardware independent image is then taken of the VM and migrated it to the hardware.

As I said the ONLY time this can go sideways is if you have some legacy OS like Windows XP which does not get the full-driver support. Given that the poster is talking about Windows 7, this 'might or might not work' is both untrue and FUD. Well intended, I am sure, but untrue and FUD none the less.

USAFRet · May 3, 2016

A hardware independent image? Sure. This is the basis of what Sysprep does.
Start with a bare install, and set it up for exactly that.
Of course, the Sysprep documentation specifically says :
"You must not use Sysprep to reconfigure an existing installation of Windows that has already been deployed. Use Sysprep only to configure new installations of Window"

A long installed regular OS install, moving blindly to a new system? I've seen it work, I've seen it fail.
Move that drive back into the old system, works just like original.
Put it back in the new system? No boot.

And of course, we have no info as to what these two systems are. Old AMD to new Intel?
Or identical Intel -> Intel?

Those 2 situations will have different results.

Now...if you're going to go through the hassle of trying to create a whole new image that will work with any compatible hardware, a typical user might just as well do a regular OS install.

Prepare for if it doesn't work, hope that it does.
If it does, great. If it does not boot, then the user will be prepared.
And then of course, we may have licensing issues. But that's a whole different discussion.

bjornl · May 3, 2016

USAFRet :

Seriously it is not that hard. You don't have to use sysprep. You don't have to bother with what the hardware is. AMD CPU to INTEL CPU = ok.
I mentioned Acronis because it is the most popular. Work just as well with other tools, for example Paragon which makes both hardware independent and supposedly faster "dissimilar hardware" method.

In IT terms imaging is generally talked about with the assumption of full-hardware-independence. What little can go sideways there are tools included which can deal with it. It used to be that you would have to use a VM to get truely hardware independent deployment image, this is no longer true and has not been true for close to a decade. I don't recall the tools in Acronis since I haven't used it in over a year (but it worked just fine back then, as did the half dozen or so other imagers we got to do a comparison) but the Mr.FixIt tool in Paragon for very dis-similar hardware is called the p2p Adjust OS Wizard. No sysprep nor starting with a VM is needed for any of these modern tools.

You are still not presenting an accurate image of what the user will expect. This is not helpful if is it not true. If you have any experience in this it is many years out of date.

It does not work like you say. You are not giving good advice on this topic. I can't be more plain. Don't get mad or defensive. Try it out. I know we agree that re-installing is generally best for other reasons other than imaging is difficult or fraught with peril, but there is a place for imaging and in particular hardware independent imaging. We've done many dozens and had zero failures in the past 2+ years. We aren't just incredibly lucky. P2V V2P P2P all work as they should. Lots of other stuff is harder than it should be but this is pretty simple.

thetylero · May 3, 2016

bjornl :

USAFRet :

Seriously it is not that hard. You don't have to use sysprep. You don't have to bother with what the hardware is. AMD CPU to INTEL CPU = ok.
I mentioned Acronis because it is the most popular. Work just as well with other tools, for example Paragon which makes both hardware independent and supposedly faster "dissimilar hardware" method.

In IT terms imaging is generally talked about with the assumption of full-hardware-independence. What little can go sideways there are tools included which can deal with it. It used to be that you would have to use a VM to get truely hardware independent deployment image, this is no longer true and has not been true for close to a decade. I don't recall the tools in Acronis since I haven't used it in over a year (but it worked just fine back then, as did the half dozen or so other imagers we got to do a comparison) but the Mr.FixIt tool in Paragon for very dis-similar hardware is called the p2p Adjust OS Wizard. No sysprep nor starting with a VM is needed for any of these modern tools.

You are still not presenting an accurate image of what the user will expect. This is not helpful if is it not true. If you have any experience in this it is many years out of date.

It does not work like you say. You are not giving good advice on this topic. I can't be more plain. Don't get mad or defensive. Try it out. I know we agree that re-installing is generally best for other reasons other than imaging is difficult or fraught with peril, but there is a place for imaging and in particular hardware independent imaging. We've done many dozens and had zero failures in the past 2+ years. We aren't just incredibly lucky. P2V V2P P2P all work as they should. Lots of other stuff is harder than it should be but this is pretty simple.

Alright. I'm technically literate, but not that much so. If you say it can be done, how would i do it - step by step?

bjornl · May 3, 2016

thetylero :

I'll defer to the makers of the product since I know it works (and have used it) but they make it and support it.

https://kb.acronis.com/content/2149

One tip I can give you is to have all the drivers available on a SATA device. Often USB is not available until after the system drivers have been updated.

(assuming 1 drive in the new system)
One simple way to do this is partition the new drive, put the drive in your old PC, create two partitions.
The first partition must be the same size as the data on your C drive or larger. I recommend it be larger
Put the drivers in a folder on the 2nd partition

(assuming 2 drives in the new system)
Put the 2nd hard drive in your old system.
Create a single partition for the entire disk.
Put the drivers on this drive in a folder (I suggest you call it drivers to avoid confusion later).

Once the drivers are in place it is time to make an image. Most of the imaging tools will run from the DVD they came on. Some require you boot from their boot media. You will need to adjust this to match the software you select.

There are other imaging tools which also work. Acronis is the one typically recommended on this forum. I assume there is a reason for this and so mentioned it. Acronis is certainly a good choice. Paragon, macrium are some others I have used.

If you google hardware independent imaging or hardware independent restore you will get lots of info from those more knowledgeable than myself.

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