Cloning a Win7 computer and use on a new Win10 computer

ECKJR · 28 Jul 2017

I have a new Win10 computer, and hate Win10 and its e-mail system. I'm too old to waste any more time on trying to figure it out. I'm scared to death that my old Win7 hard drive will die, and years of work go down the drain.
Can I clone the Win7 computer onto a new external hard drive, connect that drive to the Win10 computer (which the Win10 will recognize as a new drive) and just use the cloned drive as though it were my computer (i.e., make data changes, etc)-- in effect, making the external drive a new Win7 computer with Windows Live Mail on it?
I've read that MS won't let me do that without relicense of the operating system. Problem is, they don't support Win7 any longer, and they won't allow download of WLM anymore.
I've looked at Thunderbird and eMClient, but have yet to be able to successfully transfer my e-mails to the new machine. Someone suggested switching to Outlook, which costs about $110 that I don't have.
I will be eternally grateful for any resolution of this problem before my old computer dies.
AL

Ranger4 · 28 Jul 2017

From what you have said, you wish to clone your existing Win 7 hard drive to a new hard drive & then install that hard drive into your new Win 10 computer, is this correct?. If so, it is very unlikely to work, so could you actually clarify exactly what you are planning.

If you are planning to use it as a USB connected external drive, you will also have a multitude of problems as the motherboard is unlikely to accept Win 7 & as you have mentioned you are likely to have licensing problems.

What brand is the new computer & is it a desktop or a laptop?.

mjf · 29 Jul 2017

ECKJR said:

I'm scared to death that my old Win7 hard drive will die, and years of work go down the drain.

To fix this concern:
1) backup your data
2) create a number of system images enabling you to restore your OS to a new drive if the old one fails on the Windows 7 PC. Macrium Reflect (free) is my recommendation for system imaging. Store your images and other data on an external HDD.

Forget the clone on an external drive booted on the Windows 10 PC. I suggest you learn to live with the Windows 10 OS on the new PC. Even though I find Windows 7 fine my next computer build will use a Windows 10 OS.

In terms of Windows Live Mail:
I use it and Thunderbird (portable) as clients but also use Outlook Mail directly (outlook.live.com). If you want to input your Windows Live Mail data to Thunderbird then have a look at this guidance:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Importing_...ting_your_mail

SIW2 · 29 Jul 2017

Can I clone the Win7 computer onto a new external hard drive, connect that drive to the Win10 computer

It can be done, but it is simpler to use an internal drive.

ECKJR · 29 Jul 2017

Ranger4 said:

From what you have said, you wish to clone your existing Win 7 hard drive to a new hard drive & then install that hard drive into your new Win 10 computer, is this correct?. If so, it is very unlikely to work, so could you actually clarify exactly what you are planning.

If you are planning to use it as a USB connected external drive, you will also have a multitude of problems as the motherboard is unlikely to accept Win 7 & as you have mentioned you are likely to have licensing problems.

What brand is the new computer & is it a desktop or a laptop?.

The new machine is a Lenovo 55 desktop. I was planning the second option (USB connected external drive). My main concern was that I wouldn't be able to use Win7 this way. Not sure why motherboard wouldn't accept Win7--there have been several OS changes over the years, and they can be installed on existing equipment.

SIW2 · 29 Jul 2017

Win 7 doesn't natively boot over usb.

mjf · 29 Jul 2017

I suggest you stick to my advice in post #3.
It would take some technical skills to even attempt a transfer and I think it is doubtful you would get it to work. There is also a licensing issue to consider. eg. you cannot transfer an OEM license to a completely new PC.

RolandJS · 29 Jul 2017

"...1) backup your data
2) create a number of system images enabling you to restore your OS to a new drive if the old one fails on the Windows 7 PC. Macrium Reflect (free) is my recommendation for system imaging. Store your images and other data on an external HDD..." mjf
+1! From experience, doing step number 1 is first and foremost; doing step two has saved me many times -- when my OS crashed and because my data is on its own partition, I only had to do an OS restore.

Ranger4 · 29 Jul 2017

ECKJR. There is some good advice here & suggestions on backing up & saving your existing data. If you wish to use your new computer & use Windows 7 you will have to do a fresh install of Windows 7 on it. However, this may not be possible as some of the latest computers are not compatible with Windows 7.

An alternative might be to look at this website & see if making your Windows 10 computer very much like a Windows 7 one might be worth considering. You should be able to use all your Win 7 data files on Win 10, but software programs will have to be freshly installed.

How to Make Windows 10 Look and Act More Like Windows 7