Cloning a removed laptop HDD and restoring it on different laptop

OverEight · 22 Mar 2023

Hi. I have removed the previous HDD from my previous laptop and desire, using macrium reflect to transfer the data/clone it to the new one but I need a bit of guidance on how to do that. I do have a clone of it already on another HDD in a enclosure but it's a little outdated.

Do I simply just get the new system ready, download macrium, clone the old drive from the enclosure and then... How would I go about restoring it?

I know it's a bit of a simple question but I can't really think right now.

Thx.

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If I understand correctly I need the Macrium rescue media, I am fairly sure it is installed on the actual current removed drive not on a cd but I'm not certain I'll have to look not sure how I'd go about restoring that.

SIW2 · 22 Mar 2023

Is your 2nd gen Tosh laptop being replaced by a new Acer?

Is it just data or an operating system you want to transfer ?

OverEight · 22 Mar 2023

Asus laptop. I'd like to basically restore the whole system as a clone or snapshot. Apparently moving the old hard drive to the new could cause driver conflicts.

SIW2 · 22 Mar 2023

cloning or imaging would result in exactly the same potential os driver conflicts ( if there are any ).

If it is a different type of storage media e.g. mbr mechanical disk > gpt nvme disk then there are other considerations.

it depends what the os coming from and going to.

moving win7 from intel 2nd gen machine to 12th gen might not even be feasible ( at least not for laptop, consumer desktop motherboards are more flexible )

I didnt have much difficulty moving win7 from 3rd gen to 8th gen machine. Both are desktops.

if you had sysprepped the os before sending away the old machine, that would have been easier.

OverEight · 22 Mar 2023

I know this is sevenforums but I'll be moving from windows 10 on a HDD 500gb sata to another win 10 hard drive which I think is also a HDD. I think if I wanted to do I this way I'd need a rescue disk I can make that when it arrives. Are you sure using macrium or similar software would cause os issues.

SIW2 · 22 Mar 2023

ther is a good chance that win10 would adjust itself to the new hardware just by transplanting the disk.

But if it is a different type of storage media in the new laptop, then you would want to copy the os partitions from the old disk to the new disk and adjust the boot entry.

there are numerous ways to do that.

"cloning", copying, or the long way round of making an image, finding somewehere to save the image file, and then restoring.

you would need to be able to run the clone/copy/image program so running it in winpe is a good way to do that.

and you would need both disks attached so the clone/copy/image program can see them.

depending on your new laptops connections, you might find something like this useful:

EasyULT USB 3.0 to SATA III Hard Drive Adapter Cable for 2.5" SSD/HDD Hard Disks, SATA to USB 3.0

this one is only 30p more and it comes with a usb-c adapter as well

EasyULT with usb-a and usb-c adapter

so the new disk is inside the machine and the old 2.5 in disk can be attached with the thing above.

then your winpe media with the clone/copy program is on a usb stick in another port on the new laptop.

boot up the winpe and it should be able to see both disks.

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note: If the new laptop is 11th/12th gen intel, you might run into a slight snag with win10 winpe unable to see the target disk in the laptop.

if so, I can probably lend you my winpe media.

samuria · 22 Mar 2023

You would need to make an image of the new pc so you can role back if it all goes wrong

OverEight · 24 Mar 2023

Yo.
Right, so with your advice and information on youtube and that, am I correct in thinking.
>Clone removed hard drive and store image file on a seperate external hard drive
>Boot into windows pe from macriums rescue environment on a cd or usb.
> With the external hard drive plugged in (with the enclosure) it should detect both the internal and external
> Restore in winpe with the image file (would this actually wipe the current OS?); there is now the old desktop/cloned hard drive/snapshot on this new laptop, and everything is basically the same as before.
is that mostly it?
Last step though from images online alone I am not certain if this would work can you restore from the macrium winpe enviroment? You can't actually restore a cloned image on a running OS/hard disk easily anyway if I am correct.
> Something about changing the boot sequence (not sure about this)

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Hi all, got to winpe within macrium and restored an old clone if the drive but I think the power had gone off or it stopped midway I was away at time so I'm not certain. Everything still works and it booted as normal but to the actual win 11 is not the old one. It's late now I can try again tomorrow by as another user said I should backup the current one as well. I'm also a bit flabbergasted at the win 11 layout and I don't want to end up in a position where I jack up the system. Im moderately tech literate but sure don't know half of everything, and I know the win 10/7 layout (the start menu/icons pack etc) better. Using macrium might work but again I don't want to risk it or deal with tech hassles.

I'm going to just send it to a computer shop like pc world or a one in the front Street explain the dealio and ask them to do it for a few quid I reckon they will know how right? I'll just say I'd like the hard drive transfering or the clone moving to my current one.

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I know it's a bit sketchy so I had to pre ask do this think overwriting my "new" os with my old one in macrium winpe (not from usb from the bootup menu in windows) would work without jacking up my system?

There is basically nothing on the new one I want to keep but there is everything on the old one.

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IMG-20230324-125917 hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB
IMG-20230324-130050 hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB
IMG-20230324-130133 hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB
I know it's a bit sketchy so I had to pre ask do this think overwriting my "new" os with my old one in macrium winpe (not from usb from the bootup menu in windows) would work without jacking up my system?

There is basically nothing on the new one I want to keep but there is everything on the old one.

SIW2 · 24 Mar 2023

@Bree will be able to guide you on using that program.

you can click the little icon to insert images in your post

Cloning a removed laptop HDD and restoring it on different laptop-insert-image.jpg

Cloning a removed laptop HDD and restoring it on different laptop-insert-image2.jpg

if the 2nd gen laptop in your specs is the one you have now, you would benefit from getting an inexpensive sata ssd instead of a mechanical disk.

OverEight · 24 Mar 2023

the one in the specs is old I think that's the thing it's not the one I had or am using rn. it's an asus dunno about the model it did have an i5, then gtx 650m or something. this one is intel celeron with a very basic gpu. its from accidental damage but actually im seeing if i can get this one changed back to something similar to the previous if possible. with this one I am mainly using it as an alternative to my phone or 'testing' the cloning process on this for familiarities sake before I see the new one, if or when that day comes.