Re-Imaging Taking Too Long, Computer Upgrade

[BlizzFanatic]

Hi, I'm new to these forums.

There is a long story before I get to how the re-imaging part takes too long, so please bare with me.

I recently upgraded my computer with a new motherboard, processor, RAM, and video card. Before I did this, I installed a second fully functional 1 TB internal hard drive just to hold the system image and my important documents. I made a system image using the native software that was available on Windows 7.

To be clear, I made a 143 GB system image from my first 1 TB internal hard drive and put it on the second 1 TB internal hard drive. I also moved my important documents over to the second hard drive. (The second drive was completely formatted and turned into a Basic drive beforehand.)

After installing the new components, I wiped my first hard drive, deleting all partitions on it, but I forgot that I had one more set of folders that I forgot to move over to the second hard drive. However, since I had the system image on the second hard drive, I figured that I could use that to re-image the first hard drive, pull the files, and wipe it again.

Now, since the old motherboard and CPU drivers were saved on the system image, I figured Windows wouldn't be able to load, but as long as the first hard drive contained my files, I thought it wouldn't matter since I could just install the hard drive on the family computer, pull the files, put it back into my computer, and start the installation process all over again.

However, when I tried to re-image my first hard drive with the image I had on the second hard drive, I got an error saying that the recovery tools were not compatible, or something to that extent.

At this point, I figured that since the system image was SP1, if I installed Win 7 on my first hard drive and upgrade to SP1, then it would be compatible, so that's exactly what I did.

After upgrading to SP1, I tried to re-image the first hard drive, but this time, I used the Win 7 disk in order to do so. I booted from the Win 7 CD, got to the system image restore, and got an image similar to this:

Where it says "Intel Raid 0 Volume," I had my C: drive. I assumed that the C: drive was my first hard drive, so I didn't check anything.

In the next window, I was told that my first hard drive would be formatted and re-partitioned, so I said yes. When the system was preparing for the re-imaging, I got an error saying that re-imaging failed, and the system would restart.

Of course, since my first hard drive was formatted, Windows didn't load, so I tried the re-image again. I didn't get the error, and it showed that the system was "Restoring disk (C: )."

However, it was taking WAY too long. 12 hours into the restore, it didn't even go halfway. I left it running while I was at work, and I just came home now and saw that my system was completely frozen. The mouse pointer didn't move, and I left it like that for a few minutes. After half an hour, I held the power button down to turn it off, and tried the re-imaging again.

It was going as slowly as it did the second time around, so I canceled the restore, turned it off, registered to these forums off my family computer, and here I am right now.

I'm thinking that I should replace all the old parts and try the restore again, but other than that, I'm stuck as to what I should do.

Please help me. :shock:

If it helps, these are my build specs.

Before the Upgrade:

1 x Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan
1 x ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard
1 x SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
1 x SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
1 x AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX
2 x G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
1 x ASUS CD/DVD Burner Black E-IDE/PATA Model DRW-22B2S/BLK/B/AS (Bulk) - OEM

2 x Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI LED-Backlight LCD monitor Slim Design
1 x Hauppauge Colossus - Record your high definition video gameplay and TV programs by H.264 for resolution up to 1080i, PCI-Express x1 Interface

Windows 7 Ultimate x64

After the Upgrade:

1 x Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan
1 x ASRock Z77 Pro3 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
1 x SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity (100315L)
1 x SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K
2 x Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model BLT2KIT4G3D1337DT1TX0
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
1 x Seagate ST310005N1A1AS-RK 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
1 x LG DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model GH24NS90 - OEM*

2 x Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI LED-Backlight LCD monitor Slim Design
1 x Hauppauge Colossus - Record your high definition video gameplay and TV programs by H.264 for resolution up to 1080i, PCI-Express x1 Interface

Windows 7 Ultimate x64

*Note: Was installed after I discovered my new motherboard didn't support anything PATA

 

[BlizzFanatic]

I did some more digging around on this site, and I'm going to try this:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...tract-files-using-disk-management.html?filter[2]=Backup Restore

If this works, I will, in this specific order:

1. Jump for joy
2. Feel like an idiot for not seeing this before posting this thread

 

[mjf]

A lot of info so I may have missed something.
I personally would backup my data, deactivate licensed software and do a clean install. I know it takes time but I think it is best in the long run. Alternatively this tutorial may help
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...lation-transfer-new-computer.html#post1161038

Be aware that you cannot transfer an OEM OS to a new PC.
Extracting files from the mounted VHD (your tutorial link) should definitely work for pulling out data or non installed software.

 

[BlizzFanatic]

A lot of info so I may have missed something.
I personally would backup my data, deactivate licensed software and do a clean install. I know it takes time but I think it is best in the long run. Alternatively this tutorial may help
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...lation-transfer-new-computer.html#post1161038

Be aware that you cannot transfer an OEM OS to a new PC.
Extracting files from the mounted VHD (your tutorial link) should definitely work for pulling out data or non installed software.

Thank you for the response.

That is the exact tutorial I was going to use. However, when I tried to run sysprep, the system said it couldn't work on my version of Windows, which was really strange. That's when I opted for the full re-installation, also because going from AMD to Intel is a huge change.

I have a retail version of Windows. As for my programs, there's nothing I needed to deactivate except Adobe Photoshop, which I was already aware of. Aside from that, all of my programs are retail and don't need deactivation.

Currently re-installing Windows. I'll be putting in the new drivers and upgrading to SP1 before I attempt to recover anything from the system image.