Solved Restoring backup from one pc to another.

[Venster7]

Hi. My HP dv9667ea laptop does not work anymore, so I bought an Acer 5750 laptop. I now want to move the files (music, pics, documents) that I backed up on my external hard drive to my new laptop. I used windows 7' (which I installed on my HP a while before it broke down) back up function in Control panel, to do the back-ups. How can I go about to simply move the files from the external hard drive to my new pc's hard drive. I don't know enough, but I do not want to restore to some previous point or something along those lines, as this is a new pc and does not need restoring. Someone said that because the old pc was different with different hardware to the new pc it may damage the new one. Forgive my ignorance. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[mjf]

There is a difficulty in transferring the operating system and installed (particularly licensed) applications from one PC to another.

You can transfer your personal file/folder backups easily enough.
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The reason is that there are 2 types of backups. Images which are snapshots of the whole disk. These can be difficulty for technical and licensing reasons.
Personal file/folder backups are different technically and easier to move around.

 

[preiius]

You mentioned that you used win7 Backup & Restore to do your backups. Then all you have to do is run Backup & Restore in your new machine and restore files that you want. For more info, search 'Restore files from a backup' in Windows Help & Support.

 

[Venster7]

Thanks preiius and mjf. So I then simply plug in my external hard drive into my new pc and run the restore option and select what I want to restore (i.e. my pictures and music etc). I don't then have to restore the whole system image as such? Will this then simply put the files I'm restoring back onto my new pc? E.g. it will dump the pictures in the Picture folder, music in the Music folder etc.

 

[mjf]

You actually should not attempt to restore an image. You want to just restore your personal files and folders. I find the "Select another backup to restore files from" is what I prefer and just browse to the backup set you want stored on your external HDD.

I can't remember if restore to original location causes a problem if some folders aren't pre-existing. If so then nominate where to restore to.

 

[seavixen32]

If you try and restore a system image to a different computer, you will fall foul of Microsoft's EULA conditions.

Restoring personal files shouldn't pose too many problems, but because you are restoring to a different location you may have to choose where you're restoring them to.

Best bet is to create a new folder on your new computer and call it something like Restored Files and restore your data to it. Once you've done that you can copy/move them to your Library folders on your Acer laptop.

 

[Venster7]

Thanks again for all the advice. I will attempt soon.

 

[theog]

Take a look at this tutorial:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/648-restore-backup-user-system-files.html

 

[SIW2]

You will be fine restoring an image to a different machine.

Depending on the hardware , it may start up ok.

If not, you can run one of the commercial apps. - e.g. Paragon Adaptive Restore which only takes a couple of seconds.

( I have successfuly done it by hand - a few adjustments to the system hive - not that difficult )

You then just need to put in a product key which is valid for that new machine.

 

[mjf]

You can move images by sysprep..ing your PC etc to deal with driver issues but the big issue is licensing not only of the Windows OS but bought/licensed third party software.
I did this recently and my preference is to have a clean install on your new hardware
- sort any unique driver issues out
- activate all licensed software
- do a straightforward restore of personal file/folders as per my #5 post.

 

[damien76]

You will be fine restoring an image to a different machine.

Depending on the hardware , it may start up ok.

If not, you can run one of the commercial apps. - e.g. Paragon Adaptive Restore which only takes a couple of seconds.

( I have successfuly done it by hand - a few adjustments to the system hive - not that difficult )

You then just need to put in a product key which is valid for that new machine.

Nice one there. See HERE also. Might come in handy.

 

[mjf]

How often does an average user need to transfer to a new system. Rarely I would think.
In transferring expensive software like Photoshop CS5, Sibelius etc. will this be straightforward via the imaging approach? No risk of getting your paid software on a blackban list?

 

[SIW2]

I don't have any software like that.

Why is it different installing afresh - then installing your fancy paid apps. on the new hardware?

If they are limited in some way to the first machine - then that limit still applies if you reinstall afresh to the new machine - no idea what you are getting at.

 

[mjf]

What am I getting at:
1) The "?" marks in my post mean a question or a degree of uncertainty. I am inviting a knowledgeable response so people don't get caught with licensing problems.
2) The software examples I gave need to be deactivated on an old machine and reactivated on the new. Will reactivating an imaged version on new hardware work? Maybe, maybe not.
3) I know what "expensive" and "useful" means but don't know what "fancy" means in the current context. CS5 and Sibelius are used widely by professionals and serious amateurs.
4) Do you consider any advantage with a clean install on a new machine? I do others may not.

Most of the imaging companies have products to assist image transfer to a new PC. If it suites you then give it a try.

 

[damien76]

We had an experience previously at our office with AutoCad 2008 and Adobe CS3. When we recovered an image we had to go and activate it again. I believe they (like Autocad) are allowed a certain number of re-installations. When you reach that you'd have to contact support for re-activation/verification..not sure about that but I'll ask our IT about it.

 

[Venster7]

Thanks again guys for all the advice. I've attempted to move some of my files tonight and it seem to be easy enough. I've moved my Docs so far by simply going to Control Panel - Back up or restore your files - Select another back or restore files from and it seem to work easy enough. I will attempt to move my pictures and music over over the weekend. Assume it will be just as easy. Only thing I don't understand in my ignorance is why it's not saving the folder that I moved over 'My Documents' to My Documents in The Library? It dumps it in C: Acer - Users - and then in My folder. It's not a problem, just curious. Thanks again.

 

[seavixen32]

Glad to hear you are making good progress and thanks for keeping us up-to-date.

In answer to your query, I think it's related to the the fact that a library doesn't actually store folders. It just POINTS to where files are stored by using junction points and symbolic links, which are virtual folders that you can't see.

For example, My Documents resides under C:\Users\User Name\My Documents and the library will just point to that location.

Get to know libraries - Explore Windows - Microsoft Windows

 

[mjf]

For example, My Documents resides under C:\Users\User Name\My Documents and the library will just point to that location.

? Typo
C:\Users\User Name\Documents