Backups- Full Imaging

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dochielomn
Posts: 216
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2013 9:16 am

Backups- Full Imaging

Post by dochielomn »

So over the holiday weekend, my father in law decided that he needed a new desktop and with my help, ended up purchasing a new machine. He wants to do a full backup of his current desktop and transfer all of the files and programs over to the new one. He has an external hard drive. I can't say I've ever really done a full image type backup of a system and wondering how easy it is to do and then install on a new machine. I'm also wondering if the image will copy the programs and licenses for the paid programs? These days, he'll download the program and buy the license but doesn't get a CD or flashdrive with the license number so he's wondering if he'll be force to buy another license. I think he should be able to contact the company and request the license number explaining that his old computer died and he got a new one and needs the license to finish the install.

So, just wondering who has experience with doing a full type back and install using windows? I know for files, i can easily just manually select what files/folders to copy onto a external drive and then copy and paste over. But wondering if there's a more simple way, especially since what my father in law wants is more of a full imaging type situation.

So, any help would be appreciated, :).
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Backups- Full Imaging

Post by kevm14 »

I do not think that even in Windows 10, there is a way to "image" an old computer and transfer all files, folders and applications w/ activated licenses to a new and different machine. Mulligan can and will correct me if I am wrong. I don't think I would try to image the entire machine, though you could do that if only to plop a single image file onto the new computer, and use some software to go into it and retrieve anything at any time. I have no idea if Windows would natively support this (it may), nor do I know of any freeware that would allow this (probably exists). And even if all that worked, it would not bring the activated application over.

I would say you already had the answer. Transfer files and folders manually. Or, if the old machine is Win10, use File History to make a backup of files and folders and "restore" them onto the new machine, though I have never actually done this. If it worked it would reconstitute the exact folder hierarchy that existed on the old machine, which may not be desired.

Either way I think the licensed applications will need to be reinstalled and if the license does not magically work, yes, he will likely need to call the company. Not sure what the software is, but some software may allow a reactivation and pull the license information from the web somewhere, though he would have to type in some kind of credential like a username and pass, so it can authenticate him. What is the software? Accounting software?
Adam
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Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:50 pm

Re: Backups- Full Imaging

Post by Adam »

kevm14 wrote:I do not think that even in Windows 10, there is a way to "image" an old computer and transfer all files, folders and applications w/ activated licenses to a new and different machine.
You could do that with imaging S/W like CloneZilla or Acronis, but Windows will require re-activation and might not even work at all depending on which Windows version and hardware are in use (can't boot 'cause no driver for disk controller X or whatever). This has always been the behavior of Windows systems.

Also, you'd lose whatever Windows license and pre-installed S/W comes on the new machine. And on top of that, the "licensed" S/W may tie itself to the computer H/W so it might un-activate itself once the image is restored to the new computer.

Reinstall the S/W on the new machine is the way to go.
dochielomn
Posts: 216
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2013 9:16 am

Re: Backups- Full Imaging

Post by dochielomn »

Kevin, you are correct that there is some accounting software that he buys or his company buys and allows him to install on his home machine. Then, there's other programs like Office which he buys which we'll have to figure out how to get the licenses back for as well.

But in reading your responses, it sounds like manual copy and paste is the way to go and just suck it up and re-download/re-install all programs that he needs. I know he does Windows backups and such but since I've never really dealt with it directly, i'm slightly tentative to believe it fully works or captures everything (it probably does but this is more of fear of the unknown), so I'm more geared to the old fashion of just saving folders/files that i want manually on an extra drive of some sort and then using that external drive as my way to paste the folders/files to where ever i need them.

Thanks for the advice!
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Backups- Full Imaging

Post by kevm14 »

What Windows could do for you is a full machine backup, and reimage if you have it make the image. But that is onto the existing hardware. If you try to reimage onto new hardware, it is like Mulligan said - you will be facing anything from hardware incompatibilities with drivers to applications no longer being activated due to the way they commonly tie to hardware signatures to validate that the software is still activated on the correct machine.
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