Skip to main content

Can't Restore non UEFI to new UEFI

Thread needs solution

Hello.  I have used Acronis for many years and never had to do a restore to a new computer.  Yesterday my system crashed and it has been determined it is a motherboard issue.  It was a catatrophic failure because it also killed the hard drive.  So I say no problem.  I have the best backup software made.  So I go out and buy another computer and pop in the DVD that came with Acronis True Image Premium 2014 (which is supposed to have Universal Restore) and to my surprixe the orginal DVD doesn't  offer the option. In fact the orginal DVD doesn't advertise itself as Premium except in the Sticker. So I go to another computer and make a bootable DVD.  But guess what, the new computer has the dreaded UEFI bios so it wont boot the DVD.  So I follow the instructions for a WinPE disk here on your forum and to my dismay the computer hangs when trying to boot from it.  So given:

1) I have an 2014 backup from an older non UEFI machine
2) Backup needs to restore to new UEFI machine

What can I do?  Thanks for any help in advance.

0 Users found this helpful

This is tough because it's not cut and dry.

0) you have to use a matching recovery media to deploy the image  1689: Backup Archive Compatibility Across Different Product Versions.  Acronis 2014 images should be recoverable with 2014, 2015 and 2016, but not 2017.  I believe 2014 supports UEFI, but keep in mind this was with early releases of UEFI and firmware is changing - you have a newer board now, so if possible, I'd stick to trying to restore legacy mode back in legacy mode...

1) If your new system is UEFI, but supports legacy mode (which is what your old OS was), you need to disable secure boot in the bios, ensure that CSM/legacy is enabled and determine if the board supports legacy and UEFI at the same time or must have one or the other selected.

2) Let's assume the bios is configured correctly and supports CSM/legacy mode... to keep things simple, try to restore in legacy mode first.  To do this, make sure the reocvery media is booted in legacy mode and not UEFI (pictures in this post will help you tell the difference as to how they look when booted in each method and how your bios may display legacy vs EFI booting when usng the one time boot override menu).  How you boot the recovery media determines the disk formatting when the image is deployed!

3) SATA mode must match in the bios.  If the old system was AHCI, you need to set SATA mode to AHCI on the new system and save this in the bios too. If the old mode was IDE and your new board doesnt' support IDE, that can be a problem, but Universal Restore may help.  In all liklihood, you're going to need to run Universal Restore anyway since you're changing hardware... what OS do you have anyway?  Windows 10 switches hardware pretty well on its own and 8.1 is pretty good to.  Windows 7 is not very good at this without Universal Restore and neither is XP. 

4) Let's assume that things have gone well up to to this point and you've restored your image in legacy mode with a successful status.  Go back into the bios and make sure the hard drive is listed as the first boot priority and save the bios and then exit.

5) Now, you attempt to boot the OS.  does it boot?  Most likely not...  you probably get a BSOD because the hardware is different and drivers from the original OS install confict with the new hardware or are missing.  

6) Now,  you need to run Universal Resore.  Don't select to add any drivers, just run it to generalize the drivers.

7) Now try to boot to the main drive again.  

Hopefully all is well and you have restored your old legacy OS back in legacy mode on your new machine and it works.  If it does, you know the process and can do it again.  You can then attempt to try booting your rcovery media in UEFI mode and see if Acronsi can convert the old legacy OS install to a UEFI install, then run UR again and see if it boots or not.  If it does, cool.  If not, well, then just go back to legacy mode and call it a day. 

BUT... keep in mind that OS licensing may be an issue now. If your old system had an OEM license that came with the hardware, it will not license on the new hadware as OEM license are non-transferable.  If you have a boxed license, you can move it and it may activate automatically.  If not, you have to call Microsoft.