Skip to main content

Upgrading PC hardware have questions

Thread needs solution

i need to replace my mother board,  I want to keep my SSD drive and all my installed programs.  What is the procedure to back up and install new hardware then get everything running on the new hardware.  I hope I won't have to reinstall any software, thanks in advance.

0 Users found this helpful

Kid347 - Welcome to the forum. Sorry to be a bore, but this questions has literally been asked a gagillion times.  Please search the forums a bit for simitlar threads.  

Yes, it's do-able.  No, it's not completely point and click and voila.  When you change hardware, Acronis (and other backup products) make this possible to transfer your old OS to a new system.  However, you have to do prep work in making sure the new system has bios features that support the old OS and making sure you set those yourself - each bios is different so it's really up to you to figure that part out.  Then, you have to determine if you have a valid license that is transferable (you can't transfer an OEM Dell license of Win 7 to a new computer that came with an OEM licesne of Windows 10...).  And, depending on the OS being transferred, does your new hardware support it and/or have drivers for it (Suface Pro 4 is a good example - it only works with Windows 10 - period).

If you're going to be getting new hardware, I would suggest you also get a recent version of Acronis with support and newer features that are more likely to have support for the latest hardware as well.  2015 no longer has active support and came out just as Win10 was coming out.  Each release of Win 10 is a new OS and has been a little different than the previous version.  Although 2015 does support Win 10, that support really was only for the original Win 10 version and is not continued with each of the newest Win 10 releases.

These may help you as well.

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/126651

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/116128

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/127298

In a nutshell, assuming you have the bios configured correctly and a boxed license that is tranferable..

1) Backup the old system and create a backup image.

2) Backup the new system and create a backup image

3) If possible, remove the new system drive and put in a new one to work on.  If not, well, hopefully your backup is good.

4) Restore the old image to teh new system.

5) Run universal restore on the image that was restored to the new system to generalize the drivers to a state similar to a new OS install (driver-wise) on the new hardware.

6) Hopefully it boots now.  Install drivers for the new system once booted into Windows.

Ultimately though, if you have an older image that is legacy/mbr and you have newer hardware that is UEFI/GPT, restoring an old image in legacy mode is setting you back on your new system capabilities.  Personally, unless there was absolutely no choice, I would recommend you take the time to rebuild your new system, install apps, transfer data, etc and bite the bullet. Then start taking backups from that point on so you can recover if need be.  I personally think it's a mistake to take old OS images and move them to new systems - you bring over the old problems and old technology and hope all to be well, but OSes are finicky and when you have the opportunity to start clean, it can be a lot better for you in the long run.

Ultimately, that's your choice though and it can be done.

 

Thank you for all the good info,  I think I will bite the bullet and do a clean install.

Good deal.  I think you'll be happier in the long run.  

If possible, take a backup image of the new system "as is" befofre you ever launch the OS - that gives you the ability to restore to factory, no matter what, at any point in time with that backup.

Then, as you configure the new system to your liking (setup your profile, settings, install apps, etc), you can take backups along the way as points in time - just in case.  

When you finally have your system built with yoru data migrated, just the way you like it, take another backup  and that can be your return to scratch restore point for that system moving forward.  

Personally, I take a full backup before any major change and after as well (for instance, just before a Win 10 major release "upgrade" and just after as well if all went well so i don't have to do it again if things are good to go at that point).