SCARED!!!!

Install trial version of TI 2011 on the W7 machine, restore files. Or Install trial, make bootable media, restore the disk backup to the original computer.

Thanks dev-anon. I downloaded the Trial Version of TI 2011, but after reading parts of the Acronis online manual, I am wondering if I also need the Plus Pack. I am not only migrating to another machine, but also different Operating Systems, i.e. from Vista to Win7. So, I just want to transfer data files from MS Word & Exel and a few others without interfering with the newer Win7 operating system. I am still a "little" scared, so bear with me. Joe

What OS was on your old machine? You do need the Pluspack to migrate to new hardware but that will only recreate the old OS on the new machine. You may not end up with a Win 7 machine when you are done.

Thanks thomasjk for coming in. Old machinie is a HP Pavilion m8430f that failed (I still don't know why, it just will not start) =Vista Home Premium (x64). New machine is a HP Pavilion p6620f with WIN7 Home Premium. Once again, I don't want a "complete" restore, but I want to pick and choose the files without damaging the existing WIN7 operating system. Joe

1. If all you want to do is migrate the files then there are multiple ways to do that. You can try the TI 2011 trial and just back up the files from the old machine to an external hard drive, flash drive, or DVD. Then restore them to the new machine. See Section 3.4 of the 2011 users guide for the steps.
2. First you will have to install the TI trial version of your Win 7 machine and create a bootable rescue cd.
3. Then you have to boot your old machine from the TI rescue cd. See section 2 of the users guide to locate the various steps you need.
4. Once you have mad the files and folder backup that you need you can boot the rescue cd on the new machine and transfer the files from what ever medium you chose for the backup.

OOOPs in my previous post I forgot that the trail version boot cd can only be used for recovery. You can use a live linux CD such as those mention here http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-back-up-data-on-your-computer-that-….

>>HP Pavilion m8430f that failed (I still don't know why, it just will not start<< 

This sounds like a power supply issue - a $30 fix.

I echo Williams comment about the PS being a likely candidate, though his $30.00 fix I'm not so sure about, depends if your HP uses one of those HP sized power supplies or a standard sized one. If a standard sized one then any computer shop should be able to sell you a PS, if one of those HP slimline ones, then getting one of those from a PC shop at a 'nice' price might be difficult.

As far as getting your files - then either mounting them (it's not called mounting in TI 8, I think IIRC it's plugging in) you would be able to drag and drop your documents files. What might happen though is that they eaither won't open on the W7 system or report themselves as zero bytes. If they were to do that, they just need to have their security identifiers changed from a Vista system to the current W7 install.

This is easy to do, but first see if that problems arises.

Latest update. The "Old Vista HP" is dead. So, it is of no use, because it will not boot up and no Live Disk effort works. The backup destination for the "Old Vista HP" was a Buffalo external hard drive. This must be my recovery source. My latest effort has been to load a Trial Acronis ver 11 to my wife's laptop which has Vista (the same as the "dead" machine). The Trial version loads OK and the laptop recognizes the Buffalo external hard drive with the backup file. However, I need to incrementally recover certain files to keep from overwriting everything on her laptop. The recovery part of the Trial version only wants to transfer "ALL" of the backup file. There is not room for "ALL" of the file and once more, I don't want to overwrite everything on her computer unless that is absolutely the last resort. Still searching for a "good" solution. Thanks for everyone's interest. Joe

One more comment about the possibility of a bad power supply on the "Old Vista Dead Machine", I am not disputing the fact, but the fan and CD drawer still work and when I tried to run the Restoration Disks, I could hear the CD spinning the disk and trying to read and a few things happened, but the Restoration operation did not finish and now it fails to start at all, even though the CD drawer and fan still work.
Joe

One more "last" comment. When I say incremental, I mean just a few files from a total backup file. Is this even possible, or do I have to take all or none?? Joe

Joe,

You'd omitted to say there was some life in the PC in your first post :) , however, if you are now trying with TI 2011, then mounting or exploring the drive is what you want, from there, as I said, you'll be able to drag and drop the files required.

By the sounds of it you are trying to recover, which may well require an all or nothing (without further info on how you made the images), which is not the same as mounting or exploring.

NEXT TO LAST REPLY (maybe). Colin B: I dug a little deeper and discovered the "EXPLORE" command. Sorry, I did not recognize the "mount" command that you suggested. When I was searching earlier on the Buffalo backup file, a couple of times it started to restore "everything". I knew this would not be good, so I backed off. But when I got a little braver, I found "exploring" would let me open the backup file and move up and down the tree and I could then drag and drop to the Win7 new machine like you suggested earlier. I am a 76 year old "newby" and not always as brave as I should be. I still cannot drag and drop whole programs, but I have the original installation disks so that is not a problem. Thanks again for your patience and help. The FINAL REPLY will come when I find the problem with the old Vista machine. I need some diagnostic clues to decide whether it is the hard drive, motherboard, power supply, or ???. That would be for another forum somewhere, maybe HP. Joe