Cloud to PC without operating system
Good morning... I have yet to have any issues with Acronis, however I might be needing to transsfer my data.
I have 847GB in the cloud from a "shaky" pc. It might be on its last leg. My question is, can I restore my entire pc to a different pc that has NO operating system on it? I picked up a killer spec'd machine cheap, because it was wiped. no nothing. Hopefully it can be done. Please let me know, and give me some direction.


- Anmelden, um Kommentare verfassen zu können

Long story short..... still need to purchase an O/S.
can one still pick up windows 10 reasonably, or free, until July??? As a "windows insider" i could probably get it free, but only if i replace the O/S (non existant) on the new pc. Sadly, My thinking didnt work out as planned.
- Anmelden, um Kommentare verfassen zu können

John, not sure how to advise with regard to buying a new OS for your system as this will very much depend on where you are located. Here in the UK I have a few sites that I tend to buy from that occasionally have special offers.
I was able to get a reasonably priced license key card (with no software DVD) for Windows 8 when I last wanted a new OS install, that allowed me to upgrade immediately to 8.1 then with the announcement of Windows 10, qualified for a free upgrade to that version.
If you can pick up a Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 license key or install DVD with COA / serial, then provided you install it before the Windows 10 free upgrade offer finishes on July 29th, then you can get Windows 10 for the new system. Once you have Windows 10 installed via the upgrade route, you can then do a clean install of it at any future time.
With Windows 8.1 and 10 you can download the install DVD ISO image using the appropriate version Media Creation Tool that Microsoft provides.
See http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media or https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 for download links.
- Anmelden, um Kommentare verfassen zu können

Most likely, any new PC will come with Windows 10 or a compatible OS that can be upgraded to Windows 10 freely (unless you're building your own, then you'll need an OEM or boxed license). Once you have Windows 10 on your new system, transferring your entire system to the new machine should license Windows 10 automatically since Windows 10 is hardware based. Once licensed, always licensed... this assumes you'd be using the same version of Windows 10 though (home or Pro).
If a new system comes with Win7 or 8.1, then upgrade it to Win10 quickly to get it licensed wiht Microsoft and then do your restore of the old system and you'll be fine.
A few thoughts...
I would not use the Cloud backup as your only backup/restore option - it is going to take days to restore such a backup from the Cloud. If you have no other choice and don't mind waiting, then I guess that is OK. However, personally, I would be taking local backups as well. A 2TB drive is like $65 and might only take a couple of hours to backup 900Gb with a full disk backup via a USB 3 connection. Cloud is great - it's a nice offline storage solution and protects you from things like disk failure, fire or theft, but it's also slow. You should have at least one local backup running in addition to your cloud backup and the local one will be your go-to for backup and restore and the cloud will be your fall-back.
- Anmelden, um Kommentare verfassen zu können