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Backup vs Clone for my needs

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This question has probably been asked before, but I'm not immediately seeing a post that addresses exactly why I'm hoping to use Acronic True Image for. 

Background: Windows 10 desktop with Acronis True Image 2020 installed that conducts weekly backups of my HDD to an external HDD.  Getting ready to update to a new tower, a lot faster with more bells and whistles, but same size HDD as my old computer.  My current desktop has a ton of purchased and installed programs, utilities, and apps, that I absolutely don't want to lose access to or have to purchase again.  So the main question is, what is the most appropriate Acronis tool to use for this, "backup" or "clone?"  I want the new computer to boot up exactly like the current one, with all the programs and desktop all in the exact same place.  Like nothing has changed except I'm now running a faster and newer desktop.  I'm hoping that's possible, but I figured I needed to ask.

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Dom, there are various issues with achieving your stated goal of being able to move your current Windows 10 OS & installed applications to a new better / faster PC.

Some comments:

KB 19296: Acronis products cannot be used to transfer applications to different system or upgrade OS

The above means that you cannot just use ATI to backup only your installed applications and move these to your new PC.  If you are going to make a backup of the old PC, then it has to be of the whole OS & applications and the disk drive they are stored on.

Windows activation is based on the edition of Windows 10, i.e. Home, Pro etc, and the hardware signature of the PC.  If you want to successfully migrate Windows 10 from the old PC to a new one, then both should be activated for the same edition of Windows 10 to avoid needing to purchase a new license.

Activation of other applications you have may also be based on hardware signatures so these may also need to be re-activated on the new PC, assuming the provider allows for this!

The type of disk drive where Windows is installed in the old PC and the BIOS mode used to boot into Windows has also to be considered. 

Example: if you are migrating from an older Legacy / MBR system to a new UEFI / GPT system and from an older SATA drive to a new NVMe type SSD, then additional device drivers at a minimum will be needed.

Finally, this is a situation where you should forget about using cloning!  Keep the old PC as an operational system, use Backup to capture all the OS & application disk data, then follow the process described in the AUR document to migrate that backup to the new PC.

See KB 65508: Acronis True Image 2021: how to create bootable media and KB 59877: Acronis True Image: how to distinguish between UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot modes of Acronis Bootable Media

KB 65539: Acronis True Image 2021: How to restore your computer with WinPE-based or WinRE-based media

See KB 65413: Acronis True Image 2021: Restoring to dissimilar hardware with Acronis Universal Restore - which describes the migration process that you would need to follow using Backup & Recovery options.

Note: I would recommend making a full disk backup of both old and new PC's as one of the first actions you take before attempting any migration.   This is your insurance against any mistakes, errors etc that might occur, and will provide a method of getting back to your starting point for both PCs.

I would further recommend installing ATI 2021 on the new PC if it comes pre-installed with Windows 10 and using the Acronis Rescue Media build to create both the 'Simple' version of the Windows PE rescue media, and also the Universal Restore media, plus to capture any additional device drivers that are used in the new PC.

Bummer, but I should have guessed that would be a problem.  I have hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars of installed programs on my old computer that I've accumulated over the last few years.  Having to buy those all over again is going to be painful.  At least saving all my personal files won't be a problem. Thank you for the advice!

Dom, there are application that claim to be able to do what you want to do; I think one is from LapLink. I have never tried to use them. My recollection is that they will not work with all programs.

This is the reason why I keep detailed records of all programs/applications that I have purchased, including serial numbers, activation codes and the machines on which they are installed. I also keep copies of the installation files and any update files.

Ian