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Don't quite understand where/How to use the new drivers in universal restore

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I am getting ready to replace a Asus z97 motherboard with a EVGA z370. I of course want to use Universal restore to get my system back where it was. The part I don't understand and I keep reading it over and over and over and still don't quite understand it is how to install obtain and the proper place to use the drivers for the new board. Do you run restore and then put the manufacturer's CD in for the new board and acronis automatically finds the drivers or do I have to put the drivers on a separate CD, or do I have to put them on a USB stick? I just don't understand that part of the procedure. I guess I'm getting stupid in my old age but I just don't understand that part of it.

I appreciate any guidance, I have read the instructions over and over but that part bewilders me.

John

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John, what version of Windows OS is involved here for this motherboard migration?

If it is Windows 10, then you may not need many additional device drivers and may not need to use the Acronis Universal Restore tool, as Windows 10 looks to cope with this type of hardware change much better than previous versions of Windows.

For your question about drivers, you would need to look at the support website for your new motherboard and download as many as are offered, but in particular the motherboard chipset drivers and those for the integrated disk controllers.

AUR would require you to provide a folder that includes the device driver .INF and .SYS files plus all associated files these point to, but the drivers are often provided as an installer program.  You can try opening that installer program in a zip utility such as 7-zip and see if you can extract the driver files in that way.

Hi Steve, thank you very much for your very informative reply. I am going to try it just using the windows drivers in Windows 10 Pro which is what I am using. If I am if I am reading your last paragraph correctly it would also indicate that I need to do an additional step or am I reading it incorrectly and Windows 10 will handle that driver problem also? Again thanks so much for your help I really appreciate it. I'm holding off completely until I completely understand this before I make the conversion. Again, if I'm reading your last paragraph correctly I would do the restore, and then installed the drivers from the manufacturers CD and I would be in good shape?

So the long and short of it is I would just create a restore disk using acronis and do not use the universal restore( or would I?) And then just proceed with the restore from there and after that is done just use the manufactures CD to install the normal drivers?

John, the basic steps needed for this type of migration of hardware would be:

Backup your current Windows 10 drive, including all hidden/system partitions to an external drive.

Confirm the BIOS boot mode used by Windows 10 by running msinfo32 - this will show how the Acronis Rescue Media will need to be booted, and what your new computer (motherboard) will need to support too, i.e. all should use UEFI, or all should use Legacy/CSM.
Note: Also check your current BIOS boot priority settings - you should see Windows Boot Manager for UEFI boot systems, else the Disk Drive for Legacy/CSM systems.

Create the Acronis Rescue Media on CD or USB stick, then test on the current system that it will boot correctly in the right BIOS mode boot.

Create the Acronis Universal Restore media on CD or USB stick - test that this boots ok, but then set aside in case it might be needed at a later point.

Make the necessary hardware / motherboard changes, and check (as far as possible) that all is looking good at this point.  Note: create a Linux Live DVD or USB stick for testing with - Ubuntu is a good choice with good hardware support.

Boot from the Acronis Rescue Media CD or USB stick (observing the BIOS mode requirement) and check that you can 'see' both the external drive with your backup image, and the target drive where you will be restoring to.  If all looks OK, then do a full disk restore (Recovery) of your backup image.

Shutdown, remove all boot media and the external backup drive.

Power on, check your new BIOS boot settings and ensure you have the same boot device as noted previously.

Attempt to boot into Windows 10 and allow time for any new hardware to be discovered / generic Windows device drivers to be installed / applied.  You may need to try this more than once if a restart is needed after new device drivers are installed.

If all boots to the Windows 10 desktop, then you can install more specific device drivers for your new motherboard using the device driver installer programs downloaded previously.

If you see any BSOD or other errors, then you may need to boot from the AUR media and select the restored Windows OS to allow AUR to prepare this by using generic device drivers.  AUR will tell you if other more specific device drivers will be needed.

Ideally, I would recommend using a different target disk drive if possible, so that you can keep your original working drive separate.