Restoring to NEW NUC from Old NUC Image
Hi,
When my new Intel NUC arrives next week, I would like to 'recover' the drive (after installing Windows 10 Pro and all drivers) by utilising my 'old' Intel NUC's latest image, using Acronis TI 2021 Tools.
They are both Intel NUCs, the older one is 8th Generation, the latest one is 9th Generation.
They will both have the exact same NVMe 1 TB drives.
My questions are these.....
What is the best way of updating the NEW drive in the new NUC with the latest image from the old NUC?
Afterwards, the old NUC will be wiped and given to my son, so I need the new NUC to be exactly like my old NUC, regarding programs, settings, etc.
Any help with this would be appreciated.
Regards
David
Steve,
The new one will have no NVMe M.2 drive, I will be installing that along with its own Windows 10 Pro. Then I was going to install the latest image, from the Old NUC, and adjust accordingly, with any drivers necessary and if it asks for a new activation key, I have that for the New NUC.
That way the Old NUC is not affected in any way, regarding its own Windows, licence, etc.
The Old NUC has its own NVMe m.2 drive already with its own version of Windows 10, activated from Day 1. So tied to that machine.
But based on history, when I first got the original NUC 3 years ago, I started off with a Windows install and activation, and then loaded all programs individually and set up from scratch, almost identical to its ageing predecessor, took me ages, and then someone mentioned to me, I could have used an existing image from the older computer, along with some relevant drivers and used Acronis to "convert" the latest image over to the new NUC.
So that is what I had "planned' to do this time. Just not sure how to set up the Restore Media to suit the new NUC - which will only have its new Windows and possibly my other licenced version of ATI 2021, etc. but essentially empty and can be overwritten as necessary.
David, if you are intending to recover your backup image from the old NUC to the new one, then I would suggest doing that without doing a clean install of your new Windows 10 Pro. The first action of the ATI recovery will be to wipe the target drive, so any OS would be removed.
If the 2 NUC's are essentially identical apart from the later CPU, then you should be able to boot the new NUC into Windows 10 without needing additional device drivers or the use of the Acronis Universal Restore tool.
Steve,
Because I don't know how identical the NUCs are internally, regarding the drivers and components, apart from the storage media (both will have a 1TB Samsung SSD 970 Evo Plus), I was only going to install Windows (and possibly Acronis TI) onto the NEW NUC, in order to build recovery media with the correct drivers related to the new NUC!
That way, on the NEW NUC, when trying to do a recovery of the (old NUC) image with Acronis media, it will install the relevant drivers at the time, to ensure correct boot afterwards. I will probably have to reactivate Windows with its correct key, of course, being different hardware.
This is just a theory based on what I had read in the Acronis documentation, regarding different hardware, that I wanted confirmation or guidance on achieving...
Cheers
David
David, it is Windows that triggers any new device drivers to be installed when new hardware is discovered during boot or runtime. Having those drivers in the rescue media is purely for the purpose of that media booting, it won't cause the same drivers to be installed in Windows.
If you have a concern about device drivers, then download all these from the Intel NUC support site and add these after creating the Acronis Universal Restore media if that application, when booted on the new NUC with the restored backup from the old NUC, identifies that further drivers are needed.
Note: Windows 10 is very good at recognising new hardware and installing drivers for this without the need to use the AUR media.
David,
Windows 10 is great at booting on dissimilar hardware. Your NUC's only being 1 generation apart will not be a problem here at all. Not with boot, activation, and probably not even with any needed drivers.
My question to you is, do you plan to use the new M,2 drive with your old install (image) applied to it? If you are then this is a simple backup of the old and apply that backup to the new and boot the old machine. After that and making sure all is well with the old NUC, put your old drive in the old NUC and go to Settings - System - About, click on the "Change product key or upgrade your edition of Windows" and enter the new product key for the new license. That should complete the process.
Hi Enchantech,
I am confused with your second paragraph....
As noted in my original post, I had 'planned' to install the latest full image backed up from my OLD NUC, onto the NEW NUC, with the newly installed m.2 drive.
But as it is a similar NUC, but not exactly the same, I wasn't sure what was required to ensure the above action was pretty painless.
The Old NUC with its own m.2 drive and its own Windows 10, sans my main programs and files, will be given to my son.
Then, hopefully, the NEW NUC will be "identically" set up as per the OLD NUC, with little or no issues. And the Windows re-activated with new Key, etc.
Hopefully, this explains it better...see attached layout
Cheers.
David
David,
I understand what you want to do. What I am telling you is that given both of these machines are near identical there will not be any issue with you doing this. You simply restore your backup image of the old NUC to the new M.2 drive and install that into the new machine and boot it. It will work fine with no activation worries or anything. All your programs will be there and everything.
After that just install the old drive back into the old machine, Then run the Windows 10 installer to install Windows anew. One of the first steps in that install is to input the license key so do that and complete the install.
That's it, done deal, nothing left to do.
Enchantech,
Yes, the first paragraph makes total sense. However, in your second paragraph.....
"After that, just install the old drive back into the old machine, then run the Windows 10 installer to install Windows anew."
Why have I taken the old m.2 out of the OLD NUC? I am just using the OLD NUCs latest image.
Also, why am I reinstalling Windows onto the OLD NUC? It already has activated Windows on it, and I will be just uninstalling my licenced programs, as they will now be on the NEW NUC...
Cheers,
David
It was my understanding that you wished to use the new M.2 disk for yourself in the new NUC. To do that you would need to remove the old drive and put the new drive in it's place then restore the backup image to the new drive. After that pull the new drive and install it in the new machine then boot it up. That complete4s the process and activates your old license on the new NUC.
Now you can put your old drive back in the old NUC, boot that NUC to the Windows install media and run it. When finished you will have a brand now install of Windows on that old machine. This will result in a much better system free of any clutter leftover from uninstalling who knows how many apps and whatnot.
Enchantech,
I was going to 'recover' the image (from the old drive) to the new M.2 after it was installed in the new NUC.
I wasn't going to touch the old NUC part from uninstalling some programs.
Regards
David
Hi All,
I actually ended up cloning the current NUC drive onto the blank m.2 using an m.2 USB adaptor that I had and the Acronis Cloning Tool. Then I assembled the NEW NUC, turned it on, it loaded up, it asked to update a couple of drivers from intel (automatic scan and driver update tool) and update few serial numbers for licencing purposes, and that was it! No problems. Worked out a bit better than I expected, and you guys helped tremendously with the confidence it could be done reasonably pain-free and some suggestions.
Many Thanks, Steve and Enchantech.
Regards,
David