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Cloning to an identical 2nd PC

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I built a Windows 7 PC and I have it completely configured the way I want it. It is registered and the key is activated. If I were to clone, or copy and restore, its hard drive to a 2nd identical PC will it work? I am not trying to cheat Microsoft I would immediately change the key on the cloned PC so they are both legit. Is this do-able? This is how I used to do it with PowerQuest Drive Image. Thanks.

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I would suggest that you create a full disk backup image from the 2013 Rescue Media (bootable CD/DVD/USB Flash drive) to an external drive.

Once the full image is made, install the new drive in place of the original source drive and restore the image to it while booted to the Rescue Media.

Once the restore is complete, boot to the new drive, and check that it is working okay, before installing it into the second system.

Hello and thanks in advance for your response. This is a follow-up question to your comment of June 14th. When you say " install the new drive in place of the original source drive" it seems you assume there is only one PC.
I seek your help because I want to get my entire environment up and running on a **second PC** (with a legal copy of the same OS running on the second PC). Is this feasible without having to reinstall a whole bunch of software? (This second PC is just an 'insurance' machine because of all the crucial stuff now on the first PC).
PS -- I am a long-time Acronis True Image user.

So, you wish to take a disk image from PC 1 and restore it or clone it to PC 2?

Does PC 2 have the identical hardware (and I mean identical, all components exactly the same make/model/version) as PC 1?

Hello and thanks!
Your wonderful question answers my question! I've done some PC-to-PC migration before (with PC lapLink) involving different hardware once, and very similar hardware another time. So I had my fears that the issue of PC No. 2 being really identical may be important. Your question confirms my fear, and thanks for the heads-up.
I guess I will start with Acronis True Image (or LapLink again) and get ready to reinstall a lot of the software, with all the attendant activation issues! Yet, it's worth the trouble; because once you get the very business-critical software environment I have on PC No. 1 you start losing sleep on the question of "what would happen if …" (you lost everything on that machine).

It is possible to restore to dissimilar hardware, what's called a Universal Restore, if you add the optional Plus Pack. You would have to collect required drivers for PC 2's hardware to use during the restore process. However, many drivers can be added after booting Windows, but you would absolutely need the chipset driver for PC 2.

If PC 2 is to have a different OS (such as 64-bit, but PC 1 is 32-bit; or Windows 7 Pro, while PC 1 is Home Premium) then it wouldn't be possible.

Thanks for your help. I'll upgrade my copy of Plus Pack and stay with the same hardware (model, version etc. -- it's a Toshiba Tecra A9,one of the Toshiba business-oriented machines, and several are now on EBay). This approach should keep my re-installation and activation hurdles reasonably low. Great help from you -- thanks.

I have done something similar just recently - cloning the HDD from extern case to new HDD intern - worked fine.....will work even with UEFI/GPT.
Earlier I used to do it by Image with TIH2012 on BIOS/MBR PC - that went ok also.

Hello and thanks for your comment. Am I right in assuming that other than having two different HDD's, all other aspects of hardware were identical? Excuse me if this is a stupid question but I am a "newbie".

Yes - I had a Laptop with UEFI/GPT Windows 8 Pro x64 on a small and very slow HDD - and I took that HDD out, put it in an extern case, then put a new fast HDD into the Laptop. Then I used the newly downloaded ( from Acronis/my account) bootable ISO. I burned it with ImgBurn on a CD and used this CD to boot the Laptop via F12 and started TIH2013. Then I went to Extras/Cloning and cloned the old HDD from extern to the new HDD intern. Worked fine. Did not work well with imaging! ( sorry for my rusted English)