Cloning to new laptop?
Hey, I'm new to the forum. I hope I am posting in the right section.
You guys probably get this question a lot, but with Acronis True Image, can I save a complete clone image of my current laptop to my external hard drive then restore it to my new laptop from my external hard drive and it will be exactly identical to my current laptop (minus the hardware upgrades and such)?
Or is Acronis Migrate Easy better for this job?
I am very new to disk cloning and don't know much about it.
Thank you very much for the reply.
If I do a full disk image backup, will it also backup my registry? Because I have tweaked it and I don't want to have to redo everything.
Yes, both operating systems are Windows 7, that means I don't need to install each software and drivers individually right?
Full disk image contains everything. It's a snapshot of your drive. So yes, that includes the registry since that is on the drive.
Another question, would it be better to completely format the new laptop (to get rid of all the bloatware that comes with it, and to make it feel fresh) then restore the full disk image? Or it would not make a differences?
Sorry but I am still slightly confused.
When a full disk image is restored, does it erase everything that is currently on the hard drive and replace it with what was backed up?
Nothing on the disk prior to a full image restore will have any effect on the state of the disk after the restore. A full disk restore wipes out everything that was on the disk prior to the restore.
I don't advise restoring a full disk image made on another computer. You suggested that some hardware is different, as you mentioned installing drivers. I would not do it.
Someone else here may have experience at doing that, and they could comment.
GordonPN,
When you restore a disk and partition backup to a disk or partition, the entire disk/partition is erased, and then the information is laid out on it.
If you restore to another computer, or if you change the settings of your disk (for example from IDE to RAID) you are restore to dissimilar hardware. If you just restore to the same computer but on a new disk with same BIOS settings, you are OK.
Restore to dissimilar hardware is more arduous with ATI or any backup software. ATI includes the Universal Restore feature with the purchase of the ACronis Plus Pack. Using UR is not for the faint of heart and can fail. Sometimes, it is the best alternative to try short of reinstalling everything.
If you can (ie you have some time and the original installers), just reinstall everything on a new computer and move only the content. I highly recommend if you have a another computer with maybe a newer OS.