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Help with upgrade process!

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Did some reviewing of stickies and a couple topics and still have questions.

I have had Acronis True Image for several years and a forum member for that time period. Have been out of the loop for awhile since the product has worked flawlessly. I have ATI 2010 with Plus Pack and build 7046. It is on a Sony Vaio with Vista 32bit. Have done dozens of bu's and did first full image restore yesterday, due to failing laptop, worked great.

It looks like the laptop is going to go. I don't think I can buy a new laptop with Windows 7/USB 3.0 ports and much faster hardware and restore my current backup to it, giving me my current set up on the new Windows 7 machine, and no loss of functionality. Or, can I? Would I need to wipe the hard drive before restoring?

If I NEED to upgrade, what are my options. Get Windows 7 on my current laptop now? Hate to lose programs that may not run on Windows 7. Or, upgrade now to 2011, with it's Plus Pack (to assure restore to another brand/hard drive?? Will that allow to me restore current bu to new laptop and retain all program and functionality I have now on the new W7 laptop.

Main goal would be to retain Vista and current setup on new laptop after restore and lose no functions on the new laptop, like USB 3.0 etc.

Any advice on the steps to take appreciated,

Ken

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Ken,

With the Plus Pack, you are in theory able to move to your new laptop and restore your existing system image on top of whatever comes with your new laptop. Universal Restore is not for the faint of heart though. You will need to make sure you have all the vista drivers to support your new laptop hardware in uncompress format. For some components, the drivers are the same for Vista and Win7, for some not. It depends on your hardware. You will have to check the manufacturer's web site, see if you can find the core drivers (chipset, disk controllers) for Vista and get them uncompressed (often they come in a exe file).

If you try this, get the ATI upgrade, install it with the Plus Pack, create a recovery CD, backup your OLD AND your NEW computer using an all-partition disk and partition backup, using the recovery CD. This will make sure the ATI recovery CD can help you restore on your new laptop (deal with the USB 3.0 interface or network, for example).

Thanks Pat

I assume by ATI upgrade you mean 2011 that supports W7, and just read an email from them on upgrading, and that it also supports USB 3.0

So, I may get that and do my recovery CD's and bootable usb drive and backup

Could just keep W7 on new laptop and restore just data

Only use laptop now for Google/GMail stuff/Acronis/MozyHome/Mozilla Firefox and some programs that should be available for W7 as well

Ken

True Image Home 2010 supports Windows 7 too. But the main problem with "retain Vista and current setup on new laptop" route is that Vista that (I assume) came with laptop is OEM-licensed and moving it to the new computer 1) is against the license on the legal side 2) on the technical side, probably will trigger 'non-genuine' warning as well. You can however buy a retail W7 box (Home premium or Professional depending on Vista edition), upgrade the laptop to it in-place retaining the installed programs, then transfer it to the new laptop. But this way may have its problems too, even if with the help of Universal Restore it boots on the new laptop (like all software on the new laptop e.g that controls audio volume by fn+keys is not available as a standalone install at all but only as a part of factory-installed Windows 7 image). And if this way doesn't work - now you have a spare useless unpackaged retail Windows 7 box.

Thanks dev-anon

Sounds like a lot of trouble either way--the sales pitch of ATI and PP make it sound easy as far as copying OS's and don't mention licensing issues :)

I have just bought 2011 and PP (29.00) and installed. Made my bootable media, tested it, and ready to do first Full Image Backup

Need to buy some more CD's to do a recovery--they are CD's not DVD's? Will have to see what I used 4 years ago lol

I did Typical install on ATI and Full on bootable media

I'll have to do some thinking on my next steps--my oldest son is a software engineer and can figure out the tech side of making it work--need to get my college investment back lol

Appreciate all the help--just been doing the bu's for so long, lost touch with the tech side of all this

Ken

Ken,

Frankly, if I were you, I would not go through the trouble of Universal Restore if you can install the apps. Just move the content. Win7 is worth upgrading to from Vista...

That's what I am leaning toward Pat--I can move back the programs or just redownload W7 versions if applicable

I have a lot of programs I don't use much anymore, as mentioned above

I don't know of anything I can't do without that may be non W7 compatible

Wow--this is a much simpler bu procedure--no creating new folder on my Lacie first and browsing to find it--just name it and bu

ATI 2011 has identified old bu's no longer on my Lacie and listed them--guess I will just delete the ones that I already deleted off the drive

Ken

Ken,
If you like creating backups at a time of your choosing, consider adding a shortcut to your desktop. This is exceptionally easy from within the TI task edit options.

Thanks Grover will check it out

Replied to your PM and again good to hear from you once again, been a few years!