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Windows 7 64 Image to New Windows 8 64 Pro Laptop

Thread needs solution

Hi All,

I did a search, and didn't see my answer exactly, so please forgive me if this has been answered many times.

I have Acronis Image Home 2014 for my Windows 7 64 Bit laptop. I have purchased a brand new, much higher end laptop with Win 8 64 Pro.

I have so much software, settings, iTunes, etc., that reinstalling all would take a week or longer. I dread that. Nevertheless, I needed to upgrade to a new laptop that has all new hardware (same size drive). This new laptop has new everything - video drivers, motherboard, more memory, etc. It's an entirely different machine.

I've seen migration topics discussed to no avail, I saw one about driver tactics, and I've heard of PCMover software (but also heard it's not very reliable and very buggy), so what software or METHOD is recommended to get all my installed software, files and settings from my WIN 7 machine (or Acronis image) to my new WIN 8 machine without reinstalling everything and without losing WIN 8 and all the right drivers for that machine?

I saw one thread talking about a way to uninstall drivers on my current machine (obviously wouldn't do that with my video driver), then run the image with a drivers folder of all the drivers that the new machine needs in WIN 8, but was confused on exactly how to do that, and whether it would work with ATIH 2014?

If I upgrade my Win 7 machine to Win 8 64 Pro then create the image would that help? Not sure if my machine would even allow that upgrade?

Any help you have would be appreciated.

Thank you so much!

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Mikey:

This is just a personal opinion but the BEST way to migrate to a new PC or operating system is to do a clean install. I do this with every new OS release and it doesn't take weeks; usually only a day. A clean install avoids dragging along unneeded junk from the old PC or OS, is a good opportunity to get rid of (by not reinstalling) software that hasn't been used in years, and almost always results in a faster and more reliable PC. I know that you are dreading the process but it may actually end up taking you less time than some of the other migration methods that you are considering.

If you want to retain Win 8 on the new laptop you will have to reinstall your software as there is no other choice. It is completely impossible to copy or move software from one machine to another whilst retaining the target machine's operating system. You can though, by using the Premium version of Acronis, migrate an entire system from one computer to another, OS, software, files, everything. You would lose Win 8 though and would have to reactivate Win 7 on the new machine (and quite probably lose it on the machine it is now on).

The migration process itself is not something I've tackled personally but it seems from this forum that it isn't always a straightforward process.

Thank you!

Mark, in the end, I agree with you - fresh installs are always superior - but that's in part because no decent solution exists for migration. I've probably performed over 200 fresh installs for friends, family and colleagues over the past 20 years. I'm the geek of the family. You can get the basics installed in about 5-10 hours, but it takes many days to get everything truly dialed in to all prior settings.

My current machine has more software than I've ever had - it's my true workstation/workhorse - from full Adobe suites, to Visual Studio, Corel suites, Quicken, to various charting programs, all of iTunes, and iDevice back ups, etc., etc (plus all related updates/upgrades). And, as I work 60+ hours per week, my time per day for I.T. fun is limited. I see this project taking at least a week or two before all is dialed in and kinks worked out.

It would be amazing if there was a software that could (like PCMover, but much more accurate and more reliable) move/migrate all chosen programs and related registry settings on top of a fresh OS install. Maybe Acronis can work to add that functionality in the future as I see this request frequently in my searches, just no definitive solution for it. There's a market niche for this and no one has conquered it yet.

Looks like I'll be reinstalling my software one by one onto the new machine. Arrrrggghhhh! Thank you for the responses though, it is appreciated.

Mikey Johnson wrote:
fresh installs are always superior - but that's in part because no decent solution exists for migration.

I agree with you. There is a need for a flawless migration tool. But, is such a thing even possible, given how deeply many applications integrate with Windows, the many interconnected dlls, and the many Registry entries.

I don't think I've ever used a migration tool myself, but have read enough reports from reliable users about problems encountered after using such a tool. I think particularly when moving to a new OS, a clean install is the way to go, even though it is time consuming.

There is an updated version of Laplink PC mover from W7->W8, I haven't tried ti myself.