Restoring to Dissimilar Hardware: Questions
Hello,
I have an older computer (HDD) that I want to backup and then restore into a new computer (SSD).
I have an activated Windows 7 x64 Professional on both computers; the newer computer was downgraded from Windows 10. The new computer is brand new, I just purchased it last week.
I wish to backup my current computer to my new computer, so I can put all my programs, files, settings, etc., from my old computer onto my new computer. Rather than going the tedious and frustrating route of reinstalling everything onto the new computer and reconfiguring all programs, et. al.
I just wanted to make sure that's possible, specifically moving installed programs and their settings (e.g. e-mail client settings, old e-mails, etc.) from old computer to new computer. Am I correct this is possible using Acronis Universal Restore?
I have read many of the Acronis KB articles, including https://kb.acronis.com/ati2016/aur. And I have verified both the old and new computers use AHCI controller mode (the new computer uses msahci and the old computer uses iastor).
However, I am worried about breaking my new computer trying to do this. So I wanted to make sure it's possible before I do so.
Lastly, do I need chipset AND mass storage (RAID) drivers, or just one or the other? I have the install disk with my new motherboard (Asus Z170-K LGA1151). But I only see the .inf and .sys files for the SATA RAID driver; don't see any .inf, .sys. or other driver files under the chipset directory (nor within the chipset .exe when extracted with 7zip). The motherboard (SATA RAID and chipset) drivers can be found here.
I have made Acronis Bootable Media (DVD) of the new computer, and I'm in the process of making WinPE LiveDVD of the new computer using Acronis WinPE Plugin. I am also going to make BartPE LiveDVD of the new computer. In case something goes wrong I want to make sure I can put the new computer back to its starting state.
My biggest concern is breaking my new computer so it won't even startup. I just purchased the new computer from CAD Masters, their "Premium Workstation" for use with AutoCAD (with C: drive as 1TB SSD): https://www.cadmasters.com/desktops.asp

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My thoughts on your question are to suggest that you consider removing the new computer SSD and putting it aside, then simply taking the old computer HDD and connecting it in the new computer and try booting it and see how many new drivers get installed within Windows for the new hardware that is found. Assuming that it can boot up fully into Windows 7 you can then check to see what additional drivers might be needed to be installed from your CD media for the new computer.
I am assuming that you have full backup images of your old HDD before attempting the above.
This approach will safeguard your new SSD and give you a simple recovery means of getting the new computer back to how you have it now by reversing the disk swap process.
If the old HDD version of Windows is up and working with all your old programs, settings, mail etc, then you can either do a clone to the new SSD or perform and backup and restore on to the SSD knowing that the only further drivers you will need will be for the SSD itself.
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Thank you both, great info and suggestions. And once I can get Acronis Univesral Boot to work I'll test them; here's my thread about issues with Universal Boot Media builder: https://forum.acronis.com/forum/109557
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