Question

Clone Hard Drive for New PC

Asked by: JohnDoody

Hello, I regulary have to set new pc's up for users at work when their old pc has reached 5 years old.  I normally use a standard image for the PC which we keep on the server, which has all the standard applications on and use that as a foundation for the new pc and then copy all the users settings, documents across etc and manually install any special software they have.  It would be simpler if i could just clone their old hard drive onto the new pc in one simple step and not have to mess about with tayloring the pc to exactly how the old one was.  I know disk cloning software is available, but as the new (different model) pc would have different drivers etc how would i get round that problem and would it then work, or is there a better way to approach this? Thanks

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Asked On
2009-02-11 at 09:23:57ID24134081
Tags

Clone

,

Hard Drive

,

Umage

Topics

DriveCopy

,

Computer Hard Drives

,

Hard Drives & Storage

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
3

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Answers

 

by: grootePosted on 2009-02-11 at 09:26:45ID: 23613698

I'd say if it's one PC just build it.  The other machine will have different Chipset drivers and drivers for the peripherals.  You may end up crippling the machine you try to put it on.  Try to push the image down from the older machine, see if it boots and update drivers as necessary

 

by: reece400Posted on 2009-02-11 at 09:29:41ID: 23613725

You will need to install all of the new drivers once the PC is booted. In the likely case that it does not boot (due to different HAL's or hard disk controllers) you would have to run a windows repair from the windows installation CD first.

In my opinion, this can ofter lead to strange system behavior down the road due to old drivers still be present, etc.

I would recommend that you continue with your current process, possibly looking at windows user migration tools.

 

by: vallisPosted on 2009-02-11 at 09:41:08ID: 23613823

Acronis Snap Deploy for PCs may help:
http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/snapdeploy/

"Deploy to different hardware with Acronis Universal Deploy  Ensure that your new systems will boot by allowing you to add drivers and create templates for specific hardware."

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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