Windows 10 Hard Drive Cloning - old to new

JoeBiff

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Anyone have any experience of transferring stuff from an old computer running W10 to a new purchased, fresh-out-of the-bag computer?

TIA
 
to clone a hard drive i use a piece of software called Acronis true image, i maybe wrong but i dont think that is what you are after doing. if you just want to transfer files like pictures and docs, then as above use cloud storage or a large usb stick if you have lots of files.
 
Anyone have any experience of transferring stuff from an old computer running W10 to a new purchased, fresh-out-of the-bag computer?

TIA

What stuff you wanting move? Me, if it's just pictures, music, documents and the like i will transfer it using a USB stick or better still remove the
drive from the old computer, stick it in a caddy and plug it into the new one and read it as an external drive and just copy the stuff over.

I have one of these but, a simple caddy will do the trick though;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tccmebius-...Y2HJWEB9WB2&psc=1&refRID=6772AB61TY2HJWEB9WB2

Simple caddy;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/2-5-Inch-T...ocphy=1007464&hvtargid=pla-698586209509&psc=1
 
Some time ago I bought an external HD (£50 / 1Tb USB2/3) and plugged it into my current computer to backup my docs & pics etc, which all works well. Logic was if my computer goes fails then i simply plug the ext HD into the new computer and job done. But if house burns down or gets burgled or current computer gets 'ransomed' then that will take the ext HD with it. Hmmm at that point i'll will curse myself for not coming to grips with the Cloud thingy! OK so how does Cloud thingy work?
 
Yeah, don't "clone" the drive. You are looking to transfer the data and potentially some apps, right?
If you clone the drive it will take the device drivers and settings from the previous hardware. It will also delete the same from the new computer.

Cloud storage is your best bet really. It is amazing how it all gets "mystified" when people talk about "Cloud". You can think of it this way: All it is, is a massive storage device remote to your computer. So: you register for it (OneDrive, Google Drive, DropBox, whatever...) and you get some free storage, and an option to buy more (monthly subscription). You then install the client and tell it to upload the files by copying them into that folder. You leave the client to upload all the junk you left there. It can take seconds or days, depending on how much shizzle you have. You then do the same client install on any other device (if you want to) and choose what you want to have brought down to the device and what you want left in the cloud. That's it. Yes, there are nuances like some of them will be easier to use / cheaper / have better sync; some will have a phone client [app] that uploads your photos to the cloud automatically, etc. The major advantage is that your data is automatically backed up and can be accessed if you lose your device.

And then, of course, there are disadvantages. If you have no network connection, and you didn't bring down the data, you can't access it then. (Think you're adventure riding in a Tesco car park and are unable to show a picture of your other project-bike to fellow adventure rider because there is no free Wifi and you are fresh out of 4G data, or your tinfoil hat does not allow you to use 5G. [because you'll get Corona] :) ) You will also get geeks going foamy at the mouth about how one provider is better than the other, the patriot act and how FBI has access to the data, blah blah... Yes, all that has a grain of truth in it, but for the average user - it matters very little. If you use Apple platform - iCloud is probably where you want to be. Google for Android / ChromeBooks and Microsoft, well OneDrive is the obvious choice, although you can use anything. I use or have used pretty much all of them. But then I am one of them geeks I mentioned in the previous paragraph. :)

Anything more specific, just ask...
 
Some time ago I bought an external HD (£50 / 1Tb USB2/3) and plugged it into my current computer to backup my docs & pics etc, which all works well. Logic was if my computer goes fails then i simply plug the ext HD into the new computer and job done. But if house burns down or gets burgled or current computer gets 'ransomed' then that will take the ext HD with it. Hmmm at that point i'll will curse myself for not coming to grips with the Cloud thingy! OK so how does Cloud thingy work?

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/onedrive/online-cloud-storage
 
to clone a hard drive i use a piece of software called Acronis true image, i maybe wrong but i dont think that is what you are after doing. if you just want to transfer files like pictures and docs, then as above use cloud storage or a large usb stick if you have lots of files.

No, you’re not wrong - I want the lot mirrored, including the software.

I’ve read about Acronis - do I need to be a high-flyin’ code monkey to understand it ? :D

(I already have the pics/docs sorted :beerjug: )

Reading through the Microsoft site, I need to almost rewrite the W10 code to get by SSID issues which I don’t really want to do on a new machine ??
 
Yeah, don't "clone" the drive. You are looking to transfer the data and potentially some apps, right?
If you clone the drive it will take the device drivers and settings from the previous hardware. It will also delete the same from the new computer.
...

I’ve got the data backed-up already.

It’s the apps I was hoping to be able to “transfer” across, by wire, and save a bit of time?
 
I’ve got the data backed-up already.

It’s the apps I was hoping to be able to “transfer” across, by wire, and save a bit of time?

I've never really seen that working well. And I've been dealing with computers for longer than I want to remember. Even if the apps were APP-V, they still need "re-installed". Most apps these days will have external settings in registry, or AppData, rely on DLLs in System32 or an installation of Java / C++ re-distributables or .NET framework. Long gone are the days where they were self-contained and you could just transfer them Just re-install them. in the long run, you'll be thanking yourself for doing so.

Anyways, if I missed the point ands you really just want to clone the drive despite the advice... Acronis will do it, if you want the GUI, most external drives come with a cloning software of sorts, or you can even use a bootable Linux distro and just DD the lot... Still, I wouldn't.
 
I did one for my mrs about a year ago,

i jut mirrored one drive to the other.

if you clone you need to reinstall windows etc ( pita)

i used majorgeeks.com to find the software (mostly free & easy to use ) :)

The biggest problem is if you are using two different sized drives

we went from an 80gb to a 1Tb

so i had to format the drive with two partitions one 80gb and one the remainder and just just mirror one partition if i recall.

Easeus partiion maker is one of thebest ive found for formating & partitioning the drive


https://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/sortdate/data_recovery_233b.html

Raw disc copier rings bells ( cant remember if that was the one i used though)
 
Yeah... there is the quick way.. and the right way to do it... ;)

If you must clone disks .. you can indeed copy windows without re-installing. You can use sysprep to remove the PnP information from the Windows image, prior to cloning it over to the new disk. In a manner of speaking, it "virginises" the install and puts it into the "first-use" mode. When it boots up from the new disk, it will go through mini-setup and install drivers from WindowsUpdate [or alternative sources if you supply them]. However, this will still bring over all the crud accumulated by Windows over the years. Mismatching disk sizes should not be a problem, even if you are using sector-by-sector copying, apart from the obvious tha the target has to be larger than the source. :) Pay attention to BitLocker (disk encryption) if you do any of this.

All that said, I find that periodically re-installing Windows from scratch makes sense. You'll find it more responsive, less cluttered and you'll be less likely to bring over malware. Re-installing apps is also not a bad idea, as they also go through iterations and versions, and having the latest is important. As well as the fact that reinstalling re-establishes the pre-requisites as I pointed out above. If, however, you don't have the original media for the apps [for whatever reason ;) ] then I understand why you'd do it the way you are considering.

There you go. The beauty of this place... always at least two different opinions ;) Good luck.
 
Aha, maybe ‘mirror’ is the word, rather than clone?

I have all the original media and program rights, so I am looking for the easiest and least hasslesome way of changing - as I’m a bloke and males are naturally lazy, by nature ;)

Unfortunately, I lack patience (another male trait) and want stuff finished before it’s been started :D
I’m also time-poor.....
 
When i cloned / mirrored the drive,

Windows detected it was a new install and wanted the xxx number -

good old Samsung stuck the label on the base of the PC, so after a zillion years it was half worn away

Contacting MS - its upsell away, £90 odd for win 10 (do one MS)


Cant remember which worked or which didn't Mirror or Clone

given its only about an hour or so to mirror / clone doing it twice was easy
 


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