My primary Velocity Win-10 computer is about to totally crash on me. I have it backed up on external drives using Acronis, Macrium and Windows. I plan on purchasing a similar computer (same make and model, same SSD and HDDs, same memory, etc.). I would like to restore my new computer from one of these external drives.

Has anyone done such a restore? What problems might I encounter?

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

If the hardware is all the same there should not be much issue but, and it is a big but, if the old system has a retail version and the new an OEM version (or the other way around) there could be an issue with activation.

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Jay, have you (or anyone else) ever successfully done this?

And how would the activation issue be resolved? Would I have to purchase another WIN 10 Pro license?

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

I have not personally done this as when I build a new system the hardware tends to be totally different.

There would be a way to get past an activation issue by just doing by phone. Personally I doubt that there would be an OEM/retail conflict as to the Windows version as both systems would have come from the same vendor.

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I can't speak for Win 10/11 but i very much doubt this option isn't still available...

1. I'm still running Win7 due to ill health.
2. About 3 months ago i set up a dual boot so i could test what software worked and what didn't before i moved to Win 10, i completely messed it up.
3. I had Macrium backups so when i trashed my primary drive i formatted and reinstalled my Win 7 drive, but not before i unplugged all my other drives, just to be sure i didn't make matters worse
4. I used my original Win 7 disc to re-install Windows, many hours later and after multiple reboots installing the countless Windows 7 Updates i downloaded and installed the latest version of Macrium, i plugged in the drive that had my Macrium backups and restored my latest backup.
5. For some reason it wouldn't 'activate' but that wasn't a big deal because i was still being offered the automated option to 'activate' via a toll free number.
6. I was surprised that the Win 7 activation by phone was still an option given that Win 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft, it's so simple to use, basically request a callback and follow the automated instructions by entering a series of characters.
7. I'd be amazed that Win 10/11 doesn't also offer this option.

If you don't have a CD/DVD then you might be in a more awkward position for the initial reinstall.... you should hopefully be able to download a suitable version from Microsoft or one of their official affiliate websites?

The takeaway should be that if you already have a genuine licence then you should be fine as long as you are installing like for like versions of Window. If they don't match then you'e existing legitimate key may not work.

Doddie, thanks for sharing that experience. Windows 7 was one of my favorite OS's. In fact, I have a much older Velocity computer that I run in dual mode....Win 7 and Win 10, like you were trying. When Win 10 first came out, I wasn't sure how I would like it, so I decided to run it in dual mode. I like Win 10 now, but I just left the computer in that dual configuration.

In fact, I have two favorite programs (a Calendar and an Address Book) that only run under XP. So on my primary computer, I run XP in virtual mode. Jay helped me set that up years ago....so if I screw things up, he may have to help me again, lol.

If I do purchase a new computer with Win 10 already loaded, then I should have two genuine licenses, as well as two DVD/CDs. Before I restore anything on my new computer, I will first back it up in case I screw things up during the restore.

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

@Doddie: Why did you waste the time for doing updates when you were going to restore an image that already had the updates? Actually, if Macrium allow the creation of boot media, you would have had no need to initially install Windows at all.

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I'm not a Macrium user, but if it has an option to make data backups, I assume that's what were made and restored...

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

I'm not a Macrium user either Steve bit I THINK Doddie uses for images. Of course he can clarify this. For images and clones I mainly use Acronis True Image bot only actually install long enough to make boot media. I do my backups through the created boot media.

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Jay, there were two reasons:

1. For some reason the Macrium boot media i made over two years ago didn't work... i could boot to the Macrium interface but when i navigated to my Macrium backup folder on another drive it would crash during the restore.
2. I was still suffering with memory recall & sleep issues meaning i wasn't really sure that anythining i was doing on my PC would work so i went 'back to basics' and treated it like it was a fresh install with no backups.
[I had no confidence in myself at that time, i'm equally amazed at how much i forgot and how quickly my memory is restoring... no pun intended!]

Basically, i didn't really trust anything i was doing so i wanted to give myself the best chance that what i was doing had the best chance of working, if that meant sitting for a few hours installing Windows Updates then so be it.
Why the CD didn't work i don't know.

The other saving grace was that Windows 7 had created a windows.old folder on my C drive that i was able to use to restore my bookmarks, address book, thunderbird data, and more from.

Understood and makes sense.

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Oh, to add on your issue with the boot media is why I have a few copies on CD of the Linux version of True Image's boot media along with it being on two flash drives. One of them is going to work. I consider the copies of the boot media almost as important as the images themselves. While I don't do images as often as in the past I DO do regular clones between my two M.2 SSD drives.

Yes, I could just setup a mirror RAID array with the drives but I consider that a terrible solution. Since both drives would be made the same in real time an infection would affect both. Doing it manually from boot media I know that I am cloning a working system drive. My manual method also leaves me with a working OS on the cone if an update toasts my system. I just copy from the clone back to the system drive. I have a rather large system drive of 301GB used space. Doing a clone between my two M.2 drives still only takes around ten minutes.

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